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Coll 6/53 'Red Sea: The Hanish Islands.' [97r] (193/419)
The record is made up of 1 file (208 folios). It was created in 2 Oct 1928-12 Dec 1935. It was written in English, Italian and French. 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
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7# Mr »RSNDSL then referred to the probability of the
Italians drawing an analogy between their position in
Great Hanish and Jebel Zukur and that of His Majesty’s
Government in Kamaran. He pointed out that under Article 4
of the conclusions of the Rome conversations of 1927,
our position in Kamaran was weak and circumscribed, since
it had been agreed that it was in the interests of both
parties to the conversations that no European Power should
establish itself in Kamaran. This Article of the conclusions
of the Rome conversations did not cover Great Hanish and
Jebel Zukur, to which only Article 5 could be held to apply.
The terms of Article 5 were as follows
’’That there should be economic and commercial
"freedom on the Arabian coast and the islands of the
’’Red Sea for citizens and subjects of the two countries
"and that the protection which such citizens and subjects
"may legitimately expect from their respective governments
"should not assume a political character or complexion."
8. Obviously, the conclusions of the Rome conversations
restricted what His Majesty’s Government could do in Kamaran
far more than what the Italians were entitled to do on
Great Hanish and Jebel Zukur.
9. A suggestion was then considered that the best way
of tying the Italians’ hands in regard to these latter
islands might be (a) to ask the Italian Government for a
declaration that they made no claim to sovereignty over
the islands; and (b) thereafter to develop the analogy
between Jebel Zukur and Hanish on the one hand and Kamaran
on the other, and endeavour to secure Italian consent to
bringing Jebel Zukur and Great Hanish within the scope of
Article 4 of the conclusions of the Rome conversations on
the same basis as Kamaran, i.e. to get them to accept a
declaration
About this item
- Content
This file primarily concerns the sovereignty status of the Hanish Islands, as well as that of other islands in the Lower Red Sea. It documents concerns held by the British Government that the Italian Government is in the process of attempting to establish some kind of informal control over certain islands.
Matters discussed in the correspondence include:
- The content and wording of a proposed Red Sea Lights Convention, the result of negotiations between the British and French governments, which ostensibly relates to the construction and maintenance of lighthouses – both on islands in the Lower Red Sea and in the territory of Mocha – but also concerns questions of sovereignty.
- Whether the Italian Government's plan to construct a lighthouse on South-West Haycock Island constitutes a claim of sovereignty over the island.
- The establishment of Italian military posts on the Hanish and Jebel Zukur [Jazīrat Jabal Zuqar] islands.
- Concerns expressed by the Admiralty and Foreign Office that by establishing these posts the Italian Government could be attempting to enforce rights of sovereignty over the islands.
- The extent to which either the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) or the Rome Conversations of 1927 (between Britain and Italy) provide any basis to contesting an Italian claim to sovereignty over the islands.
- Reports of attempts by the Italian military posts to restrict fishing and pearling in neighbouring waters to dhows possessing a permit from Assab.
The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome (Sir Ronald Graham, succeeded by James Eric Drummond); the Command-in-Chief, Mediterranean; the Senior Officer of the Red Sea Sloops; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the 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. , the Admiralty, the Air Council, and the Board of Trade's Mercantile Marine Department.
As well as correspondence the file includes the following: extracts from reports of the proceedings of HMS Dahlia (1929 and 1931), HMS Penzance (1933), and HMS Calcutta (1934); copies of the minutes of an interdepartmental conference, held at the Foreign Office on 6 July 1931 to consider questions relating to the Red Sea islands; draft English and French texts of modifications to the aforementioned Red Sea Lights Convention, prepared by Sir Cecil Hurst, legal adviser to the Foreign Office; two sketch maps depicting the Lower Red Sea islands and surrounding area.
In addition to the aforementioned French text, the file contains some material in Italian, namely a copy of a fishing permit issued at Assab (an English translation is included).
The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (208 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 209; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English, Italian and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2120
- Title
- Coll 6/53 'Red Sea: The Hanish Islands.'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:2v, 5r:32v, 35r:51v, 53r:54v, 56r:118v, 120r:135v, 138r:143v, 145r:161v, 163r:172v, 174r:177v, 182r:209v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence