-------------------------+-----------------+-------------------+
| Vessels Owned. | Percentage Lost. |
+-----------------+---------+---------+
Flag. | | | Vessels | Tonnage |
| No. | Tons. | Owned. | Owned. |
-------------------------+------+----------+---------+---------+
United Kingdom. | 2781 |2,421,981 | 4.53 | 3.27 |
Colonies. | 1435 | 582,657 | 4.39 | 5.56 |
United States of America.| 2594 |1,244,081 | 5.32 | 5.63 |
French. | 593 | 191,647 | 7.76 | 6.83 |
German. | 777 | 543,455 | 11.33 | 8.66 |
Norwegian. | 2455 |1,212,628 | 8.59 | 7.78 |
-------------------------+------+----------+---------+---------+
The losses of sailing vessels are very serious among the Continental
nations, especially in Germany, where more than one in nine was lost
or condemned last year. This is greatly due to the fact that our old
ships are largely sold to the foreigner when they will no longer
comply with legislative conditions of this country. We break up a few,
but only 0.75 per cent., against 1.75 per cent. for Norway and 2.5 per
cent. for France and Germany. We are more chary of breaking up our
steamers; last year only 0.46 per cent. met this fate here, 0.34 per
cent. in the colonies, 0.32 per cent. in the United States, 0.86 per
cent. in France, 0.31 per cent. in Germany, while Norway did not lose
a single steamer in this way.
Turning now to the present year we find that in the first quarter the
vessels lost, condemned or reported missing before August 7 were,
according to returns made out by Lloyd's Register of British and
Foreign Shipping, 282 vessels, of an aggregate of 195,480 tons. These
figures are respectively 23 per cent. and 24 per cent. of the total
losses last year, thus showing a favorable beginning, for the winter
losses are naturally the heaviest. The materials of the vessels lost
were: Steel, 24 vessels of 40,474 tons; iron, 74 vessels of 78,314
tons; and wood and composite, 184 vessels of 76,692 tons. The United
Kingdom shows best under the heads of total losses and losses of
sailing vessels, but in steamers it actually comes last among the six
nationalities we have selected for comparison. It must be remembered,
however, that the British fleet is large enough for a very fair
average to be attained in three months, while in all other fleets a
single loss, more or less, makes a great difference to the figures of
merit. The steam tonnage of the United Kingdom is more than seven
times greater than that of Germany, which is our chief competitor. In
sailing tonnage we do not hold this immense superiority, our amount
being only about double that of the United States and of Norway
respectively.
When we examine the various causes of loss of vessels at sea, we find
nearly 43 per cent. of the tonnage under the head of "wrecked," which
includes vessels lost through stranding, or through striking rocks,
sunken wrecks, etc. Next come 22 per cent. broken up or condemned; 14
per cent. lost, missing; 8 per cent. lost by collision; 4.3 per cent.
burnt; 5 per cent. abandoned at sea; and 3.6 per cent. foundered. The
following table shows the mercantile marine of the world, according to
Lloyd's Register, at the end of March, 1896:
Flag. Steam and Sailing
Vessels Owned.
No. Tons.
British. /United Kingdom. 9227 12,117,957
\Colonies. 2309 1,124,682
America, United States of. 3220 2,164,753
Austro-Hungarian. 309 304,970
Danish. 812 356,714
Dutch. 458 446,861
French. 1164 1,094,752
German. 1730 1,886,812
Italian. 1239 778,941
Norwegian. 3041 1,659,012
Russian. 1086 487,681
Spanish. 748 554,238
Swedish. 1432 497,877
Other European countries. .... .........
Central and South America. .... .........
Asia. .... .........
Other countries. .... .........
--Engineering.
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