WORLD WAR I.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A secret memorandum reporting on damage sustained by shipping. A typescript copy, marked "secret", of a report from the director of statistics, Lieutenant Colonel J. G. Beharrell, to the first lord of the admiralty, Eric Geddes. It was drafted during a period of increased fear of submarines and gives detailed statistics on annual losses of merchant ships, fishing vessels, and foreign ships. Much of this information is difficult to find compiled elsewhere.After the international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania and the Arabic in 1915, the German Admiralty chose to suspend submarine attacks on passenger and neutral vessels. However, in 1917 Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff successfully petitioned for a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in a last-ditch attempt to starve Britain. This led to a heightened sense of fear on the seas and eventually to the entry of America into the war.The report is split into two sections: Beharrell's letter to Geddes and the accompanying tables of data. Beharrell writes in his opening paragraphs that 1,501 merchant vessels had been lost to date, with a gross tonnage of 4,698,324 representing 26.1 per cent of the British pre-war sea-going capability. He then explains each table. First are four tables of annual losses for different types of vessels, with estimated rates of annual loss. It is clear to see the growing impact of submarine warfare as the fighting progressed, for example, where 135 merchant ships were sunk by submarines i

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.