Grand Harbour in Malta, a British possession that initially served as a base for French as well as British ships. At the Malta conference, March 2 to 9, 1916, the French agreed move their base. They first went to Argostoli in Cephalonia, then to Corfu. In the message, the writer notes that they are no longer in Malta, but in Corfu, and that the enemy submarines are rather numerous.
Malta - Grand HarbourReverse:Message from Corfu dated 23 January, likely 1917. [The French fleet had moved from an Allied base on the British possession of Malta to Corfu after the March 1916 Malta conference.]
"The Malta conference, 2-9 March 1916, covered a wide range of questions. . . . The most important decisions of the conference naturally concerned the antisubmarine war . . . The British also assumed control of most of the Aegean, including the island of Crete. . . . The French commander in chief and the French fleet also shifted their base from Malta, which was now becoming too crowded and was in the midst of the British zone. The French went first to Argostoli in Cephalonia where they would be better situated to intercept the Austrian fleet. They subsequently moved to Corfu . . ."
On December 3, 1915, the Allies had agreed to divide the Mediterranean Sea into eighteen zones, ten French, four British, and four Italian. At the Malta conference in March, they reduced these to eleven. Because the Allies had insufficient warships to escort all shipping, escorts were confined to secret defined routes between two points.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 386, 387, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
1916-03-03, 1916, March, Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Malta, Malta Conference
