asked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the total number of lives lost at sea in British ships, fishing, pleasure or merchant marine, since 1973.

Since 1973, the number of lives reported to RGSS as being lost at sea from United Kingdom vessels including pleasure craft was as follows:

Year	Number of lives lost
1974	136
1975	113
1976	94
1977	80
1978	132

The above figures exclude known suicides and lives lost due to disease and homicide.Death covered by a United Kingdom coroner's inquest or a procurator fiscal's inquiry are not included.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many British seamen died an accidental death on British merchant ships in each year since 1975; and what this represents as a proportion per 10,000 seamen.

The information is as follows:

Accidental Deaths on United Kingdom-registered Merchant Ships
	Total No. of deaths	Deaths per 10,000 seamen (estimate)
1975	77	7·2
1976	58	5·5
1977	52	5·2
1978	84	8·4

The above figures include deaths due to "casualties to vessels" and to "missing at sea".