IOR/G/29/5/5

The item is in the form of a diary (ff 173-215), which contains records of consultations at the Gombroon [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] Factory. The Chief Agent, John Horne, and the Factory Council members, including John Geekie, Edward Clift and Nathaniel Whitewell, headed the consultations. They recorded the daily activities, the administrative decisions made, letters sent and received, as well as visits to and from the Factory.

Among the main details and issues recorded in the diary are the following:

• The news of Thomas Caun [Tahmasb Quli Khan, future Nadir Shah Afshar] trying to make peace with the Turks [Ottomans]
• The arrival of the wool caphila [caravans] from Carmenia [Kerman]
• The dispatching of books and consultations for delivery to the Council at Bombay
• The appointment of William Cockell as the new Chief Agent at the Gombroon Factory
• The appointment of John Geekie to replace William Cockell as Chief Agent at Spahaun [Isfahan, also written as Spahune]
• The arrival of William Cordeux from Carmenia
• The arrival of Walter Ray from Spahaun
• Thomas Caun appointing Mahmud Ally Caun [Turkmen, Muhammad ‘Ali Khan] as his Ambassador to India
• The rebellion of the people on the Gulf coast and the Haviza Arabs [Huwayza Arabs of Khuzistan] against the Persians
• James Barker's command of the military at Gombroon
• Aphgoons [Afghans] and Arabs marching against the Persians
• Mahmud Caun Balloch [Muhammad Khan Baluch, Governor of Kuhgiluya], the Caun of Shyrsh [Khan of Shiraz], and Meer Meer Ally [Mir Mehr ‘Ali, Deputy Governor of Bandar ‘Abbas] marching against the Soonees [Sunni Muslims] and the Afghans and taking their General, Curdash Caun [Qardash Khan], as prisoner
• Thomas Caun marching against the Turks to lay siege to Bagdatt [Baghdad]
• Consul Cox at Alleppo [Aleppo] advising Thomas Caun on the movements of the Turkish [Ottoman] forces
• The Factory requesting from Thomas Caun the renewal of its former grants and privileges in as full extent as were granted by any of the previous Kings [Shahs] of Persia.

The diary includes records of letters exchanged mainly between the Factory at Gombroon and those at Spahaun, Bussarah [Basra], and Bombay, as well as letters to and from Persian notables and merchants. It also includes records of visits exchanged between the Factory employees and certain Persian notables and merchants, as well as the Dutch Chief.

The diary includes records of the arrival and departure of ships, including the Britannia, the Swallow, the Fame, the Charles, the Monmouth, and Dutch ships the Jacob and Caster and Pollux. From Gombroon the ships sailed mainly to Bombay, Surat, and Bussarah.

The diary includes abstracts of the standard account disbursements for each month. These cover the following: house expenses, garrison charges, the Afseen garden, hospital charges, medicines, marine charges, merchandised charges, house furniture, extraordinary charges, stable charges and servants' wages.