IOR/G/29/5/9

The item is in the form of a diary (ff 350-388), which contains records of consultations at the Gombroon [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] Factory. The Chief Agent, William Cockell, and the Factory Council members, including Nathaniel Whitwell, Thomas Waters, Walter Ray, and George Pack, 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:

• The salaries paid for the year to the Factory members (f 352v)
• Hossain Ally Begg [Husain Ali Beg, also written in the diary as Hussein] arriving from Shyrash [Shiraz] to deliver the Factory's rogoms [raqams or ruqums, also written in the diary as rogomms: royal grants confirming specific trading privileges] confirmed by Shaw Nadar [Nadir Shah]
• Arrival of Ahmad Bashaw [Gürcü, Ahmed Pasha, Governor of Baghdad] to Bagdatt [Baghdad]
• Accounts of the French and Dutch ships' trade activities in the region
• Preparations for Shaw Nadar's visit to Spahaun [Isfahan, also written as Spahune]
• Confrontation between the Aphgoons [Afghans] from Candahar [Kandahar] and the Persians
• Records of the Arab-Persian disputes
• Lettif Caun [Latif Khan, Persian Military Admiral, also written in the correspondence as Letiff Caun] delivering a talligaw [taliqa/talika: official order] issued by the Beglerbeggy [Beglerbegi/Beylerbeyi is Turkish and Azeri for Governor-General] of Gombroon [Governor of Bandar-e ʻAbbās] to the Factory
• Reports of the reaction of the deceased Shaikh Russhett's [Rashid's] wife to the Persians trying to seize the effects of her late husband
• The arrival of the wool caphila [caravans] from Carmenia [Kerman]
• The appointment of John Geekie as the next Agent at Gombroon
• An arrangement for the Factory to supply Shaw Nadar with ships
• Reports of the Persian-Turkish [Persian-Ottoman] disputes
• News of Persians importing coarse cloth from Muscovy [Moscow, also Russia at the time]
• The sending of presents by the Factory to the Governor of Gombroon
• The establishment of a Russian Factory at Astracan [Astrakhan, a city in southern Russia]
• The Persian fleet sailing to Corfukkoon [Khorfakkan] to assist the Imaum [Imam] against his rebellious subjects
• News of the Julphar Sheaks [the shaikhs of Julfar in what is now Ra's al Khaymah] surrendering to Lettif Caun.

The diary includes records of the arrival and departure of ships, including the Britannia, the Carolina, the Robert Galley, the Richmond, the Precaution, the Fame, and the Sarah. From Gombroon the ships sailed mainly to Surat, Bengall [Bengal], Busarah [Basra, also written in the diary as Bussarah], and Bombay.

The diary includes records of letters exchanged mainly between the Factories at Gombroon, Spahaun, Carmenia, Shyrash, 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, the Dutch Chief, and certain Persian officials and merchants in the region.

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.