'File 8/16 Bahrain Diaries 1938 to 1940' [‎33r] (70/376)

79/-
-2~
(ss)
76 f Foreign Intereata ,
Mr. Max Thornburg, Vice President of the Bahrain Pet
roleum Company Limited, left on the 13th July 1938 for Europe
and the United States of ^roorica.
77 • Local Affairs .
(i) Reference paragraph 69(i) of my Intelligence Summary
No. 11 of 1938. *
His Highness Shaikh Sir Hamad is still unwell and has
been taken from his residence at Sakhir to one of the Bahrain
Petroleum Company* s air-cooled houses which the Company were
kind enough to place at his disposal.
(ii) Three Bahrain fruit merchants received consignments
of fruit from Muscat by the British India Steam Navigation
Company* s S.S. "Bankura” on the 2nd July 1938 and these were
duly cleared through the Customs. One basket of limes, however,
remained unclaimed and had no marks on it. It was therefore
treated as abandoned cargo, and on examination, about 2 lbs of
charas, a Mauser magazine pistol and two clips of cartridges
were found. Whether this consignment was actually meant for
Bahrain or not remains a mystery, but someone has been unfor
tunate to the tune of about Rs. 2500/-.
(iii) The California Arabian Standard Oil Company’s motor
launch H Calarabia M while on its way from A1 Khobar to Bahrain
on the 6th July caught fire, exploded and sank. Owing to lack
of communication between the two shores no anxiety was felt
until late at night when several launches were sent out to
begin a search. I applied to Air Headquarters, ’Iraq, for
aircraft to ass it in the search and a flying boat arrived
the following day. During the morning of the 7th July the
American mechanic who had been in charge of the launch and two
of the Arab crew were picked up in an exhausted condition
after having been in the water for close on 24 hours with a
shamal blowing. Two American passengers named Mr. and Mrs.
Herring and two Arabs of the crew were drowned and their bodies
were not found until the morning of the 8th JUly. It was evi
dent that both Mr. and Mrs. Herring had suffered bad burns
when the launch burst into flames.
78. Qatar .
There is a certain amount of trouble in the A1 Thani
family of Qatar. The Shaikh complains that some of his rela
tives have been encouraged by the Shaikh of Bahrain to come
across to Bahrain where they are given money for the purpose
of spreading hostile propaganda in Qatar. On the other hand
these relatives have complained to me that the Snaikh of Qatar
refuses to give them any share of the money he receives from
Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited and that as their other
sources of income have now disappeared they have nothing to
live on* The Shaikh of Qatar has ignored a suggestion that
it is not only incumbent on him but is also in his own inte
rests to make provision for his poorer relatives.