IOR/R/15/2/553

The file contains correspondence relating to Japanese shipping activities in the Persian Gulf, 1934 to 1940. Topics discussed include:

• visits by Japanese trawlers to the region, possible justifications for excluding them from docking at local reports and how to discourage Japanese commercial penetration of the Arab coast;
• the impact of large Japanese trawlers and associated equipment on the health of the pearling banks;
• possible justifications in international law to deny to non-Arab vessels access to the pearling banks.
• the visit in 1938 of a Japanese naval tanker to collect fuel oil.

The file includes maps of the pearling banks including a sketch map drawn by Charles Dalrymple Belgrave (IOR/W/R/15/2/553).

Correspondents include: Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Percy Loch, Political Agent, Bahrain; Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, Adviser to the Government of Bahrain; C C Lewis de Grenier, Director of Customs, Government of Bahrain; Sir Trenchard Craven Fowle, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf; and the Mesopotamia Persia Corporation;