[796] See Holland, Prize Law, §§ 135-136.
The Declaration of London recognises that necessity makes exceptions to the rule that vessels may not enter a blockaded port. Article 7 enacts that "in circumstances of distress, acknowledged by an officer of the blockading force, a neutral vessel may enter a place under blockade, and subsequently leave it, provided that she has neither discharged nor shipped any cargo there." It has, however, to be kept in view that article 7, firstly, does not define the term circumstances of distress, and, secondly, makes it a condition that the circumstances concerned must be acknowledged by an officer of the blockading force. Everything is, therefore, prima facie at any rate, left to the consideration of the respective officer. A vessel in distress will have to signal to the man-of-war of the blockading force which she meets within the area of operations that she intends to enter the blockaded port, and the commander of the man-of-war will have to convince himself that circumstances of distress really exist, and that no fraud is intended. The commander may deny the condition of distress, and then the vessel may not proceed, although the State whose flag she flies may ask for indemnities in case there really was distress and the vessel was lost or damaged by not being allowed to enter the blockaded port. On the other hand, when once the commander of the man-of-war has acknowledged that the respective vessel is in a condition of distress, it is not in his discretion, but he is in duty bound,[797] to allow her to enter the blockaded port.
[797] See Report of the Drafting Committee on article 7.
When Egress is not considered Breach of Blockade.
§ 387. There are a few cases of egress which, according to the hitherto prevailing practice of Great Britain and most other States, were not considered breaches of blockade outwards.[798] Thus, a vessel that was in a blockaded port before the commencement of the blockade[799] was allowed to sail from this port in ballast, as was also a vessel that had entered during a blockade either in ignorance of it or with the permission of the blockading squadron.[800] Thus, further, a vessel the cargo of which was put on board before the commencement of the blockade was allowed to leave the port afterwards unhindered.[801] Thus, again, a vessel obliged by absolute necessity to enter a blockaded port was afterwards allowed to leave it unhindered. And a vessel employed by the diplomatic envoy of a neutral State for the exclusive purpose of sending home from a blockaded port distressed seamen of his nationality was also allowed to pass unhindered.[802]
[798] See Holland, Prize Law, § 130; Twiss, II. § 113; Phillimore, III. § 313.
[799] The Frederick Moltke (1798), 1 C. Rob. 86.
[800] The Juno (1799), 2 C. Rob. 116.
[801] The Vrouw Judith (1799), 1 C. Rob. 150.
[802] The Rose in Bloom (1811), 1 Dodson, 55.