§ LORD BERESFORD had the following Notice on the Paper—
§ To draw attention to the increase in the number of ships missing without trace, and the disclosure of German plans to cause ships to be destroyed without trace; and to ask whether His Majesty's Government will consider the necessity of putting such a limitation on all mails as may preclude their being used for such purposes; and to move for Papers.
§ The noble and gallant Lord said: My Lords. I should like to bring before your Lordships the important question of the great number of ships which have been missing without trace during this war. The number has increased lately. From August, 1914, to the end of October, 1917, there were posted as missing 180 ships of 260,000 tons, 100 of which were British, aggregating 160,000 tons. These ships are classed as missing, generally their category is "last spoken" or "last seen"; but in addition there are over 50 vessels that are classed as missing without trace. There are some ships that will be in that category finally, but the information has not yet come to the authorities.
§ We remember the breach of neutrality of Germany and another country when a foreign Legation in the Argentine permitted secret means of communication between the Chargé d'Affaires at Buenos Aires and the Berlin Foreign Office. The neutral Power actually allowed the German code to be used in a letter or message sent by the neutral Power, the information then being sent on to Germany. The Argentine Republic had received a pledge from the German Government that their ships would be respected, but in May, 1917, one of the messages sent said that a certain ship was to be destroyed "leaving no trace." This was sent by means of the neutral Minister to Germany. There was another occasion in July when vessels were ordered to be sunk without any trace, and several messages in which the sailings of Argentine ships were mentioned in this code forwarded to Germany by the neutral country. I think the British Government, two years ago, called the attention of this neutral country to the fact that they were using code, and objected to it. The neutral country said it should cease. Since then brutalities have occurred through the 1147 aid of this neutral country to which I refer. The Secretary of State at Washington published the whole case, and your Lordships will probably have read it in the Press.
§ I should like to know what steps the Government have taken to prevent this, because it is perfectly possible that a very large number of our ships which have been sunk without leaving any trace may come under the same category as those unfortunate ships which belong to the Argentine Republic. We know very well that in several cases a few lives were saved. There is the case of the "Belgian Prince," which will be known to your Lordships, where the enemy took the crew of a merchant ship on to the upper deck of a submarine, divested them of their life-belts, and then submerged, taking the whole of the crew to the bottom. All but one of the crew were drowned. In two other cases they towed the boats, assuring the crew that they would tow them until they were in sight of land, but after going a short distance they submerged and towed them to the bottom. In these two cases the intention evidently was to sink without leaving any trace. I want to ask what steps have been taken with regard to this neutral country and other neutral countries to prevent such diabolical proceedings as have occurred between the, Argentine Republic and Germany. If mailbags have been vised it does not concern me much. I am not concerned with the forms of etiquette as between foreign countries. What concerns me is that our men, the finest men in the world, should be subject to these brutal murders. Probably many of the ships that we have lost without trace have been lost in the same way as those which the Argentine Republic have lost without trace. I hope that I have made myself quite clear, and that the noble Earl will reply to the points I have raised.
THE ADDITIONAL PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY (THE EARL OF LYTTON)My Lords, the noble and gallant Lord has argued to your Lordships that there is a large and growing increase of ships missing without any trace. He referred to what is known as the "Luxburg question," and suggested that the loss of these ships was possibly, and indeed probably, due to a misuse of the rights accorded to neutral countries—such as the misuse made in the Luxburg case—and asked me, finally, what steps the Government have taken or propose to take to deal with the matter.
1148 Let me first of all take the first part of his Question. The noble Lord quoted some figures which I am not prepared altogether to accept. He said that 180 vessels had been posted as missing since the beginning of the war, to which a further number—50, I think he suggested—ought to be added. I will give your Lordships the exact figures so far as I am able to obtain them with regard to ships coming under this category. I understand that in three years up to October last the number of vessels missing without trace is 122. The number of vessels missing without trace in peace time is, on an average, 15 per annum, or 45 in three years. Therefore if you deduct what I may call the peace rate of 45 ships from the 122 it leaves a total of 77 ships for the last three years, or a yearly increase of 26 ships missing without trace during the period of the war. That is, of course, a very considerable I increase over the rate prevailing in times of peace; but when we consider that the seas are infested with submarines and with mines, and, in the distant seas, occasionally with raiders, it is inevitable that there would be an increase over the number of ships missing without trace in times of peace. I have made inquiry as to whether there is any reason for thinking that the number of ships so missing is increasing, and I am told that this is not the case.
With regard to the second part of the Question, the noble and gallant Lord is quite right in reminding your Lordships that in the case to which he has referred a neutral Power did allow communications to pass in its own code from German diplomatic agents abroad to the German Government in Germany, which was, of course, a gross breach of neutrality and a distinct violation of the privilege granted to that neutral country in the use of British cables for its diplomatic correspondence. When it was pointed out to us that this was being I done and evidence was brought to our knowledge of this breach of neutrality, we at once denied to that neutral Power any further privileges in that direction—that is to say, we refused to allow them any longer to use our cables.
§ LORD BERESFORDCan the noble Earl say what the date of that was?
THE EARL OF LYTTONI am afraid I cannot give the noble Lord the date, but he will remember when the correspondence 1149 was published owing to the action of the United States of America, and it was after that that the prohibition was carried out. With regard to other neutral countries, I may say that we have no reason whatever to suspect either improperly accredited diplomatic bags or that any cipher codes pass over the cables on the part of neutral Governments, or that any single breach of neutrality is being committed; and with out evidence that such a breach of neutrality is being committed we have no intention of withdrawing from other neutrals such rights as they at present enjoy. But I can assure the noble and gallant Lord and your Lordships that if at any time we have reason to suspect or to believe that a similar breach of neutrality is being committed by any other country, we shall certainly take similar steps to prevent the practice, from being continued.
§ LORD BERESFORDMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his reply, which I think is satisfactory. It was unintentional on my part to infer that more ships were lost than would appear. I ought to have allowed for the normal losses. I had them down, but I forgot about them. The noble Earl is quite correct in what he stated, but I do not think that he is altogether right in his statement that the number of ships lost without trace is not increasing. At all events, my information is that they are increasing and have increased during the last month, which is later than the period that I gave. However, I thank the noble Earl for his information, and I am glad to be assured that the Foreign Office are guarding against this danger in the interests of our seamen.
§ House adjourned at fifteen minutes before six o'clock.