2 FEBRUARY 1918, Page 2

The Admiralty return for last week of losses by mine

or submarine was less favourable. We lost nine large merchantmen over 1,600 tons and six smaller vessels, as compared with five large and two small vessels in the previous week, and four large ships and one small ship in the week before that. The big Cunard liner ' Andania,' outward bound, was torpedoed off the Ulster coast last Saturday and sank as she was being towed into port. The passengers and all but two of the crew were saved. The well-known Irish Channel steamer, the ' Cork,' was torpedoed last Sunday, twelve persons being drowned. These outrages, which we must never allow ourselves to regard as normal incidents of war, point to a renewed effort on the enemy's part. The U '-boats have been checked, but are by no means disposed of.