634 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



announced that their instructions did not permit them to 

 adopt the French proposals; and they continued to press 

 the draft article for acceptance, declaring that the question 

 of defining the limits of the maritime jurisdiction of the 

 various countries did not fall within the province of the 

 convention. The other delegates, however, did not share this 

 view, and when a complete definition was insisted on, the 

 British representatives ultimately agreed to accept the terms 

 employed in the first article of the Anglo - French convention 

 of 1867, and they submitted the following article : " The 

 fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of 

 fishery within the distance of three miles from low - water 

 mark along the whole extent of the coasts of their respective 

 countries. As regards bays, the entrances of which do not 

 exceed ten miles in width, the distance of three miles shall 

 be measured from a straight line drawn from headland to 

 headland." The counter-proposal on the part of France did 

 not materially differ from this, except by the inclusion of 

 islands, by the better definition regarding bays, and by the 

 insertion of a clause providing for the right of free navigation 

 and anchorage in territorial waters. 1 The German delegate, 

 anxious about the waters at the mouths of German rivers, 

 urged that flats or banks uncovered at low water should 

 also be included, as well as islands. This proposal had been 

 agreed to by the British Government in 1868, after correspond- 

 ence between the Foreign Office and the German Embassy 

 in London, and though apparently not now desired by Great 

 Britain, it was formally adopted.- 



The article as finally agreed upon was as follows : " The 



1 " The fishermen of each country shall enjoy the exclusive right of fishery 

 within the distance of three miles from low-water mark along the whole extent of 

 the coasts of their respective countries and of the dependent islands. As regards 

 bays, the entrances of which do not exceed ten miles in width, the distance of three 

 miles shall be measured from a straight line joining the two extreme points of the 

 bay. The present article shall not in any way prejudice the right of free navigation 

 and anchorage in territorial waters accorded to vessels of all sizes, provided they 

 conform to the special police regulations enacted by the Powers to whom the shore 

 belongs." 



2 Messrs Kennedy and Trevor to Mr Farrer, Oct. 31, 1881. In the Anglo- 

 French convention of 1S67 the British negotiators unsuccessfully pressed for the 

 insertion of the words, "the islands . . . and their dependencies." M. de Frey- 

 cinet to M. Challemel-Lacour, 2nd March 1882. 



