IOR/F/4/2710/194518

This item consists of copies of correspondence, resolutions, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors. These political letters appear in IOR/F/4/2710/194511. The enclosures are dated 5 October-December 1857. It is the eighth in a series of twenty-six items on the Persian Gulf.

The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Commander Felix Jones, Resident in the Persian Gulf; Commander James Rennie, Senior Naval Officer Commanding Persian Gulf Squadron; and Moolla Ahmed [Mullā Aḥmad], British Agent at Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh].

The item concerns reports from two vessels of the Gulf Squadron, which have recently returned from their respective engagements. These are:

A report by Acting Lieutenant Henry Marjoribanks Chester, in temporary charge of the Company sloop Clive. It had been sent to Shewoo [Bandar-e Chiru’iyeh?], where the Agent at Lingah had recovered the property of British Indian subjects from a wrecked ship. It returned early, due to an outbreak of sickness among the officers and crew.

A report by Lieutenant Charles Lloyd, commanding the Company schooner Constance, reporting on a visit to the Arabian coast of the Gulf, including:

• A shipwreck on the island of Surdy [Jazireh-ye Sirri]
• Meetings with the rulers of Amulgawein [Umm al-Qaywayn] and Rasel Khyma [Ra’s al-Khaymah], and with the brothers of the rulers of Debaye [Dubai] and Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]
• The issue of claims left unsettled by Sheikh Mahomed bin Suggur of Sharga [Shaikh Muḥammed bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Ruler of Sharjah]
• Reports conveyed by Hajee Yacoob [Ḥājjī Ya‘qūb], Agent at Sharga, of incidents that occurred during the pearl fishing season
• Reports of affairs in Muscat and Oman, including conflict at Sohar [Suhar].

The item contains multiple spellings for various personal and place names.

The item contains a table of contents (f 592), and the title page (f 591) contains the following references: Draft Number ‘789-/58’, ‘Collection No. 9. Vol: 8’, and ‘Examiner’s Office’. The collection number was originally given as ‘8’ but this has been crossed out and replaced with ‘9’.