IOR/L/PS/5/375, ff 143-216

Copies of correspondence and papers relating to the relocation of the British Residency at Bushire [Būshehr] to the island of Karrack [Khark, also known as Kharg] at the end of March 1839, and the events leading up to it, including:

• Deterioration of the Political Resident’s relations with Mirza Assad, Governor of Bushire, over: the latter’s alleged attempts to cut off communication between the Residency and the anchored British vessels of war; the ‘unfriendly and insulting’ behaviour towards Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, commanding HMS flagship Wellesley; and Mirza Assad’s construction of a tower in the landing place adjacent to the Residency hitherto used by British ships
• Accounts, by the Resident, Admiral Maitland, and Commodore George Barnes Brucks, Commanding the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, of the occurrences that took place between 22-29 March 1839, including the fracas on 25 March when shots were fired and a hostile crowd attacked the Admiral with stones (ff 148-158, 174-184, 209-215)
• Roles of Bakir Khan, Chief of Tungestan [Baqir Khan Tangistani, Chief of Tangistan], the merchants and moollahs [mullahs] of Bushire, and Sheikh Hussain the Cazee [Shaikh Husayn, Qazi of Bushehr], in relation to the Political Resident
• Role of the Indian Navy in escorting the Resident and guarding the Residency buildings following the decampment to Karrack, notably reports of Captain John Croft Hawkins, Commander of the EIC Company Sloop of War the Clive, on his negotiations with the Governor of Bushire and the Chief of Tungestan
• Communications with the Firman Firma, Prince Governor of Fars, Prince at Shiraz [Fereydūn Mīrzā, Farmanfarma, Prince Governor of Fars]
• Approbation of the Government of India for the Resident’s actions.

Also included are copies of correspondence and papers relating to British policy towards HE Khorshid Pasha [Khūrshīd Pāshā], Commander of Egyptian Forces in Nedgd [Najd, also known as Nejd] with regard to the latter’s purported aggressive intentions against the island of Bahreen [Bahrain, also spelled Bahrein in this volume] and in the Persian Gulf. The papers chiefly concern the appointment of Captain Henry Smith, commanding HMS Volage, as both a messenger to Admiral Maitland and potential commander of British vessels of war in the Persian Gulf that could be sent to deter Khorshid Pasha (ff 187-207).

The principal correspondents are: Captain Samuel Hennell, Political Resident, Persian Gulf; Captain Hawkins; Commodore Brucks; John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay [Mumbai]; Rear Admiral Maitland; and Captain Smith.