IOR/R/15/2/944

The file comprises correspondence relating to Sharjah’s sovereignty over the islands of Abu Musa [Abū Mūsá] and Tunb, chiefly in response to a Persian challenge to this sovereignty over Abu Musa. The principal correspondents in the file are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay); British Embassy representatives at Tehran; and representatives of the British Navy, including the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf, and Captain Richard Courage of HMS Flamingo.

The file contains:

• correspondence relating to reports of the visit of a Persian warship at Abu Musa in February 1951, including: initial reports of the intention of Persian officials to visit Abu Musa to take a census of the population and distribute identity cards (f 36); British arrangements to send a vessel to investigate the claims, including discussion of whether the Ruler of Sharjah should accompany them; a report by Captain Richard Courage of HMS Flamingo of his visit to Abu Musa in March 1951, with notes on red oxide mining operations on the island, ownership of the island, the visit of a Persian warship on 25 February 1951, and details of a conversation held between a Persian officer and a shopkeeper on the island (ff 15-17); the Political Resident’s recommendation that the new ruler of Sharjah should visit Abu Musa more frequently;
• correspondence between the Political Agent at Bahrain (William Scott Laver) and the Political Resident, November 1951, relating to efforts to trace papers on the history of the ownership of Tunb island in the Residency archives. A copy of a note on the ownership of Tunb, undated, is also included (ff 5-6).