6th Oct.
Inovn's quarterly Returns of Vessels Totally Lost, Condemned, &c., tell a forcible tale of the power of the sea and of time. The returns for the first quarter of 1893 occupy thirteen foolscap pages. The first table shows us the total number of losses of steamers from various causes, and the total steam tonnage owned by each country concerned, Great Britain and her colonies own 7,075 steamers, Germany coming next with $69, and the total number on the list being 11,865. Of this vast fleet only 77 vessels dis-1 appeared from all causes in the first quarter of the year, Of these 8 were broken up, condemned, &c., 4 were burnt, 14 succumbed to collision, 7 foundered, 4 were reported as. missing, and 40, or more than half, were wrecked, a heading which includes vessels lost through stranding or striking rocks, sunken wrecks, ete, It is a proof of the incessant vigil lance with which the steamers of the world are navigated that only 14 vessels were lost by collision in three months; it is a proof also of the care with which the British steamers are navigated, that while British steam tonnage is nearly two-thirds of the whole, the losses are only about one-half. Of sailing vessels, out of a total of 17,024, Great Britain and her colonies own 4,784, the United States coming next with 2,825, and Norway next with 2,762. Of these 17,000 sailing vessels (excluding those under 100 tons net), 216 were lost in the quarter; 65 being under the British flag. Of the whole number lost, 30 were abandoned, 24 were broken up and con demned, 7 were burnt, $ were lost by collision, 6 foundered, 3 were vaguely "Jost," 21 were reported missing, and 117 were wrecked. When we come to the more interesting details of the steamers lost, we find that of those broken up, condemned, &c., six were British, one French, and one Japanese but one is attributed to the British empire for which we are not responsible, the Chinese steamer Yehsin, converted into a hulk in March last, being put down as belonging to the British Colonies. Of the steamers burnt, one belonged to St. Join's, Newfoundland, two to the United States, and one to Brazil. Six British steamers were sunk by collision, none of them of 1,000 tons net, two French, two German, and one each Italian, Norwegian, Russian, and 'l'arkish. Only two British steamers, both small ones, foundered, two Japanese, and one each Danish, French, and Norwegian. Of the four steamers reported missing, two were British and two Norwegian, among them being the Naronic, the magnificent White Star twin-screw steamer of 4,222 tons net, which sailed from Liverpool on the 11th of February last, and which has not since been heard of, though one of her life-boats was seen by a passing steamer afloat near the Banks of Newfoundland. How she perished is a mystery that will now probably never be unravelled. Of the steamers wrecked, 18 belonged to the United Kingdom and 3 to the Colonies, among the British wrecks being the Flamsteed of 2,150 tons net, 7 were German, among them being the unfortunately named Gliickauy' of 1,687 tons net, 3 French, including the Paris of 2,663 tons net, which did not act up to the motto of the great city whose name she bore, 2 Norwegian, 2 Portuguese, and one each American, Austrian, Chilean, Danish, and Japanese. It may perhaps be mentioned that the Colonial wrecks include the steam fishing schooner Narwhal, of Yokohama, lost in Japanese waters.
Of the sailing vessels abandoned at sea only three were British, the largest being of 439 tons, and five Colonial. The United States and Norway were each responsible for nine, the Americans being nearly all small schooners, while three of the Norwegians measured 1,049, 1,093, and 1,479 tons respectively. Norwegian owners are in the habit of buying up English clippers when they are past work, and patching them up for the timber trade, and one of the Norwegian vessels abandoned, in the North Atlantic, was the once famous clipper Star of India, OF the vessels broken up, condemned, etc., five were British, averaging under 200 tons each, and 6 were Colonial, the G. 1. Wap-paus and STilda, both of Shanghai, being included in the latter. Also included in the Colonial vessels is the well-known ship Sobraon of 2,131 tons, which has been converted into a Nautical School at Sydney, N.S.W. She was built in 1866 by Hall of Aberdeen and intended for a steamer, to take tea from Hankow round the Cape; but times were bad and she was made into a sailing ship, and has been renning ever since between England and Australia, 'o American vessels _were condemned, one the Daniel J. Tenny of 1,633 tons, one Austrian, one Danish, one Dutch, two French, one German, one Italian, two Norwegian, and two Swedish. Of the sailing vessels burnt, two were British, one being the King James of 2,187 tons, one Colonial, one American, two Italian, and one Russian. Of the eight sailing vessels lost by collision, two were British, about 200 tons each, three American, one French, one Italian, and one Norwegian. The sailing-vessels that foundered were all small, the largest being a British vessel of 369 tons; her companions in misfortune were two French, two Russians, and a Swede. The "lost" were all small vessels too, one an American, one a Brazilian, and one a German, Five British sailing vessels were among the missing, including two of 1,188 and 1,335 tons respectively one was Colonial, four American, one French, six German, including the new 5-masted barque Dfaria Rickmers of Eleven British' sailing vessels were "wrecked," including the Blair Drummond of 1,450, and the Templemore of 1,648 tons, 23 Colonial, 25 American, including the Robert L. Belknap of 2,251 tons in Japanese waters, 2 Austrian, one Brazilian, one Chilean, 8 Danish, 2 Dutch, 4 French, 4 Ge man, 13 Greek, one Hawaiian, 5 Italian, 13 Norwegian, one Russian, 6 Swedish, and 2 Turkish, 'This concludes the three months' tale,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.