ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1918, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

TWO FRENCH STEAMERS SUNK.

IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. Received August 23, 12.10 a.m. Paris, August 23. The Messageries Maritime* liner Polynesian, 6363 tons, en route from Bizerta to Salonika with Servian troops, was mined on August 10 and sunk. Nineteen are missing. The French steamer Balkan, 1709 tons, was torpedoed in the Mediterranean on August 15, and sank within a minute. 102 were saved.—Reuter.

TONNAGE LOSSES. London, Aug. 22. The Press Bureau states that the following are the July mercantile losses (all gross tons): British, 176,479 tons; allied and neutral, 136,532 tons; total, 313,011 ton*.

Compared with the adjusted June losses these figures show a British increase of 10,965 tons, and an Allied and neutral increase of 20.553 tons.

Compared with the adjusted May losses they show a British decrease of 55,301 tons, and an Allied and neutral increase of 3829 tons.

Compared with July last year com bined British. Allied, and" neutral de crense is 202,933 tons.

The British losses in July exceeded the building in United Kingdom yards by 34,531 tons, and the Allies and neutrals in the same month built 12,220 tons more than were lost, reducing the July deficit to 22,311 tons, compared with an average monthly deficit during the first six months of this year of nearly 90,000 tons.

Sailings to and from Britain in July were more numerous than ever.—Aus. N.Z. Cable Assoc.

EXHAUSTED U-BOAT VICTIMS RESCUED.

New York, Aug. 22,

An American vessel picked up eleven of the crew of a Norwegian steamer 600 miles from land. They had been in an open boat for eleven days. They had neither oars nor sails, as the boat capsized four times, and three men were drowned and the provisions lost. It appears that the submarine shelled the steamer at three miles' range, and sank her with a bomb afte'r the crew had left The survivors were almost exhausted when they were picked up Am. N.Z. Cable Assoc.