IOR/L/PS/5/398, ff 137-205

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 79 of 1841, dated 30 September 1841. The enclosures are dated 14 June-14 September 1841.

The principal correspondents are: Captain Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf; Commodore George Barnes Brucks, Indian Navy, Commanding the Naval Squadron in the Gulf of Persia, on the EIC [East India Company’s] ship of war Coote; the Acting Secretary to Government, Bombay; and the Secretary and the Officiating Chief Secretary to the Government, Bombay.

The item covers and includes the following:

• A letter from the Agent at Shiraz conveying intelligence from that area, including the arrival of Hubeel Olloh Khan [Ḥabīb Allāh Khān, also spelled Habeeb Oolla Khan in this item], Commandant of Artillery at Tuft [Taft], near Yezd [Yazd], en route to Kerman with eight guns and 6000 troops (ff 145-146), ostensibly on a mission which was initially to invade and destroy Kerman and was revised to destroying and plundering only the towns that had sent adherents to Aga Khan [Ḥasan 'Alī Shāh, Āqā Khān-i Awwal] and then to return to Fars
• Hennell’s report of the hostile conduct of Shaik Nasir, Governor of Bushire [Āl Madhkūr, Shaikh Nāṣir II, Governor of Bushehr], towards British government officials there, including: an intimation that no officers from Karrack [Kharg Island, also known as Khark Island, also spelled Karrak and Kharrack in this item] are allowed to visit Bushire; punitive measures taken against the pilot of the Braemar who sailed to Bussorah [Basra] ignoring Shaik Nasir’s orders for the ship’s detention in Bushire harbour; and the unsuccessful attempts by Shaik Nasir to prevent the transmission of supplies to Karrack (where Hennell is currently stationed)
• Hennell’s requisitions to Brucks to undertake a tour of the Persian Gulf during the current pearl fishery season (ff 147-153) including instructions for: one war ship to accompany the Coote; the route and the stops Brucks is to take along the Arabian coast from Bahrein [Bahrain] to Muscat, with the war ship calling at Bassadore [Basaidu] and Lingah [Bandar Lengeh] on its return to Karrack; delivering presents to the principal ‘Arabian chiefs’; investigating the political and military situation in Kateef [Qatif]; and for investigating and seeking redress for two acts of ‘piracy’ allegedly committed by subjects of Shaik Abdoolah bin Ahmed [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Aḥmad Āl Khalīfah, Shaikh of Bahrain] as described in a letter from the Native Agent at Bahrein (ff 154-155). This is followed by a series of reports by Brucks to Hennell (ff 156-173) notably describing: the state of affairs in Katiff [Qatif] and Nedged [Najd]; a ‘war’ on the coastal area between Rass-ul-Khyma [Ras Al Khaimah] and Abothabbee [Abu Dhabi]; his actions regarding the two cases of ‘piracy’; his intentions in relation to the trade in enslaved persons allegedly carried on between the Lingah ‘chiefs’ and the families of the ‘chiefs’ of Rassul Khyma [Ras Al Khaimah] and Amulgaveen [Umm Al Quwain]; and the state of the pearl fisheries
• The agreement of the Government of India with the Government of Bombay that it is inexpedient at present to withdraw the European part of the force from the Island of Karrack, in view of the purported intentions of Persia [Iran] towards Afghanistan (f 174)
• Correspondence regarding: arrangements for the conveyance of an important packet (letter), in duplicate, from the Government of India to Sir John McNeill, HM Envoy to Persia, via the Government of Bombay and Hennell, utilising both HMS Endymion and the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner Emily; and arrangements for the receipt of McNeill’s reply, emphasising the importance of its arrival at Aden in time for the November mail. The letter instructs McNeill to ascertain the attitudes and plans of Persia towards Afghanistan and gives him authority to withhold the order to evacuate Karrack ‘until perfectly satisfactory assurances shall be obtained from the Shah in these respects’ (f 178) (ff 174-196)
• Hennell’s views regarding the need for an enhanced naval presence in the Gulf to increase British influence over the maritime Arabian states (ff 197-199), and the Government of Bombay’s confirmation that it cannot make any permanent addition to the Gulf Squadron but that HMS Endymion has recently proceeded to the Gulf
• Instructions by Hennell and Brucks for surveillance of Asseeloo boats [Bandar-e Asaluyeh, also spelled Assaloo in this item] which are suspected of intercepting supplies to the Island of Karrack and interrupting ‘the free navigation of the Gulf’ (f 203).