IOR/R/15/2/700

The file comprises correspondence and other papers relating to the implementation of a Ship’s Warrant Scheme by the Government of India, intended to restrict access to British port facilities during wartime to vessels that are either British, or belong to the British Commonwealth, the United States, or Britain’s allies. Vessels without a warrant would be subject to delays and inconveniences in relation to the provision of pilots and berths at British ports.

The file includes:

• copies of telegrams and extracts of letters, issued by the Government of India’s Commerce Department, relating to the implementation and rules of the Ship’s Warrant Scheme, including: detail of what countries were included/excluded from the scheme (ff 7-9); copies of the warrant, with its wording (ff 20-21); the sale of Admiralty charts under the warrant scheme (f 16); treatment of vessels without warrants (ff 24-25); changes to status of Greek, Japanese and Russian vessels in relation to the scheme and progress of the War; expiration and renewal of warrants (f 52); enforcement of the warrant scheme at Bahrain by the Bahrain port authorities and Political Agent (f 54), including an official note announcing that provision of commercial shipping facilities at Bahrain cannot be given without prior reference to the Political Agent (f 57); reports suggesting that enemy exports are being transported to Japan on board the Japanese naval vessel Asaka Maru, which should not enter a British port unless it submits to examination for enemy exports (f 60);
• correspondence between the Political Agent at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman; Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban), the Chief Local Representative of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Roger Anthony Kennedy), and tanker owners (including the Balboa Tanker Corporation and the Foreign Tankship Corporation), concerning the issue of warrants for oil tankers at Bahrain.