The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-15
SOME STATISTICS OF THE SEA.
Over 1000 Vessels Destroyed Last
Year.


The statistical summary of..vessels to-
tally lost, condemned, etc, now pub
lished by Lloyd's Register shows that
during 1895 the gross reduction in the
effective mercantile marine of the world
amounts to ,237 vessels of S06,27S tons.
including all vessels of less than 100 tons.
or this total 80 vessels of 372, 1853 tons,
were steamers, and 81, of 1873, Sl5 tons,
were sailing vessels. These figures ex-
cced the average of the preceding four
years by siXty-two steamers, of 81, 5l9
tons, and by liityfive sailing vessels, of
l2,9lO tons, according to the London
Times.
AS regards steamers owned in the
United Kingdom the return is also above
the average, while us regards sailing YES
sells it is somewhat below The increase
in the case of the former is due not to
actua! wrecks, but to the large tonnage
broken up, condemned, etc. Apart from
such cases the United Kingdom steam
tonnage lost during 1895 is only equal to
the average of the last four years. not
withstanding since 1891 the tonnage
owned has increased by 800, 900 tons.
The summary exhibits interesting data
rs to the frequency of the different kinds of
casualties etc, which conclude the ex-
istcnce of vessels. Standing and kindred
casualties, which are comprised under
the term wrecked are much the most
prolific cause of disaster. To such casu-
alities are attributed about 10 per cent
OF the losses OF both steamers and sailing
vessels The next most frequent tcrmin-
alton OF vessels career is by condemna,
ton, dismanting, etc 20 per cent. of
the vessels removed from the merchant
fleets of the world are accounted for in
this manner.
;,,;,
Is the most general for steamers Q6 per
cent? and abandonment Mt sea for sailing
vessels % per cent? Cases of abandon
ment, foundered and missing vessels
may, perhaps, be regarded rs frequently
more or less similar in the circumstances
OF loss. II these he taken collectively,
they comprehend IS per cent of the
losses of steamers,and nearly 30 per cent.
of the losses of sailing vessels The per-
centages here given are based on the
present return alone, out the order of
frequency of the several classes of casual
ity appears to he normal.
The return has been compiled i'm such
n manner rs to enable a comparison to be
made between the percentages Of loss
suffered by each of the principal merchant
navies of the world. Great as the an
Dual loss of vessels belonging to the
United Kingdom appears to be, it is seen
to form very moderate percentage of
the mercantile marine of the world, and
to compare favorably with the losses sus-
tanned by other leading maritime coun-.
tries The merchant naves which exceed
Il total of 200, 900 tons are those of the
United Kingdom, the British colonies,
the United States of America, France,
Germany and Norway. OF these coun-
tries the United Kingdom shows the
smallest percentage of loss, viz per
! cent of the vessels and "a per cent. of
| the tonnage owned; the British colonies
follow with 3.4 per cent. of the vessels
ana 81 per cent. of tonnage and Norway
is the highest, with IA per cent of YES.
sells and 60 per cent. of tonnage AS re-
CARDS steamers, the percentage of loss
for the six countries is %, while TIE
percentage of the United Kingdom stands
ut 2.333. For sailing vessels the six coun-
| tries give percentage of 6.3, as COM
pared with 4 D per cent. for the United
| Kingdom.