'Muscat Dhows Arbitration. In the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. Grant of the French Flag to Muscat Dhows. The case on behalf of the Government of His Britannic Majesty.' [‎11r] (30/208)

17
Cox, June 18,
1900.
Cox, June 18,
1^00, No. 7 iu 49,
file, p. 57.
Tnclosure 13 in
No. 49, June 15,
1900, tile, p. 60.
See inclosnre 20
in No. 49, June 26,
1900, file, p. 66.
Text wanted—■
reference to it.
Inclosure 30 in
No. 216, at p. 9S
of file.
See No. 30 in 216,
at p, 97 of file.
From what
document was this
information
abstracted ?
Cox to Laronce,
March 11,1902.
that he is owner of another vessel—the " Saad-al-
Kerim."
No. D describes the owner as resident in a
place somewhat illegibly written, but appearing
to be Mitsa Mixxonte, declared by the owner to
be the name of one of the Comoro Islands, His
actual residence was at Suweik, a small port on
the Batineh coast of Oman.
It is further to be observed that these titres
were all granted or renewed by French Consuls
at Muscat or Zanzibar, and not by the officers of
^French Colonies or Protectorates; and it is also
to be noted that the titre permits the employ
ment of a foreign crew, which militates against
any contention that the crew can be considered as
Erench proteges.
At the time of the Sultan's visit to Sur all the
Suri vessels except one were laid up in harbour
for the monsoon season, and though at least those
owned by the persons in the list given iu the
Appendix No. claimed to sail under the French
flag, only fifteen or sixteen had on them any
names or numbers as required by Article XXXIV
of the Brussels Act, and on even these vessels the
names were not inlaid as required, but so dis-
possed on the quarter that they could be easily
removed or erased.
The French titres above referred to were sent
by the Sultan to M. Ofctavi, who declined to
receive them, and visited Sur to inquire into the
circumstances attending their surrender, and the
French authorities have since that date continu
ally questioned the correctness of the Sultan's
action so far as it relates to French papers grant
ed to his subjects before the date of his visit to Sur.
On the 26th June, 1900, M. Cambon, the French
Ambassador in London, gave to the British
Minister of Foreign Affairs an assurance that no
certificates would be recognized which had been
granted for the first time to subjects of the
Sultan after that date, and t^hat the existing
papers would be carefully examined. The Naval
Commander sent for this purpose on the tc Dr6me"
would seem to have directed his attention mainly
to intimidating the Sultan into returning to the
dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. owners the titres already surrendered, and
a similar policy seems to have been followed by
the Commander of the "Catinat", which visited
Sur in December 1900.
On the 11th February, 1902, by the direction
of the British Government, the British Consul at