"ملف 8/16 ملخصات استخباراتية بشأن البحرين" [و‎‎١‎٠‎٨] (٣٣٠/٢١٥)

2.
87. A ircraft Mishaps
(1) On the 22nd a Flying Fortresd 1 on a photograohic recon-
naiasanco flight force-landed on the mainland opposite Yas Island*
Four members of the crew descended by parachute and were found
the next morning some 49'miles to the east of the aircraft. Two
. °t thom ^ Gre sightly injured while the two members of the crew
who remained with the aircraft escaped without ariy injuries. It
is understood that the ’Flying Fortress’ is a total-loss as it
was landed on a part of the beach below high water mark and is
therefore submerged twice in every twenty-four hours.
23rd a Royal Air Force machine landing near the
-^lythg Fortress 1, to rescue the two members of the crow was
slightly damaged but will probably be able to be flown off after
repairs have been carried out.
(iii)Cn the same day f23rd May) a ‘Warwick’ aircraft had diffi
culty with its landing gear and crashed at Bahrain. It is
understood that no one was hurt.
88• Ras Tanurah Refinery
On the 24th the Political Agent accompanied by Mr. Lloyd
N. Hamilton the Chairman of the Bahrain Petroleum Company Ltd.
inspected the site of the proposed 50,000 barrel Refinery at
Ras Tanurah.^ Construetiorihas already commenced on aceommodatioa
for the housing of the l^sb Americans required for the actual
construction work but owing to the nature of the ground progress
has not been rapid. The houses are being built on concrete
foundations laid on white sand-dunes. The sand is watered for
some days before the concrete slabs are cast in the hope that the
sand will remain firm until the mixture has set. The Refinery
ItseLf will be built near the base of the penissula on low lying
land of the salt marsh type. Very careful experiments have been
and are still being carried out by foundation experts to deter
mine exactly how the weight of the heavier Refinery buildings
must be distributed. It is probable that concrete piles v/ill be
used fairly extensively passing through the soft elements of the
ground and resting on sand stone formations well below the sur
face. Except for machines moving sand hills and surveyors at
work at the moment there is no sign of any building activity.
The problem of discharging ships, the first of which is to
arrive early next month, is most serious. So far Messrs. Gray
Mackenzie & Company Bahrain have neither the necessary tugs nor
the barges. The haul from ship to shore will be quite a short
one as the deep water anchorage appears to be only about 1,800
feet from the end of the peninsula. The small Refiner^ which is
already in existence at Ras Tanura has just been resttfttfted in
order to provide motor spirit, &c., for the construction program
me.
89. Saudi Arab ia
While at A1 Khobar the Political Agent was entertained by
Abdul-Aziz bin Abdul Aziz al Madhi the acting Governor of Ositif,
while at Dammam by Shaikh Abdullah al Fadhal the Saudi-Arabian
representative in Bahrain and with the Arabian American Oil Com
pany at Dhahran, and by Khan Bahadur Abdul Aziz al Qassaibi at
his garden at gafwoh.
While at Dammam the Political Agent met the President and
members of a Royal Commission who are investigating various
important problems in the Hasa-Qatif area. Nuri—as-Sa T adawi, a
native of Tripoli in Libya the President of the Commission has
been in Saudi Government service for only six months prior to
which he was resident in Syria for 31 years, in fact sinoe the
time he found it advisable to leave his native country owing to
his dislike of Italian methods. The members of the Commission
/wore