IOR/L/PS/5/376, ff 45-86

The item mainly relates to affairs in the Persian Gulf. It chiefly comprises copies of despatches of Captain Samuel Hennell, Political Resident, Persian Gulf, to John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay [Mumbai], with relevant enclosures, such as letters to and from Hennell, reports, and translations of letters. It also includes: Willoughby’s acknowledgments of receipt; Hennell’s reports to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, EIC; and Willoughby’s communications with Thomas Herbert Maddock, Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General. Hennell’s despatches were sent from the island of Karrack [Khark, also known as Kharg, also spelled Karrak in this item], the Residency having relocated to the island following a dispute with Mirza Assad, the Governor of Bushire [Bushehr].

The main subjects covered are:

• Arrangements for strengthening the defences of Karrack, by repairs to the wall and fort of the town, organisation of the ammunition stores and the erection of new buildings; departure from Karrack of Sheik Nasir [Shaikh Nāṣir Āl Mazkūr II, a former Governor of Bushire]; conversion of the island into a military post and imposition of martial law
• Hennell’s efforts to monitor and influence Khorshid Pasha [Khūrshid Pāshā], Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Forces in Nedgd [Najd, also known as Nejd], in view of the latter’s recent encroachments on the coastline of the Persian Gulf and purported plan to conquer the island of Bahrein [Bahrain], including: sending letters of ‘warning’ to Khorshid Pasha; dispatching the Assistant Resident, Lieutenant Thomas Edmunds, to Bahrein and Koweit [Kuwait]; instructing HM Consul in Egypt to demand an explanation from the ruler of Egypt, Mahomed Ally [Muḥammad ‘Alī al-Mas‘ūd bin Āghā Pāshā] of his policy in the Persian Gulf ; ascertaining the policy of Abdoollah ben Ahmed [‘Abdullāh bin Aḥmad Āl Khalīfah], Sheik of Bahrein [Shaikh of Bahrain], and the sheik's estimation of the likelihood of an Egyptian invasion; ascertaining the ‘disposition, the strength and the relative interests’ (f 62) of the main rulers in the Persian Gulf towards Khorshid Pasha (see ff 62-66) and influencing them against assisting the Egyptian force in obtaining supplies of grain
• Consideration of the possibility of Khorshid Pasha turning his attentions to Bussorah [Basra] and Mohumrah [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah] if there is a rupture of relations between Egypt and the [Ottoman] Porte and a battle between Ibrahim Pasha [Ibrāhīm Kavali Pāshā] (unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan) and Hafiz Pasha [Ḥāfiẓ ‘Uthmān Pāshā] in Syria
• Aversion of a possible war between Bahrein and Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi] over the ‘fugitive’ from Bahrein, Esa bin Tareef [Shaikh ‘Īsá bin Ḥamad bin Ṭarīf Āl Bin ‘Alī al-‘Utbī], and members of his Alli Ally [Āl Bin ‘Alī] tribe, who are residing in Aboothabee, and news that the Shaik of Bahrein has signed a treaty of peace with Kuleefa bin Shakboot [Shaikh Khalīfah bin Shakhbut Āl Nahyān], the Shaik of Abothabee [Shaikh of Abu Dhabi]
• Rumours of a Persian force marching from Tehran into Khorassan [Khorasan] to occupy Herat
• Delays in the transmission of overland (mail) packets, notably with regard to events in Syria between [Ottoman] Turkey and Egypt, and investigation of different routes, including via Damascus, transmission times, charges and possible couriers.

There is a note at the beginning of the item stating that the ‘Enclosure in Bombay Secret Letter No. 75, dated 12th June 1839, are missing from this Collection’.