IOR/F/4/2504/142189

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 3 November 1852, and found at IOR/F/4/2504/142185. It is the fifth in a series of sixteen items about the Persian Gulf.

The item relates to reports received by Captain Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Resident in the Persian Gulf, from Commodore George Robinson, Commanding the Persian Gulf Squadron, and Hajee Yacoob [Ḥājjī Ya‘qūb], Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah]. The reports concern a number of proven and alleged incidents, including:

• Plunder of cargo from the wreck of the Centaur by inhabitants of Rasel Khymah [Ra’s al-Khaymah]
• Act of aggression by the fishermen of Heera against those of Ejmaun [Ajman]
• Theft of enslaved people and property from a boat near Zanzibar by a Rasel Khymah vessel
• Attack on the household of Hajee Yacoob by inhabitants of Shargah, allegedly arranged by Sheik Abdullah ben Sultan [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Sulṭān], Governor of Shargah
• Theft of an enslaved person who had run away from an Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi] vessel, by inhabitants of Debaye [Dubai]
• Theft of enslaved people from a Bidda [Al Bid‘] vessel, by people allegedly acting under orders of Syed ben Tahnoon [Shaikh Sa‘īd bin Ṭaḥnūn Āl Nahyān], Sheik of Aboothabee.

The reports include details of communications Robinson and Hajee Yacoob have had with the numerous leaders of the above places, especially Sheik Sultan ben Suggur, 'Chief' of Rasel Khymah and the Joasmee [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Leader of al-Qawāsim tribe, of Ra’s al-Khaymah and Sharjah], whose statement on the Zanzibar incident is enclosed (folios 1142-1143). Kemball forwards the reports on to the Government of Bombay, along with his own comments, which focus in particular on the incidents at Shargah and near Zanzibar. Kemball also includes copies of his replies to Robinson, which contain further instructions regarding the Company ships Clive and Tigris.

Kemball is also referred to as the Resident at Bushire and Hajee Yacoob is also referred to as the British Agent at Shargah. There are multiple spellings for individuals' names and place names.

The title page of the item contains the following references: 'Bombay Political Department', 'Draft No. 350 of 1853', 'Collection No. 1 of No. 106', 'Vol: 5', and 'Examiner's Office'.