Contraband of War: A term applied to various articles which are regarded as being of sufficient help to an enemy to prolong a war that the transportation of such articles to him, especially by ships, is prohibited. Each nation has its own list of contraband articles. Great Britain distinguishes between absolute and conditional contraband, according to the text of an Order in Council relating to enemy merchant ships, and a Royal proclamation specifies the following articles to be treated as absolute contraband:
- Arms of all kinds, including arms for sporting purposes and their distinctive component parts;
- Projectiles, charges and cartridges of all kinds, and their distinctive component parts;
- Powder and explosive specially prepared for use in war;
- Gun mountings, limber-boxes, limbers, military wagons, field-forges, and their distinctive component parts;
- Clothing and equipment of a distinctly military character;
- Saddle, draught and pack animals, suitable for use in war;
- Articles of camp equipment and their distinctive component parts;
- Armour plates;
- Warships, including boats and their distinctive com-ponent parts of such a nature that they can only be used on a vessel of war;
- Aeroplanes, airships, balloons, and aircraft of all kinds and their component parts, together with accessories and articles recognisable as intended for use in connection with balloons and aircraft;
- Implements and apparatus designed exclusively for the manufacture of munitions of war, for the manufacture or repair of arms or war material, for use on land and sea.
The following articles will be treated as conditional contraband:
- Foodstuffs;
- Forage and grain suitable for feeding animals;
- Clothing fabrics for clothing and boots and shoes, suitable for use in war;
- Gold and silver in coin or bullion, paper money;
- Vehicles of all kinds available for use in war, and their component parts;
- Vessels, craft, and boats of all kinds, floating docks, parts of docks, and their component parts;
- Railway material both fixed and rolling stock, and materials for telegraph, wireless telegraphs, and telephones;
- Fuel, lubricants;
- Powder and explosives not specially prepared for use in war;
- Barbed wire, and implements for fixing and cutting the same;
- Horseshoes and shoeing materials;
- Harness and saddlery; field-glasses, telescopes, chronometers, and all kinds of nautical instruments. [1]
References / notes
- ↑ Various contributors (1914). The War Book-of-Facts. 2nd Edition. A.W. Shaw Company, London p.139-140.
The above term is listed in our Compendium of the Great War.
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