ate. The British freighter _Strathend_, of 4,321 tons, was
the first victim. Her crew were taken aboard the Nantucket Shoals
Lightship. Two other British freighters, _West Point_ and _Stephano_,
followed in short order to the bottom of the ocean. The crews of both
were saved by United States torpedo-boat destroyers which had come
from Newport as soon as news of the _U-53's_ activities had been
received there. This was also the case with the crews of the Dutch
ship _Bloomersdijk_ and the Norwegian tanker _Christian Knudsen_.

On December 20, 1916, the German admiralty announced that the total
losses inflicted on Allied and neutral merchantmen by submarines and
mines during November, 1916, amounted to 191 vessels of 408,500 tons.
Of these 138 ships of 314,500 belonged to Great Britain and her
allies, and 53 ships of 94,000 tons to neutral countries.

On November 13, 1916, the Norwegian steamship _Older_, on passage from
Newport to Gibraltar, was captured by a German submarine, which placed
a prize crew on board her. For a time the submarine remained in
company. Eventually, however, the _Older_ separated from the
submarine, apparently with the intention of making for a German port.
She was intercepted by a British ship of war, recaptured, and brought
into a British port, and the prize crew were made prisoners of war.

The losses of Allied and neutral merchantmen sunk by submarines and
mines during the month of December, 1916, according to the New York
"Journal of Commerce," totaled 134 vessels of 251,750 tons, of which
53 vessels of 157,217 tons belonged to Great Britain and her allies,
and 81 vessels of 84,533 tons to neutrals.

Among the largest of these were the following British boats: _King
Malcom_, 4,351 tons; _Reapwell_, 3,417 tons; _Luciston_, 2,948 tons;
_Moeraki_, 4,392 tons; _King Bleddyn_, 4,387 tons; _Couch_, 5,620
tons; _Tanfield_, 4,358 tons; _Avristan_, 3,818 tons; _Strathalbyn_,
4,331 tons; _Ursula_, 5,011 tons; _Bretwalda_, 4,037 tons;
_Westminster_, 4,342 tons.

The French merchant marine, in addition to a number of smaller boats,
lost: _Kangaroo_, 2,493 tons; _Emma Laurans_, 2,152 tons. One Belgian
steamer of 2,360 tons, the _Keltier_, also was sunk.

Of neutrals, the Dutch lost the _Kediri_, 3,781 tons; the Norwegians
the _Rakiura_, 3,569 tons; _Modum_, 2,942 tons; _Meteor_, 4,211 tons;
_Manpanger_, 3,354 tons; the Greeks, _Salamis_, 3,638 tons; and the
Danish, _Michail Ontchonkoff_, 2,118 tons.