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File 351/1904 'Persian Gulf:- Erection of British flagstaffs at Musandam’ [45r] (94/454)
The record is made up of 1 volume (221 folios). It was created in 1902-1908. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[ c ]
the coast, avoiding both Charbar and Gwadur,
thence proceeding north. If necessary, they
purchase a few donkeys at Maskat and bring
them with them in a boat.
20. [ Vide paragraph 11(5) of Memo
randum for June 1905.] Major Cox repeated a
telegram from Major Grey enquiring when
the Hague Tribunal would assemble, and
whether the French could still send despatches
to be placed before the Tribunal, as he was
assured that the French Consul was still trying
to secure a confession of weakness from the
Sultan. Major Grey further telegraphed
direct to the Government of India that the
point was that he could not reasonably expect
to be able to explain the delay much longer to
the satisfaction of the Sultan. He was informed
through Major Cox on the 25th July that,
according to the latest information, the argu
ments were due on 10th July; the Tribunal
would meet on 25th July; and a decision be
given on 24th August 1905 ; hence despatches
now sent by French Consul would only be
available under paragraph 3 of Article III of
the Agreement of 13th October 1904.
21. (Vide paragraph 15 of Memorandum
for June 1905.) Major Cox telegraphed on the
14th July, in connection with the maintenance
of flagstaffs on Telegraph Island, that Major
Grey was of the opinion that, in the circums
tances, there was no advantage in maintain
ing a flagstaff, and considered that it might be
abandoned with the other two; but that, if for
any reason it was thought necessary to retain
it, he could arrange it with the Sultan. It
appeared to Major Cox that, if Henjam were
turned into a sanitary station, Great Britain
would want some other place at the entrance
to the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
for a war signal station,
and Elphinstone Inlet might have been useful
for this purpose, instead of Klior Kawi; but if
the reoccupation of Telegraph Island would
constitute a parallel to the Bunder Gisseh
incident, he saw no alternative but to abandon
the flagstaff for the present, and trust to seiz
ing the locality when necessity for it actually
arises. In his opinion, our claims to the
island on telegraph grounds would be as good
ten years hence as they are at the present
moment. Alter considering the views of the
local officers, the Secretary of State was in
formed by telegraph, on the 22nd July, that
it was proposed to defer, until the declaration of
the Maskat Arbitration Award, the actual.
removal of the staffs on Isthmus and Sheep
Island. Their presence had hitherto attracted
the notice neither of the French nor of the
Sultan, and their removal now, or their consign
ment to the Sultan’s care, might result in the
Tribunal’s attention being drawn to our pre
vious action. There might be some advantage
in the retention of the Telegraph Island flag
staff, as evidence that our right to reoccupy was
*
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises correspondence and other papers relating to the erection (and subsequent abandonment) of flagstaffs at the head of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , on the Maklab [Maqlab] Isthmus at Musandam (Musandam spelt with numerous variations throughout the file), Telegraph Island [Jazīrat al Maqlab], and Sheep Island [Jazīrat Umm al Ghanam].
The correspondence includes:
- a report of the Viceroy of India’s tour of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in 1903, dated 21 January 1904 and signed by several individuals (including George Nathaniel Curzon and Horatio Herbert Kitchener) containing proposals for the erection of naval bases, coaling stations, and telegraph facilities in the Gulf (ff 213-215);
- proposals and arrangements for the erection of flagstaffs by HMS Sphinx in November 1904, made by Major William George Grey, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Muscat, Lieutenant William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Assistant Resident and Acting British Consul at Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], Captain Thomas Webster Kemp, Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Commander of HMS Sphinx , including reports submitted by Shakespear and Kemp describing the erection of the flagstaffs, including accounts of the discussions held with the inhabitants of the areas around which the flagstaffs were erected, and a map indicating the location of the flagstaffs (ff 112-114, 119-121);
- questions of whether to fly the Union Jack or Blue Ensign on the flagstaffs;
- Government concerns that the flagstaffs were situated in territory claimed by the Sultan of Maskat [Muscat];
- Admiralty objection to the flagstaffs, on the grounds that it would be the Navy’s responsibility to protect them;
- the decision of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) to maintain the flagstaff at Telegraph Island, but abandon the flagstaffs at the Maklab Isthmus and Sheep Island;
- further reconsideration of the proposal to fly a British flag on Telegraph Island, in the wake of investigations by John Gordon Lorimer which assert the Sultan of Muscat’s sovereignty over Musandam;
- deferral of the decision on the flagstaff at Telegraph Island until the outcome of the Hague Tribunal on vessels at Muscat flying the French flag; the removal, in October 1905, of the flagstaffs on the Maklab Isthmus and Sheep Island;
- final instruction from the Foreign Office to the Government of India, in May 1908, that the remaining flagstaff on Telegraph Island should be no longer maintained.
The file also includes a report of the survey of Khor Kawi [Khawr al Quway‘] by HMS Sphinx , dated 31 December 1903, with a map showing water depths in Khor Kawi (ff 190-192), and a letter from the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station, Vice Admiral George L Atkinson-Willes, to the Government of India, dated 5 September 1905, recommending that Khor Kawi be used as a new British naval base, rather than Elphinstone Inlet or Telegraph Island (ff 34-35).
The volume includes a divider which gives the year that the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in it arranged by year. This divider is placed at the front of the volume (f 3).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (221 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 225; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/23
- Title
- File 351/1904 'Persian Gulf:- Erection of British flagstaffs at Musandam’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:119v, 121r:139v, 141r:190v, 193r:224v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence