IOR/L/PS/5/266, ff 368-380

Secret Despatch from the Foreign Department, Government of India, to the Secretary of State for India, No. 13 of 1871, dated 3 April 1871, containing enclosures dated 23 February-3 April 1871.

The despatch and enclosures relate to affairs in Oman: seeking the opinion of HM Government on the policy to be pursued towards Muscat, following the death of Syud Azan bin Ghes [Sayyid ‘Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in battle and the accession of Syud Toorkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] as Sultan; and expressing the views of the Government of India as to the policy to be adopted for the ‘preservation of peace at sea’ beyond the limits of the Persian Gulf in the Gulf of Oman.

The enclosures mostly concern the sinking by HMS Kwantung of a boat carrying a gun from Muscat harbour to one of the forts at Muttra [Muttrah] on the orders of Syud Azan. HMS Kwantung sunk the boat under orders from the Acting Political Agent at Muscat, Major Alfred Cotton Way, who was himself acting under orders of the Government of Bombay. The enclosures are: a letter from the Government of Bombay to the Government of India Foreign Department, with further enclosed correspondence, and minutes of the Government of Bombay. The further enclosed correspondence consists of: letters from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Pelly, to the Secretary to the Government of Bombay Political Department; letters from Way to Pelly, Syud Azan, and the officers commanding HMS Hugh Rose and HMS Kwantung; and the translated purport of a letter from Syud Azan bin Ghes to Way.

The despatch was received by the India Office Secret Department on 2 May 1871, and a copy was sent to the Foreign Office on 25 October 1871.