IOR/F/4/2235/112014

This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, resolutions, and consultations, cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay. These political letters appear in IOR/F/4/2235/112011. It is the fourth in a series of five items on the Persian Gulf.

The main correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Augustus Smith Le Messurier, Advocate General, Bombay; Commodore Sir Robert Oliver, Superintendent of the Indian Navy; and Gregor Grant, Senior Magistrate of Police, Bombay.

The item concerns the agreement made between the British Government and the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat for the ending of the export of enslaved people from the African dominions of the Imaum. It includes:

• A copy of the text of the agreement, made between the British Government and the Imaum of Muscat on 2 October 1845
• Questions surrounding the scope and application of the agreement, in particular how cases of seized vessels accused of carrying enslaved people are to be adjudicated.

The item also covers the detaining in Bombay [Mumbai] of five vessels belonging to subjects of the Imaum that were seized in the Gulf, and the arrangements to be made for the fifty-nine enslaved people they were carrying. It includes:

• Copies of depositions taken from each of the enslaved people (ff 252-268), and tables containing their individual details (ff 270-273)
• The cases of five of the people rescued from the vessels, three of whom claim to be the wives of the Nakhodas [Nakhudas] of the detained vessels, and two of whom claim not to be slaves and wish to return to the vessels
• Concerns about possible cases of smallpox among the enslaved people, and an investigation by the Medical Board of Bombay
• The release of the five vessels and the arrangements made for the enslaved people, the majority of whom are under the age of twenty. It includes offers presented by Thomas Carr, Bishop of Bombay, and Mahomed bin Ally [Muḥammad bin ‘Alī], an Arab inhabitant of Bombay, for their provision
• A communication from Syud Thooenee bin Sueed bin Sultan [Sayyid Thuwaynī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], Governor of Muscat, regarding the above subject (f 281).

The item contains a table of contents (ff 197-199), and the title page (f 196) contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘Draft N. 294/48’, ‘Collection Vol: 4’, and ‘Examiner’s Office’.