Allied blockade in the Mid-East Atlantic during the First World War: cruisers against commerce-raiders

What is it about?

The commercial routes of the South Atlantic played an essential role in the provisioning of Britain before the First World War. These routes, given their crowded shipping lanes, represented a promising hunting ground for German cruisers once the war began. Among the places that were considered most productive for the cruiser war were the Canary Islands and therefore the Allies attempted to blockade ports and control communications in the vicinity of the islands.1 The purpose of this blockade was to prevent the islands from being used for provisioning and transmitting news to German cruisers, especially auxiliary cruisers. In this sense, the Allies stimulated, through diplomatic pressure, the surveillance they believed the Spanish authorities should exercise. However, they relied mainly on their own means and actions: direct surveillance of British cruisers, which in the Canary Islands area corresponded to the Ninth and Fifth Cruiser Squadrons.

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