‘Persian Gulf pilot comprising the Persian Gulf and its approaches from Ras al Hadd, in the south-west, to Cape Monze, in the east.’ [81v] (167/404)
The record is made up of 199 folios. It was created in 1932. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
108
ENTRANCE OF
PERSIAN GULF
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
[Chap. IV.
Chart 753.
miles eastward of which is an old Dutch fort and the little fishing
village of Labtiyab.
A small quantity of water is contained in reservoirs.
5 The island is covered with a stunted vegetation, and near the
village are a few small date trees.
Anchorage, in depths of about 13 fathoms (23 m 8), may be obtained
off the northern coast of Jezirat Larak, between the low point and
the village, at about half a mile offshore and 3 cables from the edge
10 of drying sands; off the village, the bottom is rock, and there the
coastal reef extends offshore for about one cable. The anchorage
is sheltered only from the shamal and is not recommended.
Oishm. —Qishm, situated on the eastern end of Qishm island,
see page 111, was once a large and well-built town standing on a
i5 fairly level, sandy site close to the water's edge; earthquakes,
however, have destroyed half the town, the highest building
remaining being from 50 to 60 feet (15 m 2 to 18 m 3) high. There is
a small date grove on either side of the town and at a short distance
southward of it are several domed water reservoirs; in dry seasons
20 these latter fail, and, in extreme cases, the wells also; when this
happens water has to be brought to the town from other parts of the
island where it seems to be fairly plentiful.
The land behind the town, and southward of it, rises in a gradual
slope to a hill, the northern and western sides of which are precipitous;
25 its fiat summit, 560 feet (170 m 7) high, is situated about 3 miles
westward of the town.
Meat or cattle, vegetables, and bread can be obtained. The
water in the wells is fairly good.
The inhabitants are engaged in boat-building and fishing.
30 Shoals.—Light-buoy. —Several shoals, over which the depths
are from 2| to 3 fathoms (4 m 6 to 5 m 5), sand, lie from one to 1^ miles
offshore eastward and north-eastward of Qishm town [Lat. 26° 57' N
Long. 56° 17' E.)] these shoals lie on a flat, over which the general
depths are from 3^ to 3^ fathoms (5 m 9 to 6 ni 4), that extends parallel
35 with the coast for some distance north-westward of the town; the
outer edges of these shoals are steep-to and between them and the
coast there are depths of from 3J to 7 fathoms (5 m 9 to 12 m 8). Off
the town the depths shoal very rapidly towards the inner side of the
flat.
40 A drying flat extends nearly 2 cables offshore on the northern
side of the town, and a shoal bank extends about 3 cables off its
eastern side; this bank fringes the coast southward of the town
and at 1J miles in that direction extends offshore for about 6 cables.
The shoals are marked by discoloured water.
45 A light-buoy, exhibiting a white flashing light, is moored about
1J miles eastward of Qishm fort and marks the southern side of a
channel, half a mile wide, in which the depths are about 3J fathoms
(5 m 9); this channel leads, between the shoals, to the anchorage.
Anchorage.—Directions. —Anchorage may be obtained anywhere
50 northward of the flat off Qishm; a good position is in a depth of
6 fathoms (ll 11 ^)), at about 2 miles offshore.
Vessels whose draught will permit them to cross the flat may
anchor in a depth of 5 fathoms (9 m l), mud, with the fort bearing
180°, distant about three-quarters of a mile.
Charts 2837a, 748b.
About this item
- Content
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. pilot comprising the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and its approaches, from Ras al Hadd, in the south-west, to Cape Monze, in the east. Published for the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1932. Eighth edition.
The pilot begins with a number of introductory sections:
- Notice of caution when approaching British ports, including the closure of ports and examination of vessels entering ports (folio 1v, inside front cover);
- Notations of supplements and annual summaries of notices to mariners relating to this book (folio 2);
- Cautionary notes on the measurements, including those for (bearings, longitude, latitude, depth) given in the pilot, and the different methods of shading used to indicate colours of flags, tidal light signals and beacons in the pilot (folio 5);
- Advertisement to the eighth edition (folio 6) providing an outline history of the pilot, and updates to the latest edition;
- Contents page (folios 7v-8), referring to the pilot’s pagination;
- A list of views (illustrations), with reference to the pilot’s pagination (folio 8v);
- A glossary of terms (folio 9), organised alphabetically, and with an indication of their origin (Arabic, Baluchi, Hindustani, Persian);
- Notes on the system of orthography (folios 10-11);
- Information relating to Admiralty charts and other hydrographic publications and general navigation (folios 12-19), with sections on the correction of Admiralty charts, and their degree of reliance, navigational publications, including the Admiralty lists of lights and wireless signals, tide tables, and general remarks relating to practical navigation;
- A map of the head of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , dated July 1932, indicating those areas covered by Admiralty charts (folio 20v);
- A map of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Gulf of Oman, dated July 1932, with an indication of those areas covered by Admiralty charts mentioned in the pilot (folio 21v);
- An insert (folio 22) detailing those elements not included in the present volume.
