The returns of maritime casualties for 1988 compiled by the Liverpool Underwriters Association show that while the actual number of accidents reported was smaller than in 1937, the tonnage totally lost was about the same, and the number of casualties was greater than in 1936 and 1935 states "The Financial News."
In 1938, 6468 casualties were entered on the Association's book, compared with 6,643 in 1937 and 6,139 in 1936. The tonnage lost in 1938 totalled 405,909 tons gross, compared with 404,503 tons in 1937 and 333,723 tons in 1936.
With war losses deducted, the figures show a loss of 313,998 tons gross in 1938, 370,295 tons in 1937 and 333,723 tons in 1936. The actual war losses totalled 91911 tons gross in 1936, 34208 tons in 1937 and 22,387 tons in 1936, No British tonnage was lost by war perils in the last-named year, but in 1937 the British tonnage loss from war perils was 13,213 tons gross, and in 1938 it was 47,248 tons gross.
The analysis of casualties is interesting, particularly with regard to "strandings," which totalled 1,180: n 1938, compared with 1,430 in 1937—a reduction of over 20 per cent, for which there is no adequate explanation.
Collisions were the most numerous type of casualty, totalling 1,574, and there were 1,068 cases of damage to machinery, shafts and propellers, 558 cases of weather damage, 327 fires and explosions, 22 cases of foundering and abandonment, and nine missing vessels. This leaves 1,718 "other casualties" which must include war casualties. The figures would be more illuminating if war and marine perils were shown separately.
The general inference to be drawn from the figures is that 1938 was o year in which any slight reduction in casualties will prove to have been set off by the rising cost of repairs, while, as the total loss figure is prac-totally the same as for 1937, no im-E t can be looked for in this direction.
There is, however, the increase in premiums brought about by the amendment of the hull understanding last April to ensure increased rates om those risks which had given bad results over the previous four years. This should make the hull figures for 1938 rather better than those for 1037, but it is improbable that cargo figures will be any better.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.