IOR/F/4/2710/194523

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 7 July-12 December 1857. It is the thirteenth 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; Brigadier General John Jacob, Commanding British Forces in Persia [Iran]; Commander James Rennie, Senior Naval Officer Commanding Persian Gulf Squadron; Senior Lieutenant Hugh Alexander Fraser, Commanding the Company brigantine Tigris; and Lieutenant Charles Lloyd, Senior Naval Officer at Bassadore [Basaʻidu].

The item concerns the ship Futteh Moobarek [Fatḥ al-Mubārak, multiple spellings are used in the item], which has been wrecked on the island of Surdy [Jazireh-ye Sirri]. Plans are discussed for the disposal of the wreck, and the recovery of the property and other equipment on board. Of particular concern is the question of who is authorised to dispose of the ship and its contents.

It includes:

• An agreement made between Jones and Hajee Abdul Nubbee [Ḥājjī ‘Abd al-Nabī], merchant of Bushire [Bushehr], for possession of the wreck and its contents, 9 September 1857 (f 654)
• A certificate, signed by James Livingstone Wadge, Commanding Futteh Moobarek, authorising Lieutenant Lloyd to dispose of the vessel, 7 July 1857 (f 659)
• A statement, signed by Lieutenant Lloyd, certifying that he has agreed to sell the remains of the vessel to Sheikh Mahomed bin Shaik Abdoolla bin Abderaman [Shaikh Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān], 7 September 1857 (ff 659-660).

The item contains a table of contents (f 641), and the title page (f 640) contains the following references: Draft Number ‘789-/58’, ‘Collection No. 9. Vol: 13’, and ‘Examiner’s Office’. The collection number was originally given as ‘5’ but this has been crossed out and replaced with ‘9’.