London, Nov. 20, addition to the Netherlands liner Simon Bolivar, seven merchantmen have been sunk by German mines off the East Coast, according to an official announcement made here today. The Italian steamer Gra: la struck a mine and sank within a few minutes, Five members of the crew were killed by the explosion, while sixteen others are reported missing.
Twenty-nine members, of the crew were rescued by two trawlers which rushed to the aid of the vessel, Six persons are believed to have been Jost and eight injured when the Swedish steamer Borjessen sank this morning after striking a mine, Thirteen survivors, including the eight injured members of the crew, were landed in an English port, The British steamer Blackhill and the Yugoslav steamer Carica Milica (9,000 tons) were also sent to the bottom after striking German mines. Twenty-two members of the crew of the Blackhill, including the captain, are reported to have been rescued, Four survivors of a crew of thirteen jin the collier Torch Bearer, 1,207 fons, which was sunk by a German, mine off the east coast, landed at an English port today. They are all [seriously Injured. A French steamer has also been sunk, making a total of [seven vessels damaged off the east feoust. during the week-end. In Glition to those, a Lithuanian steamer, the Kaunas, was sunk by a mine off Tt is now established that the number of missing as a result of the sinking of the Royal Dutch "Mail liner Simon Bolivar is about 100. The vessel was bound from Amsterdam to the West Indies. Sixty to seventy Jsurvivors had recovered sufficiently ast night to be discharged from one [London hospit The majority of the passengers, ac-Jcording to all. available information, were British, travelling to Barbados, [Trinidad. There were also a number Jot Dutch passengers, including employees of the Batavian Petroleum. [Company going to Surinam, Curacao.
Other passengers included Jewish refugees travelling to Chile.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.