IOR/F/4/2445/134344

This item consists of copies of correspondence, consultations, and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay. The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hennell, Political Agent in the Persian Gulf; and Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Ambassador to Tehran. It is the first in a series of twenty-one items on events in the Persian Gulf.

The item concerns interviews between Hennell and the sheiks [shaikhs] of Amulgavine [Umm al-Qaywayn], Shargah [Sharjah], Debaye [Dubai], and Bahrein [Bahrain], during which the following subjects were discussed:

• Accusations of aggressive behaviour by Saeed ben Tahnoon [Shaikh Sa‘īd bin Ṭaḥnūn Āl Nahyān, Shaikh of Abu Dhabi]
• The actions of Soheil ben Ateish [Suhayl bin ‘Uṭaysh], a ‘pirate’ believed to be supported by some ‘chiefs’ along the Guttur [Qatar] Coast
• Relations between Sultan ben Suggur [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Shaikh of Ra’s al-Khaymah and Sharjah] and Muscat
• Ben Suggur’s request to send boats to evacuate women and children from Kenn [Kish Island], which was threatened by Persian [Iranian] troops, and his subsequent unsanctioned sending of 500 armed men to the island
• An agreement in principle that the people on Kenn would receive an annual income from Bahrein and in return relinquish their claim to Bahrein.

The item also contains a political letter from the Government of Bombay to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, summarising the contents of the following 20 items.

The item contains a contents page and the title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Draft N 34 – 1852’, and ‘Collection No 32 in 21 Volumes’.