GERMAN SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 129, 27 November 1940, Page 8

GERMAN SHIPS

SUNK BY NAZIS

MATTER FOR HOUSE OF

LORDS

LONDON, November 25.

Lloyd's underwriters attach such importance to the action regarding German ships whose cargoes have been lost as the result of German action that they indicated their intention to pay the cost of going to the House of Lords even before the Court of Appeal gave judgment against them today. Millions of pounds are reported to be involved.

The King's Bench earlier upheld the underwriters' contention that claims concerning cargoes by the three companies to which they were consigned were not allowable because the loss was not due to causes covered by the policies. The Court of Appeal reversed this ruling on the ground that the frustration clause afforded the underwriters no defence.

One ship, the Wangoni (7848 tons), took refuge at Vigo two days before the outbreak of the war and sailed for Hamburg last March. The others, the Halle (5889 tons) and the Minden (4165 tons) were scuttled in order to escape capture. The appellants contended that the German Government was guilty of converting the goods to its own use, as a result of which the owners suffered loss on the voyage in addition to loss on the goods.