SHIPPING LOSSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1940, Page 5

SHIPPING LOSSES

DETAILS FOR LAST WEEK DUE CHIEFLY TO MINES. CONVOYS ALMOST COMPLETELY IMMUNE. (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, March 19. The Admiralty has announced that for the week ending March 17 three British ships (with a total tonnage of 5,499), two French ships (3.172 tonnage) and four neutral ships (15,321 tons) were lost as the result of enemy action. None were being convoyed. The majority of the losses were due to illegal mines. Only four ships have been sunk by U-boats since February 24. Those Üboats which escaped destruction presumably have been withdrawn in order that their crews may rest and recover from a condition of shattered nerves. Of 12,816 British, Allied and neutral ships convoyed to March 13, only 28 have been lost. The French Navy has convoyed over 2.000 vessels, of which only four have been lost. FRENCH SHIP MINED OFF COAST OF ENGLAND. TWO MEN KILLED & OTHERS WOUNDED. ■ (Received This Day, 10.5 a.m.) ‘ LONDON. March 19. The French steamer Capitaine Augustin (3,137 tons) was sunk by a mine on the east coast of England last Sunday. Two persons were killed and twenty-eight saved, of whom two are seriously wounded.