"ملف W/4 العداءات في بلاد فارس: حصار تانجستان، مصادرة شاي مورد إلى تانجستان" [و‎‎٢‎٦] (٤١١/٤٩)

28
65
No, 1440, dated Rushire, the 9th (received 16th) August 1915.
From— M ajor A. P. T hevob, C .I .E., OfReer on Special Duty in the Persian Gulf
Residency, Bushiie (in the absence of the Resident),
To—The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political
Department, Simla.
In continuation and amplification of ray telegram, 398 C., dated 8th
August ]915, I have the honour to report, for the information of the Govern
ment of India, that the occupation of iiushire town was successfully carried
out at daylight yesterday by the 11th Rajputs under the command of Lieuten
ant-Colonel D. G. Stuart The arrangements were made by the Officer
Commanding Tooops, Bushire, Lieutenant-Colonel li. P. Lane, after consulta
tion with the Senior Naval Odicer and myself. The 11th Rajputs marched
off from Bushire at 3-15 a.m ., and reached the south end of the town at 5 a m.
Here the regiment divided and parties were sent to the Customs, Governor's
house, barracks and Gendarmerie barracks. All these points were occupied
without opposition. There was a slight hitch in the Gendarmerie barracks, as
the officer begged for permission to go and get the Governor's orders. He
arrived at the Governor's house when I was there, interviewing His Excellency
about the occupation of Bushire, so I arranged with the Governor that he
should tell the officer to vacate at once and leave for Borasjun with his men
as had been suggested to him.
The officer duly received those instructions and, after his return to town,
vacated the barracks and marched otf with his men to JVlugam, on the Shiraz
road at the Alashileh. There he picked up the men, who had been in the
Tower at Mugam and who had been turned 9ut of the Tower at daylight by
the Officer Commanding outposts, and the whole party left for Borasjun.
When the party which occupied the Governor's house was searching the
place, 148 rifles (Mausers, Martinis, Ross, &c,) were found and 102 boxes of
ammunitiou.
The British flag was hoisted at the Custom House, the Governor's house
and the Turkish Consulate. The hoisting of the British flag on the large
Persian flagstaff at the back of the town near the old Government House had
to be deferred as there were no halyards and the other rigging was rotten;
steps are being taken to rectify this.
H. M V S. Dalhousie " came into the inner anchorage after dark on the
evening of the 7th instant and lay off the town; on the morning of the 8th a
party was sent to seize the Customs Gunboat Muzaffar", and the two armed,
launches " Azerbaijan " and " Mazandaran This was succesfully carried out,
the second launch is useless at present having had her engines taken out.
The Persian Telegraph Office was at first occupied and then dismantled
and a guard put over the Persian Post Office. A guard was at first put on the
Turkish Consulate, but afterwards the few records there are, were sealed up
and the guard withdrawn. •
According to previous arrangement I called on His Excellency the Gov
ernor at G-30 a. m . the earliest hour which I should be likely to find him up,
and informed him of what His Majesty's Government had decided and told
him that Bushire had been taken over by t]iat time. It was a complete
surpiise to him (as to everybody else) as I had arranged that the regiment
should on its way to town take over the country telephone exchange to
prevent people in town communicating the news to the Governor or others
outside. The exchange in town was also occupied directly the regiment
arrived there.
His Excellency was very bitter and pointed out to me (as I knew before)
that his friendly attitude towards us had brought him into such bad odour
with the Persian Government, the Governor-General of Pars and the people
generally that he dare not go to his house in Shiraz, and asked what he should
do. I replied that there were two alternatives; one was for His Excellency
to go to Bunder Abbas or Lingah and carry out the Government of the
remainder of the Gulf Ports from there, and the other was to go to India or