Burdensome as are the restrictions imposed upon shipowners by
legislation, considerable justification is found for them when we
compare the percentage of British vessels lost at sea with that of
foreign-owned vessels. The great shipping countries, that is, those
which have more than 1,000,000 tons afloat, are the United Kingdom,
the British colonies, the United States of America, France, Germany
and Norway. Of these six the United Kingdom suffered the least
comparative loss in its mercantile fleet in 1895. Under all the heads
of abandoned at sea, broken up or condemned, burnt, collision,
foundered, lost, missing and wrecked, the total loss was 2.99 per
cent. of the vessels owned and 2.36 per cent. of the tonnage owned. No
other of the countries named has less than 3 per cent. of loss, while
only the British colonies have less than 4, as the subjoined table
shows.