Britain extends its contraband list

On 21 September 1914 King George V issued a proclamation that extended the British list of contraband of war. The new rules applied in the war with both Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The proclamation added eight items to the list of conditional contraband, that is, goods that could be seized if they were destined for the enemy’s armed forces or authorities: raw copper, lead in pigs, sheets and pipes, glycerine, ferrochrome, haematite and magnetite iron ore, rubber and raw or partly tanned hides and skins. These were raw materials essential to the armaments industry. Copper was used to make cartridge cases and the driving bands of shells, glycerine to make nitroglycerine, and rubber to make tyres and seals.

The proclamation stated plainly that these goods would be treated as contraband notwithstanding the provisions of Article 28 of the Declaration of London. That article contained the so-called free list, that is, goods that could never be declared contraband. Among others, it included rubber, metal ores and raw hides. Britain, which had already changed the rules for applying the declaration in August, thus took a further step in circumventing it.

The change struck above all at the trade of neutral states. The United States was a major exporter of copper, and cargoes bound for neutral ports in the Netherlands, Scandinavia or Italy were increasingly seized on the grounds that they would end up in Germany. This provoked protests from American exporters and from the government in Washington. The list of 21 September did not remain in force for long. On 29 October it was replaced by a new proclamation, which considerably extended the list of absolute contraband.