April, 1917 69,711
May 69,773
June 109,847
July 83,073
August 102,060
September 63,150
October 148,309
November 158,826
December 112,486
January, 1918 58,568
February 100,038
March 161,674
April 111,533
May 197,274
It should be noted that the British practice is to express merchant
shipbuilding statistics in "gross tons," whereas in the United States
and some other countries the figures are recorded in "deadweight" tons,
which is a much higher figure.
The total ships completed in the shipyards of the United Kingdom during
the twelve months ended May 31, 1918, were 1,406,838 gross tons.
The corresponding figures for the year ended April 30, 1917, were
1,270,337.
Raising torpedoed ships has become a considerable source of increased
tonnage for the Allies. According to a report of the British Admiralty
Salvage Department, made public June 17, no less than 407 ships sunk by
Germans in British waters were salvaged in the years between January,
1915, and May, 1918. Up to December, 1917, 260 ships were recovered.
In the first five months of 1918 the number salvaged was 147, the
increased rate being due to improved methods.
Among the difficulties encountered was the danger of poisonous gases
from the rotting cargoes of sunken ships, which sometimes caused the
loss of lives. One salvage ship was torpedoed while working on a wreck,
and sometimes the work of weeks is destroyed by one rough sea. Feats
performed by the Salvage Department include the raising of a large
collier sunk in twelve fathoms of water and involving a dead lift of
3,500 tons. Another vessel was raised fifteen fathoms by the use of
compressed air.