“We won!” The Cod Wars and the confessions of a historian who became head of state. The Proctor Memorial Lecture, presented by the British Commission for Maritime History, the Lloyd’s Register Building, London, 11 December 2025.
From 1952-1976, Britain was involved in a series of conflicts over the extension of fishing limits around Iceland. Commonly known as the Cod Wars, these disputes involved risky collisions at sea between Royal Navy frigates and Icelandic coast guard vessels. They also involved tense diplomatic negotiations where Iceland’s strategic location during the Cold War played a prominent role. Furthermore, the law of the sea was flowing in Iceland’s favour. Ultimately, Britain had to give in to Iceland’s demands and abandon the rich fishing grounds off Iceland. In this lecture, I gave a an overview of these conflicts, and mentioned in particular the challenge of creating an objective narrative about events of immense importance in the collective memory of a whole nation.
