Coll 28/107 ‘Persia (Iran) Movements of the ex-Shah.’ [‎81r] (161/361)

and come on board an hour or two later. I was not very fortun
ate in this however and learnt later that Mahmud Jam, who had
been left behind in Kerman, received some urgent communication
from Tehran which compelled him to chase after the Shah whom
he caught up at Sirjan at 2 a. m. on 26th. I do^t know what
the communication was about, but CD lea/rnt afterwards that the
Director of Customs had received instructions to obtain a
complete list of all the things the party took out of the
country with them and insisted on getting it. The details ran
into several pages and I am told that he was particularly
interested in ’'big jewellery”. This hitch was probably the
cause of the ex-Shah not boarding that night. Meanwhile I was
waiting on board in sweltering heat for the party to come off,
not knowing what was happening ashore (the vessel was lying
about 3 miles out and the launch had returned to the shore
for the party) except that I saw the convoy arriving about 8
p.m. Eventually about midnight a launch came off bringing
most of the family and the news that the ex-Shah and the remain
der would come aboard at 7 a.m. the following morning. I decided
to return ashore in case of a further hitch and reached the
Consulate at 2 a.m. only to find Foreign Office ”M.I” telegram
of the 24th (No. 787 to you) awaiting me. There was nothing
for iT^but to get down to it as it was undoubtedly connected
1 with the ex-Shah*s departure (no fans were working in the
Consulate, by the way; so clothed in pyjamas this took me
until 4.15 a.m. I had to be up again at 6 a.m. to get on
board before Reza came off and also to see that he did intend
to move. Perhaps it was as well I was too tired to sleep for
it would have broken the spell - I had been on the go since
4 a.m. the previous morning.
He certainly was prompt this time and put off to time.
I met him at the top of the gangway and introduced the Master
to him. Reza was wearing a lounge suit and a rather battered
soft hat but seemed in good spirits and was \juite affable to
me. I had never seen him before so I can make no cpmparisons.
Except for a number of menials the only non-passanger accompany
ing the ex-Shah on board was the unfortunate Mahmud Jam in a
suit more suitable for winter in Tehran than summer in Bandar
Abbas. He visibly suffered from the damp heat more than the
rest of us. Within an hour or so the baggage was aboard but
the vessel’s departure was further delayed by difficulties in
shipping 3 motor-cars which the ex-Shah and his sons were very
anxious to take with them. Off-loading of cars at Bandar Abbas
can only be done by running them on to loaded lighters at high
tide; two were dealt with at the early morning tide but the
third was not attended to until the next mid-day tide. But for
the information contained in F.0. telegram about the ultimate
destination of the party where supplies of this kind might
not be available, I would have told the Master to sail without
the third car. For the sake of an hour or two I thought the
third car had better go if possible. So I took my leave
of the ex-Shah about noon and came ashore to hurry them up.
The "Bandra" eventually sailed about 4.45 p.m. on the 27th.
The ex-Shah was quite friendly when I said good-bye to
him and thanked me for the facilities afforded by His Majesty’s
Government and the Government of India. The members of his
family too seemed friendly disposed and showed no signs of ill-
will in their change of fortunes. Thus my association with
them was more pleasant than it might otherwise have been.
The