"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٤‎١‎١] (١٢٦٢/٩٢٨)

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2411
Dliahuriyin been more satisfactory, the telegraph station also would have
been erected. A section of cable continued the telegraph from the west
shore of the isthmus to a small unnamed island in Elphinstone Inlet,
selected for the sake of a security which the mainland did not afford
and thenceforth known as " Telegraph Islet.""
Telegraph rights were conceded to the British Government by the
Sultan of 'Oman in two treaties, the first dated 17th November 1864
and the second 19th January 1865 ; they related not only to his posses
sions proper in Arabia and Makran, but also to territories which he
then beld on lease from the Persian Government. In the former of these
treaties the sovereign rights of the Sultan of Masqat over territory
traversed by the telegraph were expressly reserved. As the title of
Masqat to the isthmus of Maqlab and its neighbourhood was not
undisputed, an Agreement for the protection of the telegraph "in or
near ^ their territories was obtained also from the Shaikhs of Trucial
'Oman.
On the l^th of March the steamer " Zenobia " brought the " Tweed""
with a heavy cargo of cable into Elphinstone Inlet; and on the 18th,
after the " Tweed^s cable had been connected with the instruments on
Telegraph Islet, a start was made for Bushehr, the steamer {f Coromandel^
accompanying.
On the morning of the 19fch the ships were abreast of Tunb Island,
which lay about 4 miles to the south of them ; a slight detour had been
made to avoid a place where the soundings were known to be irregular.
At this point the " Coromandel" was detached to pick up the cable ship
" Assaye," then anchored off Lingeh, as a portion of her cable was
required to complete the distance to Bushehr, and a messenger was sent
in a native boat to summon the towing-steamer " Semiramis " from
Basidu, where she was then coaling. Shatvar islet was passed on the
forenoon of the 20th; and on the evening of 21st the vessels had
reached a point 35 miles south of Bushehr. The following day was
spent in transferring staff and apparatus from the Tweed,^ whose
cable was now expended, to the " Assaye; " and in the early morning
of the 23rd progress was resumed, the time of departure being so
arranged as to ensure arrival off Bushehr by daylight. An anchorage
3 miles off Rishehr was reached at 9 a.m . on the 28rd, where, with the
able assistance of Colonel Pelly, Resident in the Persian Gulf, the
political and other arrangements on shore were completed during the
time occupied in landing the cable; the special steamer " Amber witch ^
conveyed the shore-end of the cable from the anchorage to within
quarter of a mile of the beach. On the evening of the 24th of March
communication was opened between Rishehr and India.
As fair weather prevailed and its duration was uncertain, no time
was lost, after reaching Eushehr, in undertaking the continuation to
Fao. On the 25th of March 1864, one end of the cable remaining on
board the a Assaye " was landed at Rishehr with the assistance of the
"Amberwitch/' while the steamer Victoria^ proceeded direct to the
neighbourhood of Fao carrying Lieutenant Stiffe, I N., who, as already
mentioned, had made a special survey of the waters there about a year
previously. It would have been a simple matter to carry the cable
Telegraph
Treaties with
Masqat, and
Agreement
by the
Shaikhs of
Trucial
'Oman,
1864-65.
Laying
of the Gulf
cables (conti
nued), 1864.
Khor-ash-
Sham to
Bushehr,
March 1864.
Bushehr to
Fao, March-
April 1864.