In November, 1914, four vessels of Norwegian register, the Kim, the Alfred Nobel, the Bjornstjerne Bjornson, and the Fridland, bound from New York to Copenhagen, were captured on their voyage by British warships and their cargoes were seized on the ground that the foodstuffs, which constituted the bulk of the shipments, were conditional contraband suspected of being destined for the government or armed forces of Germany.