61 Chapter Vii. the Political Development As to The

CHAPTER VII.

THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AS TO THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR DURING AND AFTER THE WAR 1914-1918.

. A.

The political development. " Section 35. The Straits of Gibraltar, the Lighthouse on Cape Spartel and Tangier during the War I9I4-I8.

In spite of determined efforts, the Allies did not succeed during the war in effectively barring the Straits of Gibraltar ' z 9I ¢-I 8 since the considerable depth of the Straits rendered effective measures to close them against submarines impossible( I ) . The first German submarine Commander (U 21, Hersing) passed through ' the Straits on May 6th, 1915 to the great amazement of the Allies, who however considered it to be such an isolated case that they hardly strengthened the watch. After that German submarines frequently passed through the Straits which was passed by submarines in all up to Nov. I9I8, and these were stationed in the Adriatic. When at the close of October I 9 I 8 the Austrian fleet had to be handed over to the Jugoslav National Council these submarines had to make their way home. One had to be interned in Barcelona but of the remaining 1 ¢, 13 succeeded in slipping through the Straits on the night of 8-9th November 1918, and - - only one U 3¢ was sunk outside Ceuta. But the Allies suf- fered still a greater loss since one of the submarines passing through, U 50, sank the English 16.00o tons warship "Britannia" in the Straits on the morning of 9th November(2). Even if they did not succeed in closing the Straits to submarines, the Allies how- " ever completely controlled merchant shipping. Further the Straits played an important part as the meetingplace for merchant ships which here obtained their instructions and were furnished with anti- submarine guns for the journey through the Mediterranean (or from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom) or left such guns behind before the journey across the Atlantic.

(i) As to the unsuccessful attempts to prevent the German submarines from passing Gibraltar see Official History of the War, Naval Operations, Vol. I, pp. i 68-69, and Jellicoe: The crisis of the naval war, London 1920. (2) Hermann, pp. 66-69. 62

The Straits played a still greater part in this respect after the convoying of merchant ships in the route between the United King- dom and Cape Spartel had commenced in That the Allies with the help of the convoy system were able to avoid the most serious results of the activity of the Geman submarines in these waters was to a large extent due to the possession of Gibraltar ( 2 ) . The special regime which applied to the lighthouse on Cape Spartel was violated by France who immediately war broke out, removed the lighthouse keeper, Herr Gumpert, on the ground that he was an Austrian and thus an enemy subject, and herself took over the administration of the lighthouse without even in- forming the other signatories of the Treaty of 1865 of this, still less obtaining their consent. This infringement upon the legal status agreed to for the lighthouse was however of theoretical importance only owing to the political situation existing at the outbreak of war. From the fact that during the whole of the war, the dismissed lighthouse keeper's salary was paid to him by the international commission while France paid the salary of the acting lighthouse . keeper, and from the fact that the first was immediately after the war reinstated it is possible to infer that France was quite aware that her action had been tinlawful(3). With respect to Tangier it seemed on the first days of the war that the city's special character would be respected in spite of the fact that no formally binding settlement of its special legal posi- tion had been reached. While immediately on the outbreak of war France interned all German subjects in Morocco, she left the Ger- man colony in Tangier undisturbed. But this did not last long for as early as August loth, 1014. the Sultan handed the diplomatic representatives of Germany and Austria-Hungary in Tangier their passports and the two diplomats and the personnel of the legation were taken to Palermo on board a French cruiser while the building and archives of the German legation were placed under the protection of the United States. Both Germany and Austria- Hungary protested against this action on the ground that Tangier and the surrounding territory formed an international zone under the control of the diplomtic representatives of the signatories of

See Naval Operations IV, pp. 31s. (2) As to Gibraltar's importance as a point d'appui for the Mediterranean fleet, see Naval Operations II, p. iqi. (3) Otherwise the lighthouse keeper was only officially associated with Austria, since his family had for a great number of years lived in Morocco and looked after the lighthouse since its erection i. e. about 50 years.