File 1855/1904 Pt 9 'Koweit:- Relations with Turkey. Sheikhs claim to Bubiyan, Warba & Umkasr' [‎307v] (216/228)

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we understand, in course of construction by German enterprise unaided and
no arrangements have been made, as far as we are aware, in respect of any
portion of the railway from Konia to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. for securing the
condition whereby His Majesty’s Government contemplated that equality of
treatment should be secured for British capital.
4. During his recent tour in the Gulf the Viceroy personally visited the
Khor Abdulla, in company with the Naval Commander-in-Chief on the East
Indies Station, and the result of the inspection was to confirm the view which
w r e previously entertained of the importance of the Khor and of the superiority
of its shores, for the purpose of a railway terminus, over any of the sites in the
immediate neighbourhood of Koweit which have previously claimed attention.
On board the “ Lawrence”, Their Excellencies passed up the channel to the
anchorage below the junction of Khor Zobeir with Khor Um Kasr, and
except at the eastern end of Warba Island, where, there is a bar with a depth
of two fathoms for a short distance, a depth of four and-a-half fathoms was
obtained throughout. The anchorage is some three miles from Um Kasr post,
and the banks of the channel are sufficiently high to provide a firm and
convenient landing place. To the south of the Warba Island lies the larce
sheet of water with plenty of depth and room for an anchorage, to which Bear-
Admiral Willes refers in paragraph 50 of his letter No. 209—1171, dated 8th
December 1903, to the Secretary to the Admiralty, of which we enclose a copy.
Owing to the length of the channel and its capacity for easy land or
submarine defences, a port in either of these localities would be absolutely safe
from any attack from the seaward.
We have already intimated in our Secret despatch No. 16, dated the
21st January 1904, that the remarks of the Naval Commander-in-Chief in
paragraph 51 of this letter were written under a misapprehension, and do not
accurately represent the political position. It is not necessary here, therefore,
to take them into account.
5. In our Secret despatch No. 27 (Frontier), dated the 4th February 1904,
we have mentioned the probable antagonism of German interests to our own in
this quarter and the attitude which, in our opinion, should be adopted towards the
designs of other nations in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , and we consider that no time should be
lost in endeavouring to retrieve so far as may still be possible the position whicu
we have so seriously endangered by acquiescence in these encroachments. So
far as concerns Um Kasr and the neighbouring mainland, the claims of
the Sheikh of Koweit do not appear to have been strong. But whatever
may have been their validity, it would be difficult, and we would not now
propose to try, to induce the Turks to abandon the occupation which for the
past year they have been permitted to maintain. The case of Bubiyan Island we
regard as entirely different. Here we consider that the Sheikh has claims which
can be sustained alike with better reason, with greater prospect of success, ar.d,
owing to its insular position, with smaller risk of subsequent embarrassment
* No. 42 , dated the 28 th February 1902 . ^ ourselves. In February 1902, our
(Copy sent under cover of the Foreign Secretary’s Political Itesident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
letter No. 12 m., dated the 20 th March i9 0 2.) reported* that Sheikh Mubarak had
addressed to him a written communication in which he advanced his claim to
the island, and asserted that the Avazem tribe, who are his subjects, had lived
there since the occupation of Koweit for seven months during the summer of
each year, and had established fishing enclosures on the island. Colonel
Kemball regarded the pretension as valid, and a like view appears to have been
held by His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador at Constantmoplej who aTew days
^-sir Nicolas o’ Conor to the Marquess of Lans- later telegraphedf to the Marquess of
downe. No. as, dated the leth March 1902 . Lansdowne that the Consul at Basrah
considered the Sheikh’s claim to the island to be good. Sir Nicolas O’Conor,
+ sir Nicolas O’Conor to the Marquess of Lana- however, expressed j: the opinion that there
dowue. No. 30, dated the 11th March 1902. was n0 0 '| 3 j ec |; j n paising a Conflict about
Bubiyan Island while leaving the Turks in possession of Um Kasr. Had the
Ambassador then been in possession of the information wdiicli is now available,
we believe that he would not have entertained this view. With the shores of
the mainland and of Bubiyan Island in the possession of a single Povrer, the
anchorages below Um Kasr and at Warba Island can at any time be converted