1154 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



within three miles of the shore in such waters for purposes other than 

 the four purposes of shelter, repairs, wood, and water provided for 

 in the treaty." 



The evidence is then discussed at length, and it is established be- 

 yond any possibility of doubt that the only seizures made during that 

 period were within the 3-mile limit. 



That this was the position of Great Britain is established by the 

 orders, under which His Majesty's sloop " Dotterel," then stationed 

 on the North Atlantic coast, acted. 



Commander Hoare in a report to Rear- Admiral Lake, the 25th 

 November, 1824, to be found in the Appendix to the Case of the 

 United States, on pp. 374 to 377, stated, in answer to a complaint of 

 the owners of the American fishing-vessel " Hero," which had been 

 seized in a harbour within the 3-mile limit, that, as appears at the 

 end of the note closing on p. 377 : 



" My order to the officers of the boats has been, that any American 

 vessels they may find within three marine miles of the shore, except 

 in evident cases of distress or in want of wood or water, they are to 

 detain and send or carry them to St. Andrew's." 



This report of this British Commander I maintain conclusively 

 establishes that the orders issued by the Admiralty of Great Britain 

 in compliance with instructions from the Foreign Office of Great 

 Britain, to the vessels stationed upon the North Atlantic coast were 

 to carry out the terms of this treaty on lines in harmony with the 

 contention now put forward by the United States in this submission ; 

 and in accordance with which construction the people of the United 

 States were exercising their rights at that time. 



There was no discussion of the interpretation of the renunciatory 

 clause at that time, because there was no question raised at that time 

 about the rights of American vessels in the great bays. 



But while the fishermen were not molested in their operations 

 within the great bodies of water, unless nearer than 3 miles of the 

 shore, they were not allowed to go into the small bays, creeks, and 

 harbours indenting the coast of the larger bays, "except in evident 

 cases of distress, or in want of wood or water," and that was the 

 cause of the trouble then. 



The dispute in those days was as to whether a vessel was actually 

 in distress or not. The representatives of Great Britain demanded 

 that the vessel must be in evident distress, while on the other hand 

 the masters of the fishing-vessels of the United States contended that 

 they were tho judges of what was the nature of their distress, and as 

 to whether or not they went in for shelter, or whether they required 

 wood, or water, or whether they required repairs. That difference 

 in interpretation was a source of dispute and controversy during 

 this period, and that difference only. 



