'Memo on Mussondomom' [‎6r] (11/18)

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for all such trade; of goods coming in caravans by way of Teheran, Ispahan, and
Shiraz, down to Bushire; of goods coming down the Tigris, whether by river-
steamer or boat, to Busreh, and there being transhipped into sea-going steamers
or craft for transit down the Gulf; of a pearl and fishery trade in the Gulf itself,
especially along its western and Arab shore; and of a trade in dates and in
miscellaneous goods coming from and to the ports of the western coast line between •
Khewait or Graine to the Northward, and Ras-al-Khyma to the southward.
5. The 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. was first established at Bushire, probably for political
reasons, and because it was not then safe to establish it on the opposite Arab shore,
which was, moreover, reputed of deadly climate.
6. That Bushire was not geographically considered by any means the most
convenient point for effecting the objects which its establishment had in view, is
shown from a glance at the map. For it is plain that, as the series of buccaneers
to be overawed were settled along the lower western coast line of the Gulf between
Khuteef, Bahrein, and Cape Mussundoom, any point along that shore would have
had advantages over Bushire, provided the climate and political status had admitted
of such an establishment.
7. That Bushire was not a well-selected point, viewed from a naval point of
riew, is implied in the fact that the squadron had to find a Head Quarter station
elsewhere, npart from the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. . Bassadore, on the unhealthy island
of Kishin, was selected, and has since remained the Naval Head Quarters, although
we have, I believe, no title to it other than the verbal permission of the Imam
of Muscat, who, by a treaty subsequently entered in^to with Persia in 1856, has
resigned his own pretensions to sovereignty over Kidhin, and consented to farm it
from the Shah for a term of years; and to hold this farm under certain treaty con
ditions, which may any day bring our occupation of Bassadore into question. Again,
that Bushire roads are not convenient for shipping is equally obvious from the
facts that the anchorage is confined, shallow, and exposed, as from the facts that com
munication with the shore by boat is slow, hazardous, sometimes impracticable for
days together. The distance of the anchorage from the shore is nearly four miles.
8. That Bushire was not well selected for the prevention of the slave trade is
shown from a glance at the map. The strategic point for throttling this trade, if by
force it can be suppressed, being obviously the narrow strait between Capes Jask and
Mussundoom, at the entrance of the Gulf. One steam-vessel lying there, with her
boats out as flanking parties, might visit every craft entering the Gulf more effect
ually than could a dozen such vessels cruizing in the Gulf after craft, which, having
once entered it, would hug shallow dangerous shores, with slave ports always
at hand.
9. Viewed from a war point of view, a station at Cape Mussundoom would,
in respect to the naval command of the Gulf, have possessed as many advantages
over Bushire, as does, in respect to the command of the Mediterranean, Gibraltar
possess over an anchorage like that of Algiers or Tunis.
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