'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎31r] (66/386)

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complications with Persia. Tt was also laid down by the Government of
India that no Persian official should be allowed to reside in the British station
without the express consent of the British Government.
The great inlets of Khor Musa and Khor Abdullah at the head of the Gulf,
though they lay beyond the field of the British strategical problem, were
^ ^ _ _ __ _ also examined w ith a view to ascertaining
Khor Musa and Khor Abdullah. ... *11 1 . c • -n
tlieir serviceableness to foreign Powers ;
the former was regarded as an outlet of which Bussia might desire to possess
herself, and the latter was important as affording a possible terminus for the
projected German railway via Baghdad to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . In the case of
Khor Musa the land approaches to the inlet w r ere also examined and reasons
were found for thinking that, in certain circumstances, British interests also
might be served by its existence. In 1904 Lord Curzon, in two separate des
patches, placed all the considerations relating to Khor Musa and Khor
Abdullah before His Majesty’s Government.
The full discussion of the strategical question entailed numerous surveys
which added considerably to what had previously been knowm of the hydro-
_ T , graphic features of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . In
ava surveys. 1900 preliminary reports upon a number
of the principal harbours and anchorages w r ere submitted by the Senior Naval
Officer. In 1903, w ith special reference to Russian designs, a survey was
made by Commander Somerville, an officer deputed from Pngland, of the
w hole Persian coast w r ithin the Gulf and of part of the coast of Persian Mekran.
The Naval Commandcr-in-Chief also, who accompanied Lord Curzon on his
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. tour, drew up a report on all the harbours and anchorages visited.
A rough survey w T as made of Khor Musa in 1903 and of Khor Abdullah in
1904, and in 1904 the sanction of His Majesty’s Government was obtained for
a detailed survey of Khor Abdullah. Besides these more important operations
a survey was made in 1901-02 of the w r aters between Bahrein, Hasaand Katar;
and before Lord Curzon left India arrangements had been made for a thorough
examination of a new approach to Bassidore, round the south-west corner of
Kishm island, which was used by the Viceroy during his tour in the Gulf.
While the question of permanent dispositions for naval action in the Gulf
was attentively studied by the British and Indian Governments, the important
. . , , . matters of ordinary organisation and of
British naval organisation. j.' • i ~ j _ i • .. r
materiel and personnel m time of peace
were also brought under examination. Under an arrangement expiring in
1906, in consideration of the payment by the Government of India of an
annual subsidy of £100,000, four vessels of the Boyal Navy, of w hich two were
cruisers and two were gunboats, had been placed at the disposal of India for special
service in local waters; but in theory only one of these was affected to the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. service, the remainder being properly stationed elsewhere. In
practice, how r ever, it was found that one vessel w r as insufficient for the work
of the Gulf, and from 1897 to 1902 the number of ships normally employed in
Gulf waters was either two or three ; one w as required to check piracy at the
head of the Gulf in the date season, another to police the pearl banks and the
shallow w r aters round Bahrein, and the third to patrol the seas between Maskat
and Bunder Abbas. In 1902, w ith a view to supplementing the deficiency in
the number of ships and, more particularly, to providing an additional
vessel adapted to check the smuggling of arms oversea from the Arabian
to the Persian coast, Lord Curzon proposed that an armament should be
placed on board the R.I.M.S. “ Lawrence,” the despatch boat of the
Bushire Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ; in this suggestion, however, the Secretary of State for
India w r as not disposed to concur, partly on account of certain technical diffi
culties and partly because another proposal, advanced by the Admiralty,
appeared likely to meet the requirements of the case. The Admiralty scheme,
w hich w as agreed to by Lord Curzon’s Government in 1903, consisted in the for
mation of a flotilla of three gunboats for permanent service in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and it was brought into effect in October 1904 ; it involved the replacement of
the two large and two small vessels hitherto supplied in return for the Indian
subsidy by three vessels, all of which were small; but the increase of suitable