SHIPPING LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1939, Page 5

SHIPPING LOSSES

REPLY TO GERMAN CLAIMS SINKINGS FOR ALL COUNTRIES. ALLIED, NEUTRAL & NAZIS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, December 29. Replying to claims issued by Berlin, it is authoritatively stated in London that the shipping sinkings up to yesterday were: British, 111 ships, totalling 422,000 tons; French, 12 ships, totalling 56,000 tons; Polish, one ship, of 14,000 tons; neutral, 81 ships, totalling 252,000 tons; German, 23 ships, totalling 139,000 tons. Also 20 German ships, totalling 89,000 tons, have been captured. The official statement issued in Berlin says that the enemy and neutral merchantmen losses during the war total 279 vessels, of 1,030,000 tons. Germany lost 18 ships, totalling 120.00'0 tons, of which only one was sunk by the enemy. “After the sinking of the Admiral Graf Spee numerous contributions toward the cost of another have been received by the High Command from home and abroad,” the statement adds. The owners announce that the British steamer Moortoft (875 tons) is several days overdue and is presumed to be lost with all 13 of the crew. A naval trawler with a crew of 15 is also presumed to be lost. The Danish vessel Hanne (1080 tons) was sunk by a mine off the north-east coast with a crew of 15. The number rescued is not known. A lifeboat was found and also one of the ship’s boats floating upsidedown.