IOR/R/15/2/1188

The file concerns the decision of the agents of the German Hansa Line ship SS Barenfels to declare 'general average' after the vessel ran aground at the Fesht al Djibal (a reef off the east coast of Bahrain). (The location is spelled Fesht al Dhijbal in the title of the file). General average is a legal principle of maritime law according to which all parties in a sea venture proportionally share any losses resulting from a voluntary sacrifice of part of the ship or cargo to save the whole in an emergency. Following the declaration of general average, a number of local merchants in Bahrain who had cargo on the Barenfels refused to make the required 5% payment on the invoice value of the ship's cargo or to sign the general average bond, and made various complaints against the agents. The file contains correspondence between the Political Agent, Bahrain; the Director of Customs and Port Officer, Bahrain (Claud Cranbrook Lewis deGrenier); the agents of the Hansa Line, Mohamed Sharif H. Kutbuddin Awazi and Company, Bahrain; and local merchants.

The Arabic language content of the file is largely confined to a bilingual notice in English and Arabic issued by the Director of Customs and Port Officer, Bahrain on folio 4.