Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

YEAR
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
- 215 -
TABLE 7: SHIPS AND TONNAGE ENTERING DUTCH PORTS, 1912 - 1920 102
NUMBER OF VESSELS NET TONNAGE CLEARED
17,000 17,335,901
16,996 18,197,783
12,454 13,540,051
6,351 6,621,478
5,114 4,681,117
2,184 1,858,951
1,779 1,663,093
7,082 7,097,716
11,114 11,350,436
The U-boat campaigns, naval mines, and the British blockade made any sea-bound
journey into and out of the Netherlands potentially life-threatening. As the Allies and
Central Powers declared more international waters war zones, the only safe area available
was a vaargeul (sea-lane) reaching from the major Dutch ports northwards across Dogger
Bank towards the Norwegian coast. Both Gennany and Britain guaranteed that the vaargeul
would not be mined; nor would submarines operate in this small stretch of sea. The Dutch
Navy patrolled the lane up to the northern reaches of Dogger Bank. It mamled four light­
ships, operated a rescue vessel and swept the vaargeul for mines. 103 Naval ships also
escorted merchant ships tlu'ough the lane. Nevertheless, many ships still succumbed to the
war at sea, as even territorial waters proved unsafe: between 1914 and 1918, stray mines
killed 19 sailors in the waters around the Netheriands. 104 Overall, from 1915 until the end
of the war, the Vereeniging Zee Risico (the "Association for Sea Risk", which was
responsible for shipping insurance) noted 321 incidents at sea involving merchant and
101 Smit, Nederland in de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Tweede deel p. 104.
102 Monchy, "Commerce and Navigation" p. 143.
103 Bauwens et. al., In Staat van Beleg p. 60.
104 Hengel, "De mobilisatie van de zeemacht" p. 60.