(6)
SHIPS THAT ESCAPE.
He proposed to make a change in the method of publishing our losses. "Nothing can be worse than inaccurate recording of these losses. I take up a paper and I see 'Twenty-four ships sunk,' or something of that kind, in a big headline. When you come to examine that with the real knowledge of the facts you know that these are accumulations coming in for many days. When you read down the list probably you recognise by the names of them some are fishing boats or trawlers; not that I am minimising the loss of fishing boats or trawlers, bu when you read it you get no comparison with the actual volume of the trade that is being done. I propose, therefore, to publish—I am not sure that I shall be able to do it every day, but as nearly as possible every day—the number, not merely of British merchant vessels sunk by mines and submarines, but also the arrivals of British vessels of over 100 tons net in United Kingdom ports, exclusive of fishing and loca1 craft. I also propose to publish the number of British- merchant vessels which are attacked and escape. I shall also publish the number of fishing vessels which are sunk."
He did not propose to publish the number of neutral and Allied vessels sunk. In the first place, "we have not always the accurate information, and, in the second place, the neutral and Allied Powers prefer to publish their own losses themselves. If they should be copied into our papers I do not mind, but I shall deal with our ships in the manner I have mentioned."'
THE LOSSES THE ENEMY INCURS.
Sir Edward next dealt with the question of German losses. He said, "I am often asked, and my predecessors have often been asked, Why is it the Admiralty have not from time to time published the number of German submarines destroyed? It has been pointed out to me by many Members, and with considerable force, that the daily toll of British merchant shipping is published to the world, but nothing is said about the losses the enemy incurs in the submarine campaign, the effect being that all the honour appears to rest with the enemy, and that apparently nothing is being done on our part to cope with this menace." There was another side to the question:
"I have no doubt myself that the policy of silence pursued by successive Boards of the Admiralty about the losses of enemy submarines is the policy that the enemy dislikes most, Just see what it is. A submarine starts out on its campaign of murder and all the enemy know is that it does not return home. What has happened is a complete mystery to them. They cannot tell whether the submarine was lost from a defect of construction or design, which is a very important matter, or some error of navigation, or whether her loss was due to one or other of the methods that the British Admiralty has devised for her destruction."
