"تقرير ومحاضر اجتماعات اللجنة الفرعية التابعة للجنة الدفاع الإمبراطوري بشأن سكة حديد بغداد، جنوب بلاد فارس، والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٧‎٧] (٣٣٢/١٥٨)

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Political —(a.) Muscat, including Musandim Peninsula. 135
stone’s Inlet on the other side. But the drawbacks of the site, arising
froni tlie hot climate, the sterile neighbourhood, and the suspicions of the
native tribes, compelled a retreat from the course adopted; and, in 1869 the
cable was diverted to Cape Jask and Henjam.”
In a despatch dated the 2nd May, 1901, the Government of India
wrote :—
“ The harbour of Elphinstone Inlet, on the western side of the Musandim
Promontory, possesses many advantages, but we consider it less suitable (than
Bassidu and Henjam) for our ultimate naval station at the mouth of the
Gulf, because of its total lack of supplies and the uncivilized character of
the aboiiginal inhabitants. Me should, however, see no obiection to the
hoisting of the British flag on the Isthmus of Maklab, not necessarily with
the v iew of ulterior occupation, but in order to anticipate seizure by any
other Power. J
J he question of the measures to be taken to prevent the occupation of
the anchorage s ol this promontory by some other European Power was again
raised by the India Office at an inter-Departmental discussion on various
questions connected with the Persian Gulf on the 14th Julv, 1902. The
Government ol India, to whom the Report of the Committee was communi
cated, recommended in a despatch dated the 2drd October, 1902, that the
British Resident in the Persian Gulf should be authorized to effect a
reoccupation of^ the deserted telegraph buildings at Elphinstone Inlet by
hoisting the British flag and posting a native Agent there. The Admiralty
who were consulted by the Foreign Office, stated on the 31st January, 1903’
that the Eoids Commissioners saw no objection to the proposal.
On the 21st January, 1904, the Government of India embodied in a
furthei despatch the conclusions arrived at by the Viceroy and the Naval
Commander-in-chief on the East India Station, after Lord Curzons tour in
the Persian Gulf, as to the selection of naval positions.
Amongst other recommendations it was proposed that, in order to
> prevent any foreign flag being planted in the harbours of the Musandim
Peninsula, Elphinstone Inlet should be reoccupied. It was suggested that
the best way of effecting this reoccupation would be to erect a'’flagstaff on
the isthmus which commands Eiphinstone and Malcolm Inlets and on
Telegraph Island, in the former inlet. It was also proposed, on the advice
of the Admiral, that a flagstaff should be planted on Sheep Island, in the
anchorage of Khor Kawi, on the western side of the peninsula, which is not
only very commodious, but which might, it was suggested, some dav be
useful as a coaling station.
In a Beport dated December 1903 Bear-Admiral Atkinson-Willes had
furnished details of Khor Kawi :—
The Khor appears capable of sheltering several large cruisers besides
a number of small craft. Its strategical position is excellent, and, in con
junction with the Islands of Kishm, Henjam, Larak, and Hormuz, it will
form a strong position for the control of the entrance to the Gulf.”
On the 26th November, 1904, the Viceroy reported that the flagstaffs
had been erected.
On learning that the flagstaffs had been erected on the sites in question,
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty demurred to the action which
had been taken. They formulated their objections in the following terms:—
“My Lords cannot admit that the fact of their having offered no objection to the
proposal to reoccupy Telegraph Island by placing there a Native Agent in charge of a
hritish flag can be held to cover their unsolicited acquiescence in the proposed further
distribution of flagstaffs in the district, one being on the mainland.
‘‘ 1 he original proposal was simply a case of reverting to a state of things which had
previously existed without question, to the renewal of which there was a reasonable
answer in the event of objections being raised by European Powers, and in which
here could be no question of territorial expansion, as the so-called island is nothing but
a rock. As regards the other flagstaffs, it is a very different matter, and my Lords felt
hat if the flag was not intended to denote British territorial expansion, it not only
meant nothing, but was a possible source of international complication.”
[376] 2 N