IOR/R/15/2/716

The file comprises copies of correspondence related to enquiries from British naval authorities in the Persian Gulf and Suez Canal, asking after the availability of various marine resources (motorised and sailing dhows, divers, barges) for procurement by the naval authorities for military means. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban); the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf (SNOPG: Commodore Cosmo Moray Graham); the Customs and Port Director at Bahrain (Claud Cranbrook Lewis DeGrenier).

The file includes:

• an enquiry made in February 1941 by the SNOPG as to whether the Ruler of Dubai would be prepared to sell or lease his motor launch; with a reply in June 1941 that the launch can be brought for 30,000 rupees, but is not for hire (ff 2-4, f 19-20);
• an enquiry made in March 1941 by the SNOPG to the Political Agents in the Persian Gulf, as to the availability of large ocean-going dhows (over one-hundred tons), urgently required for use in the Suez Canal. Correspondence includes the Political Agent in Bahrain’s enquiry to the Port Director at Bahrain, and his replies, which included a list of sailing dhows at Bahrain (not included in the file) and his recommendation that laid-up dhows at Bahrain be purchased and refurbished by the Admiralty (ff 6-8, ff 10-12, ff 15-18);
• a request, forwarded by the SNOPG from the Senior British Naval Officer (SBNO) Suez Canal, dated 9 March 1941, for native divers to work in the Suez Canal, searching for mines (ff 13-14);
• proposals made by the Political Agent at Bahrain, and sanctioned by the Political Resident, of a mine-watching organisation at the Sitrah anchorage in Bahrain, entailing the stationing of a company of Indian State troops (ff 26-30);
• an enquiry made in December 1941, forwarded from Britain’s Ambassador at Cairo, for bulk oil barges available for sale, with details of price, capacity and draught, for use in the Suez Canal. Replies from representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC) state that no such barges can be spared (ff 33-35).