IOR/R/15/2/710

The file comprises correspondence and reports relating to outward trade from Bahrain and the ports of the Trucial Coast to the ports of the Red Sea and East Africa, in response to concerns that some cargoes (and in particular oil) were reaching Italian East Africa and Italian-occupied British Somaliland. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban); the Director of Customs for the Government of Bahrain (Claud Cranbrook Lewis DeGrenier); the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast (Captain Roy Douglas Metcalfe); and the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf (SNOPG: Commodore Cosmo Moray Graham).

The file includes:

• correspondence concerning regular checks on the frequency of cargo-carrying dhows (and the nature of the cargo they are carrying), travelling from Bahrain, Muscat and the Trucial Coast, to the Red Sea and East Africa, including: a secret telegram from the SNOPG to the Political Agents in the Gulf, dated 13 December 1940, requesting frequent summaries on cargoes and destinations of dhow traffic from the Persian Gulf (f 24); assessments of the extent of dhow traffic from the Gulf to Aden and beyond (ff 16-21, ff 39-40); regular reports, from early 1941 onwards, from the Director of Customs at Bahrain on dhow traffic from Bahrain (beginning ff 57-58), and from the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast (beginning f 74); regular reports of dhow traffic and cargoes headed north towards the Gulf, sent by the Chief Secretary at Dar es Salaam [Dār as-Salām] (from f 96); a letter from the Political Agent to the Director of Customs at Bahrain, dated 22 September 1941, informing him that regular reports on dhow movements are no longer required (f 131);
• correspondence between the Political Agent at Bahrain and representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC) on whether oil and other supplies were being transported from Bahrain to Saudi Arabian ports, either overland or by sea (ff 3-6);
• warnings from the SNOPG and other officials that dhow traffic travelling in close proximity to the coast of Italian East Africa does so at its own risk (f 9, f 49, ff 53-56);
• proposals for the searching of dhows in order to intercept illicit traffic (ff 51-52);
• information on shipments of oil products, such as kerosene from Gulf ports to the Red Sea (ff 80-81);
• correspondence concerning the introduction of identity cards for dhow crews using Eritrean ports, and British proposals to introduce a similar system at Aden and the Persian Gulf ports (ff 132-139).