640 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



carried with them, no less than the mainland, the belt of ter- 

 ritorial sea. The inclusion of banks was, however, novel, and 

 was not received with favour by the British Government. It 

 was feared that it would lead to difficulties and complications 

 in future if such banks as the Goodwin Sands, which were 

 situated beyond the three-mile limit, and the similar banks on 

 the German and Dutch coasts, were held to be territorial 

 dependencies of the coast; and so strong was the objection of 

 the British Government to their inclusion, that they instructed 

 their ambassadors abroad, if an objection was raised by any 

 Power, to have this definition reconsidered. 1 The objection is 

 theoretically well founded. Sand-banks of this character may 

 be not permanent, and usually vary in extent, configuration, and 

 position with lapse of time and even after a single tempest ; 

 and the extent of sea appendent will vary likewise. It would 

 thus be difficult to fix a precise and permanent limit in con- 

 nection with them. Moreover, since the banks may be covered 

 by the sea except at low-water without losing their territorial 

 value, it would sometimes require more than ordinary care on 

 the part of foreign fishing-boats to avoid infringing the limit 

 around them. On the other hand, for the purpose of regula- 

 tions designed to protect fish life, such as are referred to in the 

 sequel, banks of this nature are of especial value ; and, in point 

 of fact, few difficulties in practice appear to have arisen on this 

 score in carrying out the convention. 2 



1 Dispatch to Hon. E. Ashley, 17th Nov. 1881 ; Earl Granville to Her Majesty's 

 Representatives at Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, 

 6th December 1881. 



2 A case occurred in 1908 in which the master of an English trawler, the Taunts, 

 was convicted in a German court for trawling within the three-mile limit on the 

 German coast, and the case was appealed on the ground that the place was outside 

 the territorial waters, and was so shown on the English fishery charts. It was 

 found, however, that the three-mile line on these charts did not take into account 

 the dependent banks, whereas the German charts did take them into account, the 

 limit running in some cases six or seven miles from the coast. It may be men- 

 tioned that as considerable parts of the Goodwin Sands are visible at low-water of 

 neap tides, such parts are entitled to a three-mile limit in the same way as the 

 dependent banks on the German coast. Recently, also, it has been found that 

 the three-mile limit in the neighbourhood of the Scaw fluctuates considerably 

 owing to the shifting of the shoals, and the Danish authorities, early in 1907, 

 intimated that any case of alleged infraction of the limit by foreign fishing 

 vessels would be judged of by the actual position of the line at the time, and 

 not by what may be shown on any chart in use. The point in regard to banks was 



