IOR/G/29/5/8

The item is in the form of a diary (ff 294-348), which contains records of consultations at the Gombroon [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] Factory. The Chief Agent, William Cockell, and the Factory council members, including John Geekie, Thomas Waters, James Verelst, and Walter Ray headed the consultations. They recorded the daily activities, the administrative decisions made, letters received and sent, as well as visits to and from the Factory. The margin sections in the diary include headlines noting the main events recorded in the consultations.

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

• Threatening letters received from Mirza Togghy [Mirza Taqi, also written in the diary as Tockey] via his vizier Auga Taffeir [Aga Jafar, also written as Jaffeir] at Shyrash [Shiraz] concerning the Factory’s ships assisting the Turks [Ottomans] at Busarah [Basra, also written as Bussarah]
• An exchange of letters between Mirza Taqi and the Sultan of Bunder Abassy Meer Meer Alley [Mir Mehr ‘Ali, Governor of Bandar ‘Abbas] related to trade with the Factory
• Reports of a dispute at Muscat
• News of Shaikh Rachid [Rashid] and Shaikh Jubbarah [Jubarah] of Bunder Tarry [Bandar Tahiri] moving to Bahreen [Bahrain]
• Rumors of Thomas Caun [Tahmasb Khan] having been killed by the son of the deceased ambassador Mahmud Ally Caun [Turkmen, Muhammad ‘Ali Khan]
• Reports of the war between Thomas Caun and the Turks [Ottomans]
• The arrival of the wool caphila [caravans] from Carmenia [Kerman]
• The arrival of Captain John Harris from Sindy [Sind]
• The Factory's request for Thomas Caun to renew its rogoms [raqams or ruqums, also written in the diary as rogomms: royal grants confirming specific trading privileges]
• The appointment of Ishmael Pasha [Gürcü, Ismail Pasha, previous Governor of Baghdad], as a Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
• The Factory members visiting Persian officials and congratulating them on the occasion of the Nowroose [Nowruz] festival
• The accession of Shaw Nadar [Nadir Shah] to the Persian throne in March 1735 [8 March 1736 New Style date]
• Letters exchanged between the Factory and the supercargoes of the ship Northumberland
• The Persian King preparing a campaign to take Bahreen [Bahrain]
• The dispute between Persian officials and the wife of the deceased Shaikh Russhett [Rashid], who is supported by the Arabs of Julfar [Julfar in what is now Ra's al Khaymah, also written in the correspondence as Gulfar] and Muscatt [Muscat].

The diary includes records of letters exchanged mainly between the Factories at Gombroon and Spahaun [Isfahan], and the Council at Bombay, as well as letters and gifts exchanged with certain Persian officials. It also includes records of the exchange of visits between the Agent and some Persian officials and merchants in the region.

The diary includes records of the arrival and departure of ships, including the Britannia, the Queen Carolina, the Robert Galley, the Kissing Peggy, the Northumberland, the Rose Galley, the Jenny, the Sarah, and the Prince of Wales Galley. It also includes records of French ships such as the Union and the Four Sisters. From Gombroon the ships sailed mainly to Surat, Madrass [Madras], Mallabar Coast [Malabar], Bengall [Bengal], Sindy, Muscat, Busarah, Bassidore [Basidu, also written as Bassidors], Bushire, and Bombay. The diary also includes records of imported commodities such as rice, sugar, sugar candy, pepper, rose water, copper and other goods.

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.