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or to requisition, in accordance, in either oase, with the
Convention aforesaid. The said Privileges will also not
extend to merchant ships which show bj their build
that they arg intended for conversion into warships,
as such vessels are outside the scopo of the said Convention,
and are liable on adjudication by the Prize
Court to condemnation as prize.
7. Enemy merchant ships allowed to depart under
Articles 3 and 4 will be provided with a pass indicating
the port to which they are to proceed, and the
route they are to follow.
8. A merchant ship which, alter receipt of such
a pass, does not follow the course indicated therein
will be liable to capture.
9. If no Information reaches one of Eis Majesty’s
Principal Secretaries of State by the day and hour aforementioned
to the effect that the treatment accorded to
British merchant ships and their cargoes which were
in the ports of the enemy at the date of the outbreak
of hostilities, or which subsequently entered them, is,
in bis opinion, not less favourable than that accorded
to enemy merchand ships by Articles 3 to 8 of this
Order, every enemy merchant ship which, on the outbreak
of hostilities, was in any port to which this
Order applies, and also every enemy merchant ship
which cleared from its last port before the declaration
of war, but which, with no knowledge of the
war enters a port to which this Order applies, shall,
together with the cargo on board thefeof, be liable to
capture and shall be brought before the Prize Court
forthwith for adjudication.
10. In the event of Information reaching one of
Eis Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State that British
merchant ships which cleared from their last port
before the declaration of war, but are raet with by
the enemy at sea after the outbreak of hostilities, are
allowed to continue their voyage without interference
with either the ship or the cargo, or after capture
are released with or without proceedings for adjudication
in the Prize Court, or are to be detained during
the war or requisitioned in lieu of condemnation as
prize, he shalUnotify the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty accordingly, and shall publish a notification
thereof in the „London Gazette“, and in that event,
but not otherwise, enemy merchant ships which cleared
from their last port before the declaration of war, and
are captured after the outbreak of hostilities and
brought before the Prize Courts for adjudication, shall
be released or detained or requisitioned in such cases
and upon such terms as may he directed in the said
notification in the „London Gazette“.
11. Neutral cargo, other than contraband of war,
on board an enemy merchant ship which is not allowed
to depart from a port to which this Order applies,
shall be released.
12. In accordance with the provisions ofChapterlll
of the Convention relative to certain Restrictions on
the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Maritime War,
signed at The Eague on the 18th October, 1907, an
undertaking must, whether the merchant ship is allowed
to depart or not, be given in writing by each of
the officers and members of the crew of such vessels
who is of enemy nationality, that he will not, after
the conclusion of the voyage for which the pass is
issued, engage while hostilities last in any Service connected
with the Operation of the war. If any such
officer is of neutral nationality. an undertaking must
be given in writing that he will not serve, after the
conclusion of the voyage for which the pass is issued,
on any enemy ship while hostilities last. No undertaking
is to be required from members of the crew
who are of neutral nationality.
Officers or members of the crew dcclining to give
the undertakings required by this Article will be
detained as prisoners of war.
And the Lords Commissioners of Bis Majesty’s
Treasury, the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty,
and each of Eis Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State,
and all Governors, Officers, and Anethorities whom it
may concern are to give the necessary diroctions
herein as to them may respectively apportain.
Notification of the Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs as to the Treatment accorded
to British Merchant Ships and their Cargoes
in German Ports.
On the night of August 4th, 1914, the Secretary
of State received the sollewing notice from thu German
Ambassador: —
„The Imperial Government will keep
merchant vessels flying the British flag internet!
in German harbours, but will liberale them if
the Imperial Government receive a counter
undertaking from the British Government within
forty-eight hours.“
On August öth a copy of the Order in Council
issued on August 4th as to the treatment of enemy
merchant vessels in British ports at the date of the
outbreak of hostilities was communicatod to the Ambassador
of the United States in London, who was
then in Charge of German Interests in this country,
with a request that he would be so good as to cause
enquiry to be made of the German Government as to
whether the term of Articles III. to VIEL of the
Order in Council constituted an undertaking of the
nature the German Government required, and under
which they would liberale merchant vessels flying the
British flag interned in German harbours.
On August 7th a communication was received from
the United States Embassy that the United States
Minister at Stockholm had sent the following telegram
signed by the United States Ambassadpr at Berlin : —
„Please state if England has issued Proclamation
that she gives permission to enemy ships
to leave British ports until midnight, August 14tb.
If this is so, Germany will issue eorrosponding
Orders. Reply through German Legation, Stockholm.“
