The object of this book, the first of a three-volume history, is to show how seaborne trade was affected during the war by naval operations and by conditions having their origin in the naval situation. It is not concerned with the achievements of the Royal and Merchant Navies but rather with the result of those achievements. The early months of the war are covered in this volume when the German attack on commerce was carried out mainly by surface cruisers such as Emden, Karlsruhe and others and by armed merchant vessels such as Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. The force of this attack was effectively broken at the Battle of the Falklands in December 1914, though the last of the original raiders was not accounted for till April 1915. Appendices provide tables of shipping losses of combatants and neutrals and statistics of cargoes and costs, of imports and exports. Part of the British official history set for World War I.