The main body of the pilot is arranged in chapters and appendices as follows:
- Chapter 1 - General Remarks: physical features, depths, political and administrative divisions, British representation, ports and anchorages, towns and population, languages, supplies, products, trade, currencies, weights and measures, the pearl fisheries, health, meteorological information (pressure, winds, cyclones and depressions, climate and weather, humidity, rainfall, dew, fog, visibility), currents, tides, tidal streams, signals, communications, pilots, deratisation, native craft, piracy, obtaining information, presents, coal, fuel oil, docks, repairs, standard time, passages;
- Chapter 2 - Approaches to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. from the south; the coasts of Oman, Batinah, and Ash Shamailiyah; Ras Al Hadd to Dibah;
- Chapter 3 - Approaches to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. from the east; the coasts of Las Bela, Makran, Persian Makran, including Jask; Cape Monze to Jask;
- Chapter 4 - Entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; Ruus al Jabal and the Persian coast, including Bandar ’Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] and Qishm [Kīsh] island; Dibah to Ras Ash Sha’am and Jask to Charack [Bandar-e Chārak];
- Chapter 5 - Northeast side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; the coast of Persia; Charack to Ras Ash Shatt, including Bushire;
- Chapter 6 - The southwest side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; the coast of Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and the eastern side of Qatar; Ras Ash Sha'am to Ras Rakan;
- Chapter 7 - The southwest side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; western side of Qatar, Bahrain [referred to as Bahrein throughout], and the coasts of Nejd [Najd] and Kuwait; Ras Rakan to Khor ’Abdullah;
- Chapter 8 - The head of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; coasts of Persia and Iraq; Ras Ash Shatt to and including the Shatt al ’Arab; the Tigris and Euphrates;
- Appendix 1 - List of ports available for underwater repairs, with details of the largest dry or floating dock or patent slip at each port;
- Appendix 2 - List of principal ports, showing the particulars of depth at approach and anchorage, rise of tide;
- Appendix 3 - Meteorological data (air pressure, air temperature, rainfall, wind) - for Muscat, Pasni, Jask, Bushire, Bahrain; Kuwait, Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], Basra;
- Appendix 4 - Places suitable for magnetic observations;
- Appendix 5 - Tidal streams, with tables for four locations, including Henjam, and semi-diurnal and diurnal factors.
Throughout the main chapters there are illustrations of the parts of the coastline being discussed by the accompanying text. These illustrations, which are a mix of line drawing and reproductions of watercolours, indicate the profile of the land, and highlight distinctive topographical features such as trees and forts.
- Extent and format
- 199 folios
- Arrangement
The pilot is arranged into eight chapters (I-VIII) and five appendices (I-V). The arrangement of chapters is geographical, moving from the easternmost point of the Gulf in chapter II to the westermost point in chapter VIII. The contents page (ff 7-8) and alphabetically ascending index (ff 182-93) refer to the pilot’s pagination system.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 199.
Pagination: There are two printed pagination systems, which generally situate numbers in the top-left corner of versos and the top-right corner of rectos. The first, which uses Roman numerals, runs through the pilot’s introductory pages (ff 6-19). The second pagination system uses Arabic numerals, and runs through the remainder of the pilot (ff 23-197).
The number of each chapter is indicated throughout the chapter (expressed as ‘Chap.’ and the chapter number as a Roman numeral) in the top-left corner of rectos and the top-right corner of versos. The lines of text on each page in each chapter are numbered in intervals of five (i.e. 5, 10, etc.)
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/C251
- Title
- ‘Persian Gulf pilot comprising the Persian Gulf and its approaches from Ras al Hadd, in the south-west, to Cape Monze, in the east.’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:145v, 145ar:145av, 146r:198v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence