The Case of the Tavignano, the Camouna and the Gaulois (International Commission of Inquiry)

Facts

On 25 January 1912, during the Turco-Italian war, the French mail steamer Tavignano was seized by the Italian torpedo boat Fulmine off the coast of Tunis and conducted to Tripoli under suspicion of having on board contraband of war. The suspicion proved to be unwarranted and the vessel was released on the following day. On the same date, in the same waters, the two Tunisian mahones, Camouna and Gaulois, were fired upon by the Italian torpedo boat Canopo.

The French Government claimed indemnity for these acts from the Italian Government on the ground that the vessels when encountered were within the territorial waters of Tunis and were not, according to international law, subject to either attack or capture. On the other hand, Italy maintained that the acts complained of took place on the high seas and that no rule of international law had been violated.

The cases were submitted to a commission of inquiry by agreements signed 15 April and 20 May 1912.

Questions submitted to the Commission

1. To investigate, mark and exactly determine the exact geographic point where occurred: (a) the capture of the French mail steamer Tavignano by the Royal Italian naval vessel Fulmine on 25 January 1912, and (b) the pursuit of the mahones Camouna and Gaulois by the Royal Italian naval vessel Canopo, and the firing by the latter upon the said mahones.
2. To determine exactly the hydrography, configuration and nature of the coast and of the neighbouring banks, the distance between any points which one of the other of the Commissioners might deem useful to mark, and the distance from these points to those where the above-mentioned deed occurred.

Report of the Commission

The Commissioners, after having examined and compared all data gathered both from the documents presented by the two Parties and from the evidence in the case, and after having weighed this evidence, concluded that the evidence and documents presented were not of a nature to permit determination of the exact geographical points where the various acts submitted to inquiry had occurred, but merely the zones in which they had occurred, it being impossible to decide upon an exact point in the zones.

Regarding the point where the Tavignano stopped, the Commission determined that this was within the area of a rectilinear quadrilateral set off by the following four apexes:

• Apex C...          Latitude          33°29'20 North,

                                  Longitude         8°56'40 East of Paris.

• Apex B...          Latitude          33°29'10 North,

                                  Longitude         8°55'10 East of Paris.

• Apex A...          Latitude          33°26'30 North,

                                  Longitude         8°54'40 East of Paris.

• Apex D...          Latitude          33°26'30 North,

                                  Longitude         8°56'20 East of Paris.

Regarding the pursuit of the mahones, the Commission found that the Fulmine, setting out from an indeterminate point in the zone above define, had pursued the mahones, perhaps going out of that zone, in a direction impossible to determine definitely but which was either southeast or southwest by south.

The pursued mahones were located at the following points, which are the centers of inexact circles of half-mile radii:

• Camouna       Latitude          33°24'10 North,

                                Longitude         9°00'15 East of Paris.

• Gaulois          Latitude          33°22'40 North,

                                Longitude         8°56'20 East of Paris.

After this pursuit, the Fulmine had returned to moor near the Tavignano, at point H, which the Commission chose as the center of an inexact circle of a half-mile radius.

The Commission found that the Canopo had cannonaded the Gaulois when that mahone was at a point indicated above and when it (the Canopo) was proceeding in a northerly direction from the point indicated in its logbook by

                                  Latitude          33°20'45 North,

                                  Longitude         9°00'50 East of Paris.

which point the Commission also adopted as the center of an inexact circle of a half-mile radius.

The Commission, after its visit to the localities and after verification in the waters of Zarzis, decided, in reporting, to use for the hydrography, confirmation and nature of the coast and neighbouring banks French Hydrographic Service Card No. 4247. The Commission recalled that its verification was the object of the procès-verbal of 15 July 1912, numbered 68.

Case information