'File No. II/8 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re. affairs in Turkish Arabia. Nov '07 --' [‎28r] (55/110)

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. .
58. On the 7th April, His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul at
M^ssr s Ck Ly n ch r & b Co°’b Basrah telegraphed
steamer the “ Blosse that, Owing to inse-
1,yncl1 ' curity, the Tigris Mail
seryice had been suspended.
From details received, it appears that on
the morning of the 2nd April Messrs. Lynch
& Co.’s steamer the “ Blosse Lynch ” was
fired on by Arabs near Amara. Three passen-
eers. including one woman who subsequently
died, and one fireman, were wounded. Soon after
the occurrence, the vessel brought up alongside
a Turkish encampment, when the Captain
accompanied by Captain McConaghy, the
Acting Resident at Baghdad, who was on
board, went ashore and reported the incident
to the Colonel in command of the troops. The
latter was informed that the vessel carried the
mails and must proceed to Basrah as soon as
possible. Some soldiers were then placed on
board, and the Turkish gunboat “ Alus ” was
also ordered to accompany the vessel, which
continued her journey. At 8-30 the Arabs
began firing again; this continued till 9-0, the
fire being returned. The danger zone was
passed by 9-15 when the escort returned, the
“ Blosse Lynch ” proceeding on her journey to
Basrah.
On the 3rd April, Sir E. Grey instructed
His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires at Cons
tantinople to bring the incident to the notice
of the Porte and press for the punishment of
the Arabs. Mr. Barclay replied that the
Grand Vizier had assured him that all possible
measures were being taken to maintain
security of navigation, that troops had been
sent to the scene of the occurrence, and
that an enquiry was to be held with a view to
punishing the guilty parties. It was believed
that the incident was the outcome of Arab
resentment at certain arrangements affecting
the tribes which had been made by the Special
Commissioner, Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
On the 13th April, the Consul at Basrah
reported that British and Turkish Tigris
steamers were again running.
59. (Vide para, 171, September 1907.)
„ „ According to a letter
edjas ai way. f r0 m its Constantinople
correspondent published in the “ Frankfurter
Zeitung ”, the Directors of the Hedjaz
Railway have made an arrangement with the
German geologist, Dr. Blankenkorn, to proceed
to Palestine on behalf of the Company in
order to prospect for petroleum in the Dead
Sea Basin. It is stated that, after the scientist
has concluded the examination of this district,