IOR/L/PS/10/457

The volume concerns pearl fishing in the Persian Gulf; in particular attempted incursions into the trade by the French, Germans, and others; the political and economic interests of the British in pearl fishing; investigations into reports of the depletion of the pearl fishing banks in the Gulf; and proposals to use modern diving apparatus.

The principal correspondents are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); the Political Agent, Bahrain; and senior officials of the Government of India, the India Office, the Foreign Office, and the Board of Trade.

The papers cover: Report on the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries, published 1902 (including extracts of documents from the 1850s onwards), which includes references to the presence of Arab divers at the Ceylon fisheries (folios 247-281); the presence of two French businessmen in Bahrein [Bahrain], and the question of whether European enterprise could be excluded from the pearl fishing industry on the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, March 1904 (folios 212-246); the opinion of the Law Officers' Department that the tribes of the Arabian coast had a right to the exclusive use of the pearl fisheries within a three-mile limit, and any other waters that might justly be considered territorial, February 1905 (folios 203-211); German attempts to gain control over the pearl industry in the Persian Gulf, including the importance attached by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Cox) to the operations of Gray, Paul & Company, March 1905 - January 1908 (folios 177-202); the Government of India in favour of direct intervention to secure a British monopoly, June-August 1908 (folios 170-176); enquiries into the pearl fishing industry by Dr Gustav Josef Eduard Levien of Hamburg, April-May 1910 (folios 150-169); papers concerning the alleged depletion of the pearl banks, December 1910 - May 1911 (folios 106-149); further French interest in the pearl fisheries, February-May 1911 (folios 82-105, 66-69); official encouragement for British firms to enter the pearl trade, March-May 1911 (folios 69-81); a proposed investigation into depletion of the pearl banks by James Hornell of the Madras Fisheries Department, June-September 1911 (folios 56-65), and the investigation postponed, February 1912 (folios 42-53); assurances by the rulers of the Arab littoral states that they would not grant concessions to countries other than Britain, November 1911 (folios 54-55), and the texts of the rulers' replies, July-August 1911 (folios 32-41); papers concerning an application to use modern, 'scientific' diving apparatus in the Gulf by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Mishari, a director of the Arab Steamship Company in Bombay, and a rumour (denied) of similar interest from the Sultan of Oman, April-November 1912 (folios 11-31); copies of official correspondence from 1857 showing that British officials thought that British subjects did not have any right to fish for pearls on the fishing grounds of the maritime tribes in the Persian Gulf, March 1913 (folios 5-6); and American (United States) interest in scientific aspects of the pearl industry in Bahrain, June 1914 (folios 2-4).

The volume includes two Admiralty charts illustrating the pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf, on folio 238 (= IOR/W/L/PS/10/457 (i) and IOR/L/PS/10/457 (ii)), and a map accompanying the report on the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries (folio 278).

The French language content of the file is confined to a single letter (folio 91).

The date range gives the covering dates of the main run of papers (which include extracts of documents from the 1850s onwards), and any other additions to the volume; the Secret Department minute papers enclosing groups of papers are dated 1904-1914.

Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 1).