GERMAN SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 109, 4 November 1939, Page 13

GERMAN SHIPS

ASSET TO LIABILITY

FINE FLEET NOW IDLE

LOSSES TO ALLIES

(British Official Wireless.) (Received November 4, 11.20 a.m.) RUGBY, November 3. The mercantile marine which Germany had built up in twenty years before the war, consisting of many fine ships which commanded the admiration of the seamen of all countries, has been converted by Herr Hitler's action in precipitating the war from a valuable asset to a considerable liability.

Idle ships which can no longer venture on ocean trade routes must be maintained, while more direct losses arise from loss to enemy and harbour dues in neutral ports. Thirteen German merchant ships have fallen as prizes to the Allied navies, two were captured by the French, and eight others scuttled themselves to avoid capture. The list of captured vessels is likely to increase as those sheltering in neutral ports try to get home, a course to which they are being driven through lack of funds. Already these ships have been selling their cargoes to defray harbour dues. When this means of financing payments is exhausted, since Germany cannot afford foreign exchange for the purpose, the vessels will be faced with the alternatives of accepting sequestration by neutrals or attempting to run the gauntlet of the Allies' blockade.