§ MR. ALDERMAN LUSKasked the President of the Board of Trade, if his attention has been called to the following passage in a recent speech of the honourable Member for Derby, at Grimsby, viz.
On the 24th March a number of vessels that sailed were missing and never more heard of except at Lloyd's. Yes, on the 24th of March, 70 ships—a whole fleet of merchantmen—had gone down to the bottom of the sea with all hands.''and, if so, if he has caused inquiries to be made into the correctness of this allegation as to the great loss of life and property on the day named; and, whether the ships lost were British ships and. the seamen lost were British seamen?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUESir, if the statement in the speech of the hon. Member for Derby (Mr. Plimsoll) meant, as the hon. Alderman seems to think it did, that the 70 ships went down on the 24th of March, that is certainly not the case. I have had search made through the records of the Board of Trade and inquired at Lloyd's, and the fact is that on the 24th of March the list posted in Lloyd's room showed that clueing the period which had elapsed since the commencement of the year, 57 ships had been reported as missing; and this number included foreign vessels—but I am not able to say how many of them were foreign. These losses, or possible losses, took place, not on the shores of these islands only, but all over the world.