IOR/R/15/2/1382

The file comprises miscellaneous correspondence concerning shipping in the Persian Gulf, including:

• in March 1936, an enquiry from the Director of the Bahrain Customs House concerning the visit of the SS Arabistan to Muscat in February 1936 (ff 3-6);
• in June 1936, a notice issued at Bahrain by the Strick & Ellerman Line, announcing that they are unable to accept Dubai cargo with transhipment at other ports (ff 9-11);
• correspondence dated April 1938 relating to the Ruler of Qatar’s introduction of dues on sailing boats in Qatar ports, and the response of Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited to the introduction of these dues, in light of their reliance on imports of fresh water from Bahrain (ff 14-19);
• correspondence dated April 1939 relating to an enquiry from the Residency at Mukalla [Al-Mukallā] of the whereabouts of a dhow carrying forty passengers, feared lost at sea (ff 20-23);
• correspondence dated 1942 relating to a Government of India notice concerning measures to prevent the overloading of vessels, in order to prevent the jettisoning of valuable cargo at sea (ff 24-26);
• correspondence dated August 1944 relating to efforts by a Tehran-based company to obtain a port manifest from Dubai, for a vessel that departed from Dubai to Khorramshahr in July 1943 (ff 29-36);
• a letter relating to several incidents taking place in 1948, in which Arab dhows were boarded by an Iranian naval garrison near Kharg Island [Jazīreh-ye Khārk], which confiscated large amounts of money from the Arab dhow crews (f 40). Follow-up correspondence related to compensation payments made against these incidents can be found in IOR/R/15/2/1373;
• correspondence dated from February 1949 relating to a complaint made by a subject of Umm al Qaiwain [Umm al-Qaywayn] against the Iranian authorities at Bushire, after the confiscation of rifles and a sword from his dhow. Subsequent Government correspondence concerns the usefulness of an arms permit system on the Trucial Coast (ff 41-47);
• correspondence dated August 1949 relating to the Government of Bahrain’s refusal to give an individual named Tayeb Konji the authority to act as a shipping agent, due to his lack of experience (ff 49-42).