Captain Dove maintained that Africa Shell was in Portuguese waters, while Hans Langsdorff placed the ship in international waters. Before GPS, a navigator's position could be uncertain by two or three miles, enough to make the legal status difficult to establish. The location mattered because an attack inside Portuguese waters would violate the sovereignty of a neutral state. Langsdorff usually tried to avoid provoking neutral powers, although the account suggests that he was more willing to risk a Portuguese complaint in order to sink the ship.
Chapter · 0:33-1:50
Africa Shell and the neutral-waters dispute
The sinking of SS Africa Shell led to a dispute over whether Admiral Graf Spee had attacked inside Portuguese territorial waters, a question that pre-GPS position-fixing could not settle precisely.