'Summary of correspondence relative to the administration of the Port of Basrah and measures for the control of the shipping traffic in Mesopotamia.' [‎9v] (18/134)

14
Sub-Enclosure II.
APPENDIX B.
No. 19-A.-I6.
Office of the Director-General of Port
Administration and River Conservancy,
Basrah, the 10th February 1916.
To the D. A. and Q. M. G.
Memorandum.
With reference to your No. 1303-1 -Q., dated 4th February, to I. G. C., I had
already taken in hand the question of building new wharves at Magill, as directed
in your No. 1179-1 -Q., dated 5th January 1916, to my address.
I have now considered the situation in the light of the directions contained
in your later communication to the I. G. C., and beg to submit the accompanying
note and plans for the information and orders of the Army Commander.
Geo. C. BUCHANAN, Colonel,
Director-General of Port Administration
and Fiver Conservancy,
Note 07i Wharfage accommodation at the port of Basrah, with proposals for improve
ment and extension.
This note is intended to deal primarily with immediate war necessities, but it
will be convenient to describe briefly the constitution of; the poit prior to the
British occupation, and trace its development to the present time. It may also
be laid down as an axiom that the chief requirements of a modern port irrespective
of its use, are : —
(1) Facility for prompt discharge and despatch cf steamers;
(2) Ample storage accommodation for goods.
2. In the days of Turkish rule, although the trade was considerable, poit
accommodation was practically non-existent. All sea-going steamers laid at
their anchors in the stream, and imports for Basrah were discharged into country
boats and landed at the Custom House wharf where imports for Baghdad were
discharged direct into the river steamers and flats and taken up the river on
a through bill of lading A document confirming the goods which a ship has received. . Exports consisting largely of dates were shipped into
country boats at various points on the river, and thereafter conveyed to and loaded
into the sea-going vessels.
There were no wharves, and even in the busy season the number of sea-going
vessels in the port at the same time, rarely exceeded half a dozen.
3. The British occupation brought a great change in the affairs of the port, and
it was necessary to establish a base where vast quantities of supplies and munitions
of war could be stored, and thereafter transferred to the site of military operations^
and along the lines of communication.
4. For this purpose temporary wooden jetties were erected along the foreshore
between Khora Creek on the South and the Base Hospital on the North, and pieces
of ground were allotted to the various military departments.
The general procedure remained, however, practically the same, as owing to
the shallowness of the water alongside the jetties, the sea-going vessels dischraged
the whole of their cargoes into light country craft, the goods being landed at the
various jetties and thereafter shipped into river steamers and flats, and conveyed
up the river to their destination.