مجموعة ٥٩/٣٠ "الخليج الفارسي. تأسيس البحرية الفارسية، إلخ" [و‎‎٤‎٧] (٦٢٤/٩٤)

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The ratings sign on nominally for two years,
hut they do not seem likely to remain as long.
When they are in arrears of pay, as they often are,
they down tools or walk ashore.
By far the best of the Persian officers is
Sub-Lieutenant Khan Daftari, son of the Governor
of Abadan - whose mother was French. The rest are
very little use.
He feels confident that the ships cannot
continue to function long after the Italian Officers
leave, particularly on the Engineering side. The
Persians are more or less all right while everything
is running smoothly, but as soon as anything goes
wrong they attempt something for a couple of hours
at most and then chuck their hands in.
The ships are beginning to need docking and
refit, the small ones are to be docked at the
A.P.O.C. dock at Abadan - the large ones at Karachi^?).
Meanwhile a floating dock is on order in Italy to
be placed in Mohammerah.
During a recent engagement with a dhow
(presumably that reported during April) the sights
were set, and kept for sane time at 3,GOO yards
although the dhow was only five hundred yards away.
For some time no damage was done. On another
occasion - apparently in the neighbourhood of Khor
Khan - the smuggling dhows got close inshore and
the Persian ships could not follow within range.
They nevertheless continued to waste ammunition
firing out of range. (It is hard to believe that
a large dhow could get close enough inshore for a
small patrol vessel of 300 tons handled with
determination not to be able at least to get within
range. One possible explanation is that only the
sloops, not the patrol boats, were there. Another,
that the dhows got over a bar at high water and the
Persians arrived at low water and would not wait
for high water before opening fire).
They don’t open fire on a dhow without
boarding her first. Asked how he could distinguish
a dhow of one principality from another in daytime,
much less at night, he said he couldn’t.
He was very apprehensive lest one of these
days the worm would turn and the dhow board the
sloop. The smuggling dhows are manned by good and
determined fighting men all well armed. Once they
got on board the crews of the Persian sloops would
not have a hope. They would fire their rifles in
the air and as like as not jump overboard.
They have, or had, a full outfit of
ammunition on board, but no reserves ashore. My
informant was apprehensive about temperature of the
ammunition and said they would not build
underground stowage which he said they must have.
This was not quite clear since they have no reserves
ashore yet.
My informant was evidently thoroughly
disgruntled and rightly or wrongly, of the opinion
that he was in a very difficult - even sometimes
dangerous - position, and was anxious only to get
back /