IOR/R/15/2/1372

The file contains correspondence, statements made by nakhudas, bills and receipts, all related to incidents in which native vessels were wrecked or damaged in the Persian Gulf (and chiefly in the waters around Bahrain) usually as a result either of storms or collision with another vessel. The correspondence relates to: reports of the initial incidents; the salvage of cargo; rescue and repatriation of crews; the recovery of costs incurred by salvage and repatriation; insurance claims. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Agent at Bahrain (numerous incumbents); the Director of Customs at Bahrain (Claud Cranbrook Lewis deGrenier); the Residency Agent at Sharjah, who reports on shipwreck and salvage incidents on the Trucial Coast, or involving boats from the Trucial Coast.

The file includes details of numerous individual cases. The most significant cases in terms of paperwork involved include:

• the sinking of the Surab near Bushire in February 1931, with correspondence relating to: the repatriation of the crew back to Karachi; the Karachi authorities’ demands for repatriation costs to be paid by the Surab’s owner, leading to a dispute between the two parties (ff 8-30);
• a collision between the British India Steam Navigation Company steamer, the Varsova, and a fishing dhow in the waters between Qatar and Bahrain, with correspondence relating to: the recovery of eighteen crew from the dhow, which sank after the collision; failed attempts by the dhow’s owner, a Qatari subject, to make a claim in Bahrain over the loss; the Ruler of Qatar, Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī’s intervention in the affair (ff 95-124);
• the foundering of a vessel, the Fatehkarim, off the Jazirat Shaikh Shuib in February 1941, and the repatriation to Karachi of its eight crew, with correspondence including copies of indemnity bonds for the eight crew members, to cover their passage back to Karachi (ff 181-198);
• in June 1943, attempts to repatriate twelve men from Um al Qaiwain [Umm al-Qaywayn] from Colombo, where their vessel was shipwrecked, with correspondence relating to the costs and difficulties of repatriating the men, presumably a result of wartime restrictions in maritime traffic (ff 219-229);
• enquiries, from September 1944 onwards, by a Bombay [Mumbai] company, Sopher & Company, who are attempting to make an insurance claim for a vessel lost near Khor Fakkan [Khawr Fakkān], while en route from Bombay to Basrah [Basra], with correspondence including copies of notes of protest, issued by the Government of Iraq (ff 241-261).