CHAPTER II

THE WAR ZONE DECREES AND GERMANY'S SUBMARINE "BLOCKADE’

THE right to use submarines against merchant vessels-and it is the assertion by Germany of that right to which the United States has objected-is bound up with the question of war zones, strategic areas from which private vessels are warned. The latter problem is a new one in international law and as yet largely unregulated. One of the first applications of the principle that a certain portion of the high seas may be designated by belligerents; that therein they may exercise their rights of capture and sinking to the fullest degree, and that neutral vessels are more likely to come to grief on account of hostile operations, was in a Japanese ordinance issued two weeks before the outbreak of the war with Russia. Instead of a war zone the restricted vicinity was called a "defense sea

area," and among other regulations merchant vessels were forbidden ingress and egress at night. This involved no important questions of international law,1 but in spite of the indefiniteness of the rules concerning war zones, several considerations may be ventured.

In the first place, while neutral vessels may be warned of impending danger if they enter the specified areas, it is indisputable that merely by conveying such a warning the belligerent acquires no additional rights within the zone other than those he has outside. The waters which are sought to be restricted remain a portion of the high seas and the neutral has a right to navigate them. Furthermore, while the Second Hague Peace Conference refused to adopt the proposal of the British delegation that the laying of mines in the open seas be absolutely prohibited, it is doubtful whether a belligerent has any right to sow mines in such places that neutral ships will be destroyed while engaged in peaceful navigation.2

1

1A good discussion of the problem is to be found in International Law Situations, 1912, pp. 114-139.

'Two recent English writers of high authority attach "no special importance to the declaration issued by the British

A war zone in the present conflict was first declared by Great Britain on October 13, 1914, when an Admiralty announcement stated that His Majesty's Government had authorized a mine laying policy in certain areas, and that it would be dangerous for ships to cross these limits. This was simply a notice to mariners but three weeks later (November 3rd), the Admiralty announced that since the Germans had scattered mines indiscriminately on the main trade route from America to Liverpool via the North of Ireland with the subsequent destruction of innocent ships (and the White Star Liner Olympic had had a lucky escape), it would be "necessary to adopt exceptional measures appropriate to the novel conditions under which this war is being waged." Notice was therefore given

“that the whole of the North Sea must be considered a military area. Within this area merchant shipping Admiralty affecting to make the North Sea 'a military area. All that such a declaration can effect is to put neutrals on guard: to inform them that their presence in such waters will be regarded as suspicious, and that, when navigating there, they will be more than ordinarily liable to charges of contraband trading or of unneutral service. Probably no more is meant.' T. Baty and J. H. Morgan, War: Its Conduct and Legal Results, pp. 224-225.

of all kinds, traders of all countries, fishing craft, and all other vessels will be exposed to the gravest dangers from mines which it has been necessary to lay, and from warships searching vigilantly by night and day for suspicious craft. All merchant and fishing vessels of every description are hereby warned of the dangers they encounter by entering this area except in strict accordance with Admiralty directions. Every effort will be made to convey this warning to neutral countries and to vessels on the sea, but from the 5th of November onward the Admiralty announce that all ships passing a line drawn from the northern point of the Hebrides through the Faroe Islands to Iceland do so at their own peril."

Ships wishing to trade with Norway, Denmark, Holland, etc., were advised to come by the English Channel where they would be given sailing directions for a safe passage. Adherence to the routes advised would permit commerce to reach its destination, "so far as Great Britain is concerned, but any straying even for a few miles from the course thus indicated, may be followed by fatal consequences." In a statement made to the House of Commons on November 17th, Mr. Asquith said that for the first two months of the war Great Britain had ab

stained absolutely from the use of mines outside of British territorial waters; but Germany, the Admiralty declared, using a merchant vessel flying a neutral flag had sowed mines indiscriminately, and thus "wantonly and recklessly endangered the lives of all who travel on the sea regardless of whether they are friend or foe, civilian or military in character." A counter measure was therefore necessary.

Against this action, the United States entered no protest. But, while the wisdom of acquiescence seems doubtful, and while even by the British measure the lives of noncombatants were endangered, England's command of the seas enabled her to afford pilots to American ships and to reduce to a minimum the possibility of disaster so far as the mines laid by her were concerned. And England, it should be remembered, expressed the desire to safeguard neutral interests in every possible manner, and notified neutrals of the dangerous area in accordance with the Hague Convention. The German mine laying was surreptitious and was denied, but that it was prior to the British measure seemed established. The German "war