IOR/R/15/2/759

The file comprises copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the implementation of the Navicert system in the Persian Gulf, which was intended to regulate and control shipping in and out of the Persian Gulf during wartime. The file’s principal correspondents are: the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban; Edward Birkbeck Wakefield; Major Tom Hickinbotham; Cornelius James Pelly) and representatives of the shipping agency Gray, Mackenzie & Company Limited, who had offices in Bahrain, as well as in other Gulf ports.

The file includes:

• correspondence and notices relating to the introduction of the Navicert system for steamships and dhows sailing into or out of the Persian Gulf from 15 May 1941 (f 7, f 10, f 18);
• correspondence relating to enquiries and concerns regarding the implementation of the Navicert system in the Persian Gulf, including: fears voiced by representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) that the system would duplicate the existing system of oil export licensing (ff 13-17); the use of Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] as a port for the issue for Navicerts for outgoing vessels; vessels from Dubai and Sharjah having to stop at Bandar Abbas to obtain Navicerts (ff 21-22); confusion over the Muscat Political Agency’s failure or refusal to issue Navicerts (ff 80-82);
• several letters from the Collector of Customs at Karachi, informing the Political Agent at Bahrain of vessels arriving in Karachi from the Persian Gulf with no Navicert (examples at ff 44-46), and the subsequent investigations by the Political Agent, enquiring as to why Navicerts were not issued;
• a sample of a blank Navicert application form (f 17), and two completed application forms (f 71, f 93);
• an enquiry made by the United States Consulate at Dhahran, in December 1944, concerning applications for Navicerts for oil shipments from Dhahran (f 108, ff 112-113);
• correspondence concerning two oil tankers, the Empire Bronze and the San Vito, that left Bahrain without Navicerts (ff 118-124, ff 126-135);
• correspondence between the Political Agents at Bahrain and Kuwait over the applicability of the British Government’s Oil in Navigable Waters Act (1922) to the Persian Gulf (ff 159-160);
• a letter from the Political Resident to the Political Agent at Bahrain, dated 30 November 1946, enclosing an extract from The Times, dated 25 September 1945, announcing that Navicerts would no longer be required by ships from 30 September 1946 (ff 162-163).