IOR/R/15/1/73, ff 10-15

In this letter, Edward M Wood, Secretary to Government, Bombay, acknowledges receipt of a letter from the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf dated 8 January 1837. He writes that he encloses a copy of a letter from the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, and a copy of an enclosure received with that letter from Colonel Chesney. He advises that the Governor in Council has approved of the arrangement therein suggested for the establishment of a packet communication between Bombay and Mahamarah [Khorramshahr]. He also states that the Amherst will be leaving Mahamarah for Bombay on 12 March with or without a packet. The enclosures are as follows:

• A copy of a letter from Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Indian Navy, to Robert Grant, President and Governor in Council, Bombay, dated 23 February 1837. Writing in response to a request from Wood, Malcolm gives his opinion as to the best means of establishing a packet communication between Bombay and Mahamarah [Khorramshahr]. He makes reference to three ships: the Hugh Lindsay, the Elphinstone and the Amherst and suggests a plan of where each would need to be, and when, for the successful conveyance of the London mails. He also gives advice on gales and weather conditions that can be expected between May and July and their impact on sailing times. He concludes by proposing that the vessels carrying the packets stop only off the Island of Karrack [Bandar-e Charak] enabling Captain Samuel Hennell to receive and send his dispatches.
• A copy of a letter from Francis Rawdon Chesney, to Edward M Wood, Secretary to Government, Bombay, dated 23 February 1837. Chesney writes that he has discussed the subject of the employment of a mail boat between Mahamarah [Khorramshahr] and Bushire with Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Indian Navy. He advises that it is scarcely worthwhile to have such a boat travelling between Mahamarah and Bushire, but that if sailing vessels were to be resorted to for a lengthened period, he proposes that the Margaret cutter be stationed between the Euphrates and Bushire. He writes that to touch at any port results in a loss of time, estimating that three days or more would be lost by touching at Bushire, and proposes that the Island of Kerrac [Bandar-e Charak] might be a suitable place for the exchange of dispatches to and from Bushire and Persia.