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France Concedes United States has Title to CSS Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

J. Ashley Roach
J. Ashley Roach*
Affiliation:
Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State
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Extract

On October 30, 1984, French divers located the wreck of the CSS Alabama in 180 feet of water about seven miles off the Normandy coast of Cherbourg. A Confederate raider, the Alabama sank after a battle with the USS Kearsarge on June 19, 1864. French researchers dove to the wreck in November 1987.

Type
Current Developments
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 381 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1991

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References

1 See 1980 Digest of United States Practice in International Law 999–1066; and U.S Navy, The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, para. 2.1.2.2 (NWP 9 (Rev.A)/FMFM 1–10, 1989). The U.S. Navy had also suggested that the United States Government oppose private salvage of the Alabama in 1969.

2 The 12-nautical-mile French territorial sea was established by Law No. 71-1060 (Dec. 24, 1971), 55 Bulletin législatif Dalloz 18 (1972).

3 Note to the Embassy of France (Feb. 26, 1988), Dep’t of State File No. P89 0132-0379; for the note of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, No. 18 DJ/MFW/DE (Jan. 5, 1988), to which it replied, see Dep’t of State File No. P89 0132-0373.

4 For the agreement, see Dep’t of State File No. P89 0132-0382.

5 The Tribunal of Arbitration established by the Treaty of Amity, May 8, 1871, United States-United Kingdom, 17 Stat. 863, TS No. 133, 12 Bevans 170, awarded the sum of $15,500,000 in gold to the United States “on account of the depredations of the Alabama and certain other Confederate cruisers fitted out in British jurisdiction.” 6 J. B. Moore, Digest of International Law 999 (1906); see also 1 J. B. Moore, History and Digest of International Arbitrations to Which the United States Has Been a Party 495, 653–59 (1898).