IOR/F/4/2174/105549

This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay. These political letters appear in IOR/F/4/2174/105546. It is the fourth in a series of forty-five items on the Persian Gulf. The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Major Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf; and Commodore Sir Henry Martin Blackwood.

The item concerns the visit to the Gulf of HM ship Fox and sloop Pilot under the command of Commodore Blackwood. It contains information provided by Hennell as to the state of affairs in the Gulf and the ports he might visit, and Blackwood’s report submitted on his return to Bombay. Topics covered include:

• The situation in Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]
• A request made to Commodore John Croft Hawkins, Commanding the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, for him to accompany Blackwood
• The proposal for Blackwood to visit Sohar to make a demonstration of force for the notice of Saad bin Mootluk [Sa‘d bin Muṭlaq al-Muṭayrī], and a later report that Saad bin Mootluk has left Beyreymee [al-Buraymi]
• The alleged insulting of Khajah Heskal [Khawājah Ḥizqīl bin Yūsuf], the Native Agent at Muscat, by a servant of the Imam of Muscat
• The grounding of the Fox on Seir Aboneid [Sir Bu Nu‘ayr] island
• The visit of Blackwood to Shargah [Sharjah], and his meetings with the Shaik of Debai [Shaikh Maktūm I bin Buṭṭī Āl Bū Falāsah, Ruler of Dubai] and Shaik Sultan bin Sugger of Ras el Khymah [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Ruler of Ra’s al-Khaymah]
• Blackwood’s efforts to mediate between Sultan bin Sugger and Syed Soweney [Sayyid Thuwaynī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], the Governor of Muscat, including the translation of a letter sent to Syud Soweney.

The item contains a table of contents (f 298), and the title page (f 297) contains the following references: ‘P C [Previous Communication] 5507, Coll. 7, Vol. 4’, ‘D/t 197/47’, ‘Collection No. 3 of No. 20’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.