While Iceland is not known for getting involved in wars, the country found itself in a territorial battle with Britain. The disputes are called the Cod Wars and they lasted for almost 20 years.











First, It Was Denmark vs Britain



The seas surrounding Iceland are rich with marine life, especially fish. British fishermen had been capturing cod in Icelandic waters since the 15th century. In the early 16th century, it became common to see many of their boats off the coast of the island. While Icelandic people did capture fish back then, fishing was not a major industry in the country until the 20th century.



Before there was a dispute between Iceland and Britain, there was conflict between Denmark and the British. The Danish were worried about how close British boats were fishing near Icelandic shores in the late 1800s. As I have mentioned in previous episodes, Iceland was ruled by Denmark until 1945. Denmark also governs the Faroe Islands. The invention of steam powered boats allowed for fishermen to travel to much farther distances. This meant that the amount of British vessels around the Icelandic shore started to rapidly increase.



Danish Gunboat



As a response, the Danish government claimed a fishing limit of 50 nautical miles (93 km) around Icelandic shore in 1893. The British government did not recognize the claim set by the Danish government because they felt it would damage British fishing industry.  British fishing boats continued to violate the claim by the Danish government. In retaliation, Danish gunboats would fine British trawlers that they found fishing illegally within the off limits area. The Royal Navy was deployed in 1896 and 1897 to make a show of naval force, but that only increased the tension between the nations.



A Major Incident Between the Danish & the British



One major incident, sparked the countries to finally come to an agreement. Caspian, a British steam trawler was fishing off the coast of the Faroe islands in April 1899. A Danish gunboat attempted to arrest the boat for fishing within the off limits area. When the gunboat saw that the trawler refused to stop, they first fired blank shells at the boat, but later used live ammunition. The Danish did eventually capture the Caspian but there is a bit more drama to the whole incident.  



Charles Henry Johnson, the Captain of the Caspian, had a little trick up his sleeve. Before he left to board the Danish gunboat, he ordered his mate to make a dash for it after he had safely made it to the other boat. Once Johnson was aboard the gunboat, the Caspian took off at full speed. The Danish fired on the boat but was not able to stop it from getting away. When the Caspian arrived in Grimsby, England, it was heavily damaged. Johnson was tied to the mast on the boat. Later, he was tried in a court on the Faroe Islands. He was convicted of illegal fishing and attempted assault, and was jailed for 30 days.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsOytZMRXo0




Due to this incident, the Danish and British formed the Anglo-Danish Territorial Waters agreement in 1901. It set 3 nautical mile (6 km) territorial limits for Iceland for 50 years. While it was narrowly followed, it was an important precedent.  The First World War ended the dispute for a while and decreased the fishing activity around Icelandic shores.



Iceland & The United Kingdom Start to Dispute



In 1949, Iceland started the process of repealing the Anglo-Danish Territorial Waters agreement set by Denmark & Britain in 1901. Before deciding on how many nautical miles off of their shores are off limits for British ships, they waited to hear the results from the UK-Norway Fisheries case in the International Court of Justice.



It seems that the United Kingdom had disputes with a couple of Nordic countries when it came to fishing near their shores. The ruling from the International Court of Justice was in Norway’s favor. Icelanders felt that increasing their limit from 3 nm...