FIVE SHIPS SUNK BY MINES IN NORTH SEA.

DANISH, NORWEGIAN AND BRITISH VESSELS.

TRAWLERS STRIKE MINES WHILE SWEEPING. London, August 27. - Five ships, including Danish and Norwegian, and two British trawlers, struck mines 30 miles off the coast. Five persons of British nationality were killed.

The, Norwegian steamer Gottfried, bound for Blyth, Northumberland, struck a floating mine and sank. Eight of her crew were killed. Other explosions were heard in the vicinity.

The Gottfried sank in two minutes. Eight men on the forecasts were blown to pieces. Four of the crew were saved after being in the ■water three hours.

A Danish trawler struck a mine near Grimsby, on the Lincolnshire coast, and sank. Four men lost their lives. The men on the rescuing trawler state that when hauling in their nets they discovered a mine and lot the nets back into the sea. They remained on the spot to warn other vessels. Half-an-hour later the mine exploded. A second explosion'sank the Danish trawler.

The Danish ship Skulifogeti wasi blown up by a German mine 30 miles out of Newcastle., Of six men in the' forecasts four woro killed and two injured. Tho trawlers Lottie and Leash had previously fished up two mines. The two trawlers which sank were _ engaged sweeping. mines in tho same district- Five persons were 'killed and eleven injured. A British torpedo-boat rescued the remainder of the trawlers' crows.