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Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918
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Historical SummaryWhile a special "non-intervention committee" was discussing various aspects of foreign help to one side or the other in the Spanish civil war, there began a series of submarine attacks on neutral merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. The ships apparently were all carrying cargoes for the "Loyalist" Government, and the attacks occurred simultaneously at widely separated points in the Mediterranean. In September 1937 the Soviet Government openly accused Italian submarines of having torpedoed two Soviet freighters. Eventually this "piracy" led Great Britain and France to call a conference of powers to meet at Nyon near Geneva on September 10. The German and Italian governments refused to send delegates because Moscow did, but on September 14, 1937, the representatives of nine Mediterranean and Black sea powers signed the Nyon Agreement providing for an international patrol of ships and planes, chiefly British and French. Eventually Italy also joined the "piracy patrol" and soon the submarine attacks ceased.
World History 178.
International Action to Restrain Piracy in the Mediterranean During the Spanish Civil War, 1937
A. THE NYON ARRANGEMENT, SEPTEMBER 14, 193716
Whereas arising out of the Spanish conflict attacks have been repeatedly committed in the Mediterranean by submarines against merchant ships not belonging to either of the conflicting Spanish parties; and
Whereas these attacks are violations of the rules of international law referred to in Part IV of the Treaty of London of April 22nd, 1930 [Document No. 58], with regard to the sinking of merchant ships and constitute acts contrary to the most elementary dictates of humanity, which should be justly treated as acts of piracy; and
Whereas without in any way admitting the right of either party to the conflict in Spain to exercise belligerent rights or to interfere with merchant ships on the high seas even if the laws of warfare at sea are observed and without prejudice to the right of any Participating Power to take such action as may be proper to protect its merchant shipping from any kind of interference on the high seas or to the possibility of further collective measures being agreed upon subsequently, it is necessary in the first place to agree upon certain special collective measures against piratical acts by submarines:
In view whereof the undersigned, being authorised to this effect by their respective Governments, have met in conference at Nyon between the 9th and the 14th September 1937, and have agreed upon the following provisions which shall enter immediately into force:
I. The Participating Powers will instruct their naval forces to take the action indicated in paragraphs II and III below with a view to the protection of all merchant ships not belonging to either of the conflicting Spanish parties.
II. Any submarine which attacks such a ship in a manner contrary to the rules of international law referred to in the International Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armaments signed in London on April 22nd, 1930, and confirmed in the Protocol signed in London on November 6th, 1936, shall be counter-attacked and, if possible, destroyed.
III. The instruction mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall extend to any submarine encountered in the vicinity of a position where a ship not belonging to either of the conflicting Spanish parties has recently been attacked in violation of the rules referred to in the preceding paragraph in circumstances which give valid grounds for the belief that the submarine was guilty of the attack.
IV. In order to facilitate the putting into force of the above arrangements in a practical manner, the Participating Powers have agreed upon the following arrangements:
[Here follow the patrol zone delimitations, with the heaviest assignments going to the British and French fleets.]
. . . . .
Done at Nyon this fourteenth day of September nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, in a single copy, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, and which will be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the League of Nations.
[Here follow the signatures of the representatives of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Greece, Rumania, Turkey, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and Yugoslavia.]
B. AGREEMENT SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE NYON ARRANGEMENT, GENEVA, SEPTEMBER 17, 193717
Whereas under the Arrangement signed at Nyon on the 14th September, 1937, whereby certain collective measures were agreed upon relating to piratical acts by submarines in the Mediterranean, the Participating Powers reserved the possibility of taking further collective measures; and
Whereas it is now considered expedient that such measures should be taken against similar acts by surface vessels and aircraft;
In view whereof, the undersigned, being authorised to this effect by their respective Governments, have met in conference at Geneva on the seventeenth day of September and have agreed upon the following provisions which shall enter immediately into force:
I. The present Arrangement is supplementary to the Nyon Arrangement and shall be regarded as an integral part thereof.
II. The present Agreement applies to any attack by a surface vessel or an aircraft upon any merchant vessel in the Mediterranean not belonging to either of the conflicting Spanish parties, when such attack is accompanied by a violation of the humanitarian principles embodied in the rules of international law with regard to warfare at sea, which are referred to in Part IV of the Treaty of London of April 22nd, 1930, and confirmed in the Protocol signed in London on November 6th, 1936.
III. Any surface war vessel, engaged in the protection of merchant shipping in conformity with the Nyon Arrangement, which witnesses an attack of the kind referred to in the preceding paragraph shall:
(a) If the attack is committed by an aircraft, open fire on the aircraft;
(b) If the attack is committed by a surface vessel, intervene to resist it within the limits of its powers, summoning assistance if such is available and necessary.
In territorial waters each of the Participating Powers concerned will give instructions as to the action to be taken by its own war vessels in the spirit of the present Agreement.
Done at Geneva this seventeenth day of September 1937, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy, which will be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the League of Nations.
[Here follow the same signatures as to the Nyon Arrangement above.]
16 League of Nations, Treaty Series 1937–1938, vol. CLXXXI, pp. 137–140.
17 League of Nations, Treaty Series 1937–1938, vol. CLXXXI, pp. 151–152.
Contents:
Chicago:
"International Action to Restrain Piracy in the Mediterranean During the Spanish Civil War, 1937," Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918 in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, ed. Walter Consuelo Langsam and James Michael Egan (Chicage: Lippincott, 1951), 634–637. Original Sources, accessed July 3, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1175EVNM4S2BCR5.
MLA:
. "International Action to Restrain Piracy in the Mediterranean During the Spanish Civil War, 1937." Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, Vol. CLXXXI, in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, edited by Walter Consuelo Langsam and James Michael Egan, Chicage, Lippincott, 1951, pp. 634–637. Original Sources. 3 Jul. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1175EVNM4S2BCR5.
Harvard:
, 'International Action to Restrain Piracy in the Mediterranean During the Spanish Civil War, 1937' in Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918. cited in 1951, Documents and Readings in the History of Europe Since 1918, ed. , Lippincott, Chicage, pp.634–637. Original Sources, retrieved 3 July 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=1175EVNM4S2BCR5.
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