5 SEPTEMBER 1914, Page 2

As we write on Friday morning there are two small

items of news from the North Sea. A steam drifter struck a mine on Thursday morning, thirty miles off the East Coast, and sank, and a quarter of an hour later H.M.S. 'Speedy' also struck a mine and sank. The casualties appear to be very slight indeed. The Speedy' was a torpedo gunboat close on twenty years old. We are sorry for the good ship, however old, but in all probability her crew, who are practically in undiminished strength, will be more useful in a newer vessel.