IOR/L/PS/10/216

The volume consists of correspondence relating to a British naval blockade designed to stem the flow of arms through Muscat and Oman. The correspondence is mostly between the Foreign Office, the Government of India, and the India Office. Further correspondence is included as enclosures and is from the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Political Agency at Muscat, Persian Gulf Section of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, Naval Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Shaikh Mubarak-as-Sabah of Kuwait [Mubarak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ], and Sultan Seyyid Faisal bin Turki [Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Sayyid] of Muscat. The papers include hand-written drafts of letters and printed collections of correspondence relating to the matter at hand.

The papers cover several matters, including:

• the question of compensating the Sultan due to losses incurred by the blockade;
• proposals to regulate the trade through compulsory passes for export of arms from Muscat;
• discussion and negotiations over a proposed agreement with the Sultan over regulation;
• the discussion over whether to threaten the Sultan if necessary;
• a separate agreement with Shaikh Mubarak-as-Sabah regarding the import of arms into Kuwait for the Shaikh's personal use;
• the granting of a subsidy to the Sultan in 1911 and the proposal in 1921 to discontinue it after the Sultan leaves power.

The volume includes a report into the arms traffic in the Persian Gulf by John Evelyn Shuckburgh, Political Department, India Office, 10 June 1910 (folios 143-72).