The Spanish Establishment has always been well known as re-writers and suppressors of historical facts; most of all in relation to the Rock of Gibraltar. At the present time this is truly evident from their denial of the existence of British Territorial Waters around Gibraltar. Research in London and Madrid shows that Spain recognised Gibraltar's right to the sea around it as far back as 1728.
This fact is disclosed in a Memorandum signed by General Prim in 1844. It is contained in the Archives of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inder the Political Section, Gibraltar, Leg. 2483. This document affirms that a Royal Order of 1728 established the boundaries recognised by Spain after the Treaty of Utrecht as follows: “ ... by sea, the limit will not exceed the appropriate waters of the land they adjoined. In effect, the limits should be: to the North the most advanced parallel of the Rock, which included all the waters pertaining to the Old Wharf; to the West, the median line of the Bay, and outside it, to the South and East, where they do not concur with Spanish waters, the Gibraltar waters should not reach further than the normal range of guns”. (This last point was for years highly debatable, but, today it is universally accepted as three miles).
This fact is disclosed in a Memorandum signed by General Prim in 1844. It is contained in the Archives of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inder the Political Section, Gibraltar, Leg. 2483. This document affirms that a Royal Order of 1728 established the boundaries recognised by Spain after the Treaty of Utrecht as follows: “ ... by sea, the limit will not exceed the appropriate waters of the land they adjoined. In effect, the limits should be: to the North the most advanced parallel of the Rock, which included all the waters pertaining to the Old Wharf; to the West, the median line of the Bay, and outside it, to the South and East, where they do not concur with Spanish waters, the Gibraltar waters should not reach further than the normal range of guns”. (This last point was for years highly debatable, but, today it is universally accepted as three miles).
At the time of General Prim the British claim to Territorial Waters around Gibraltar exceeded the above limits. The British claimed its sovereignty extended to Punta Mala as expressed in a Memorandum at the Public Records Office, referred to as Colonial Office, 91-340 (1876).
The British and Gibraltar Governments should ensure these documents are brought to the notice of European Judges, in the Court Case concerning the Territorial Waters.
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