Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/362



During the twenty-one months of unrestricted submarine warfare from February, 1917, to October, 1918, inclusive, 3,843 merchant vessels (British fishing vessels included) of a total gross tonnage of 8.478,947 have been sunk by enemy action, a monthly average of 183 vessels totalling 403,760 gross tons. The October tonnage losses show a decrease from this average of 291,333 gross tons, or 72 per cent. The following gives the tonnage losses by months from February, 1917, to October, 1918, inclusive :

Period. British Merchant Vessels. Other Allied Merchant Vessels. Neutral Merchant Vessels. British Fishing Vessels. Total. 1917 February 313,486 84,820 135,090 3,478 536,334 March. 353,478 81,151 165,225 3,586 603,440 April. 545,282 134,448 189,373 5,920 875,023 May. 352,289 102,960 137,957 1,448 594,654 June 417,925 126,171 139,229 1,342 684,667 July. 364,858 111,683 70,370 2,736 549,647 August. 329,810 128,489 53,018 242 511,559 September. 196,212 119,086 29,941 245 345,484 October 276,132 127,932 54,432 227 458,723 November 173,560 87,646 31,476 87 292,769 December 253,087 86,981 54,047 413 394,528 Period. British Merchant Vessels. Other Allied Merchant Vessels. Neutral Merchant Vessels. British Pishing Vessels. Total. 1918 January 179,973 87,078 35,037 375 302,463 February 226,896 54,904 36,374 686 318,860 March. 199,458 94,321 51,035 293 345,107 April. 215,453 50,879 11,361 241 277,934 May. 192,436 80,826 20,757 504 294,523 June 162,990 51,173 38,474 639 253,276 July. 165,449 70,900 23,552 555 260,456 August. 145,721 91,209 41,946 1,455 280,331 September 136,864 39,343 10,393 142 186,742 October 57,607 41,308 13,512

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