there is no lawful means by which the owner could hope to prevent it, save by appealing to a British court, which means the owner recognizes the sovereignty of Britain.
perhaps a simple matter of semantics, but does one necessarily follow the other?
That is to say (and, please forgive my ignorance on the matter), I assume that non-British citizens can petition the court and do have some standing to sue (just as non-citizens can be sued by the British court) to redress some wrong.
If that is the case, does asking the British courts to issue an injunction against the British Navy necessitate a recognition of sovereignty?
and if such a request of the court does imply such a recognition, where is the line drawn? Can the United States, or Mexico, or China ask the British government to refrain from blowing up their stuff without such a recognition?
and to where would the recognition apply? Do we acknowledge that the British possess total sovereignty (of all it surveys), or simply sovereignty over its own Navy, or would it be sovereignty over the requesting nation?