CO885-(13-15) — Page 112

7436.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.885

Reference :-

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

7

No. 147.

(BAHAMAS.)

LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice, April 1889.

MY LORD,

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir Philip Currie's letter of the 5th ultimo, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the papers noted in the accompanying list relative to the seizure of the British schooner "Admired" last June off the coast of Florida by the United States revenue cutter " Crawford,” and the imposition of a fine upon her master by the United States authorities at Key West.

That the circumstances under which the seizure was alleged by the owners of the vessel to have taken place were to be found in their memorial of the 10th September, 1888.

That from a despatch addressed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies by the Officer Administering the Government of the Bahamas, it would appear that the British Vice-Consul at Key West had advised the owners to pay the fine, and that application should be made by the master to the authorities at Washington for its remission, but that those authorities had refused to remit the penalty.

That instructions were then sent out to Her Majesty's Minister at Washington to ascertain from the United States Government the grounds on which the seizure had taken place, and the reasons for which the United States authorities had declined to remit the fine.

That the reply of the United States Government would be found in Mr. Herbert's despatch, No. 379, of the 28th December 1888.

That in his note, dated the 18th December, Mr. Bayard stated that the proceedings of the United States authorities at Key West had been found to be correct, and forwarded certain documents intended to refute the allegation of the master of the "Admired" as to the circumstances under which the vessel was seized and the fine imposed.

EL

That among the documents was a letter from the Custom House Collector at Key West to the Commissioner of Navigation at Washington, dated the 17th November 1888, and

a letter from the Commander of the United States revenue steamer Crawford" to the Collector of Customs at Key West, dated the 15th November, which seemed to involve a claim on the part of the United States authorities to maritime jurisdiction beyond the generally recognised limit of a marine league from the mainland coast line, and directly raised the question as to whether the rock or cay upon which the lighthouse, known as the Fowey Light, was erected, and within three miles of which the vessel was arrested, could properly be considered as a "natural appendage" of the coast of Florida within the meaning of Lord Stowell's judgment in the case of the "Anna" (Christopher Robinson's Reports, p. 373).

That it appeared from the Admiralty chart annexed that the rock in question wes between five and six nautical miles distant from Cape Florida, on Cay Biscayne, about six miles from the nearest point of Sands Cay and upwards of 10 miles from the nearest mainland on the coast of Florida.

That in the case of the "Anna" above alluded to the distance from the main shore at the mouth of the Mississippi of the mud banks involved was not stated, and that it was not clear whether any of them were at a distance of more than a marine league from that shore or from each other, a matter which it was suggested might not be without some bearing on the general question.

That it was, however, pretty clear that the rock in the present case was one capable of being used by an enemy for some of the offensive purposes enumerated in Lord Stowell's judgment, although it was presumed that the mere fact of the erection of a lighthouse upon it would not of itself afford a foundation for any claim to treat it as a natural appendage of the shores under the dominion of the State which erected such lighthouse.

That a memorandum had been prepared in the Foreign Office bearing on the question as to whether maritime jurisdiction of States should be reckoned from the mainland or from the adjoining islands (see Sir E. Hertslet's memorandum of the 2nd February 1889).

A 57014.-18. 95.-1989.