The British India Line in the Arabian Gulf, 1862–1982 40 Mr
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ال�سنة اخلام�سة • العدد العا�رش • دي�سمرب 2013 LiwaJournal of the National Center for Documentation & Research جملة علمية ّحمكمة ي�صدرها املركز الوطني للوثائق والبحوث Volume 5 • Number 10 • December 2013 10 • December 5 • Number Volume Volume 5 • Number 10 • December 2013 ال�سنة اخلام�سة • العدد العا�رش • دي�سمرب 2013 ISSN 1729-9039 ISSN 1729-9039 Liwa Liwa Journal of the National Center for Documentation & Research (NCDR) ّ Editor-In-Chief جملة علمية حمكمة ي�صدرها املركز الوطني للوثائق والبحوث Dr. Abdulla El Reyes رئي�س التحرير Director General of the National Center for Documentation and Research د. عبد اهلل الري�س Deputy Editor-In-Chief Advisory Board املدير العام للمركز الوطني للوثائق والبحوث Majid Sultan Al Mehairi H.E. Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh Adviser in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Deputy Managing Editor نائب الرئي�س الهيئة اﻻ�ست�سارية Chairman of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Dr. L. Usra Soffan Heritage (ADACH) and Board Member of National ماجد �سلطان املهريي �سعادة زكي اأنور ن�سيبة Center for Documentation & Research م�ست�سار وزارة �سوؤون الرئا�سة، ونائب رئي�س هيئة اأبوظبي للثقافة والرتاث، وع�سو جمل�س Editorial Board Prof. Mustafa Aqil al- Khatib مديرة التحرير اإدارة املركز الوطني للوثائق والبحوث Dr. Jayanti Maitra Professor of Modern History-Qatar University د. ي�رسا �سوفان Farhan Al Marzooqi اأ. د. م�سطفى عقيل اخلطيب Saeed Al Suwaidi Dr. John E. 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For more details about ‘Liwa’ and subscriptions, access www.ncdr.ae ملزيد من املعلومات ولل�سرتاك يف املجلة يرجى دخول موقع The views expressed in this issue are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily www.ncdr.ae ما ورد يف هذا العدد يعرب عن اآراء ُالك ّتاب ول يعك�س بال�رسورة اآراء هيئة التحرير أوا املركز الوطني للوثائق & reflect the views of the Editorial Board or the National Center for Documentation والبحوث. .Research طبعت يف مطابع املركز الوطني للوثائق والبحوث Printed in the National Center for Documentation & Research Printing Press LiwaJournal of the National Center for Documentation & Research Volume 5 • Number 10 • December 2013 Contents Early Mail Transport in, and from, the Gulf 1798-1939 3 Douglas N. Muir Curator, Philately of the British Postal Museum & Archive, since 1988 Writing the General Treaty: Anne Thompson and the 25 British Expedition to the Gulf, 1819-1821 Dr. Penelope Tuson Former Curator of Middle East Archives, Oriental & India Office Collections, The British Library. Currently heads her own Historical Research Consultancy The British India Line in the Arabian Gulf, 1862–1982 40 Mr. Michael Quentin Morton Independent writer and researcher 2 Early Mail Transport in, and from, the Gulf 1798-1939 Douglas N. Muir Introduction Communication is the lifeblood of society and trade. In this age it is instant emails or phone messages. In the past, over any distance, it was largely by post. In the Gulf it was trade and external political requirements which first brought demands for a postal service. This was the thread which bound the area together, or - perhaps better - the spine which connected it with the outside world. Yet any such service clearly depended on transport and until the 1920s that had to be by camel overland through the desert or, more normally, by ship overseas. Even when properly organised and regular services came into being these were quite slow. With the coming of organised transport also came the founding of local postal agencies. The rise of one depended on the other, but for many years there were very few agencies serving the whole Gulf. It also took a long time for mail to arrive, especially if a weekly, or fortnightly, steamer had just been missed. Transit time to Bombay was up to 14 days. Almost nothing has been published on the subject of mail transport in the Gulf. Even the magisterial volumes of documents reproduced and edited by Anita Burdett under the heading “Communications and Transport”, despite the title, do not touch on sea mails or overland routes, only referring to airmails. This paper is intended to remedy that gap, as far as is possible. Early days For the very early period details are hazy and documentation scant. Although the East India Company had maintained ships in the Gulf to safeguard trade and the route from Britain to India through the 17th and 18th centuries, communication with the outside world was irregular. It was not until 1 January 1798 that packet ships were established between Bombay and Basra (and thence overland to Europe). Packet ships here were vessels conveying mails, goods and passengers at regular intervals, and at this time clearly sailing vessels. They were to provide a monthly service, though with extremely high charges, as was common at that time. Postage was to be paid on delivery at the extortionate rate of 10 rupees a single letter “weighing one quarter of a Rupee”. For those weighing more than that the cost 3 Douglas N. Muir was 15 rupees, rising to 20 rupees.1 Users were requested to write their letters in duplicate because on arrival at Basra one bag was forwarded via Aleppo and another via Bagdad to reduce any losses as far as possible. There cannot have been much demand. The route from Basra to Aleppo was served by a dromedary post under the supervision of an agent of the East India Company. Thence to Constantinople (and thus beyond) was by horse. This desert post was closed in 1833, being superseded by the sea route via the Red Sea. The current of history would eventually bypass the Gulf as a main route between Europe and the Indies and beyond for almost a century. For several years Thomas Waghorn, of the Bengal Pilot Service, had been campaigning for a steam service from Britain via the Mediterranean and the Red Sea which would shorten the long journey round the Cape of Good Hope considerably. Sir Francis Freeling, Secretary to the British Post Office, described him as “a very old friend of ours and rather a troublesome one.”2 A steam vessel, the Hugh Lindsay (411 tons, built in Bombay), made experimental trips from 1833 from Bombay to Suez and proved that this was a practicable proposition. So, the whole question of steam navigation to India was now examined by a Select Committee of the House of Commons, and Waghorn was one of those giving evidence. Dated 14 July 1834, the Committee’s conclusions were, in essence, that experiments with steam vessels should continue in the Red Sea route and that the Euphrates – Gulf route should be tested, subsidised to the tune of £20,000 a year. “By the joint use of these two routes a regular monthly service could be established between England and India throughout the year.”3 Colonel Francis Chesney was put in charge of the survey of the Tigris and Euphrates and in 1837 he proposed that the Government of India re-open the desert post and establish a line of steamers to run fortnightly between Bombay and Basra. With this in mind, new British rates of postage were officially documented in Acts of Parliament and detailed Treasury Warrants. The Gulf is first mentioned in 1837 and this was repeated in 1840. Letters of a single sheet, or later up to half an ounce, were to be charged 1s extra for transit either through the Red Sea or the Gulf.4 Between 1836 and 1840 the Hugh Lindsay made at least three trips from Bombay to the head of the Gulf with mails from India for Britain.5 The reverse trip for the mails in 1837 was described as follows: The mails go to Beyrout in Syria by the Falmouth packet, & are sent to Hit on the Euphrates by the Consul at Damascus. From Hit they are conveyed to Mahommra below Bussorah [Basra], under the superintendence of Mr Hector (late of the Euphrates expedition). Here they were put on board the Hugh Lindsay, steamer, on 13 May, but 4 Early Mail Transport in, and from, the Gulf 1798-1939 she not being ready for sea 4 days were lost at Mahommra & some additional hours at Bushire.6 This was hardly satisfactory as a regular service and so in 1839 the East India Company “sent out to Busra three iron steamers for use on the Tigris, specially constructed for river navigation, and a letter service was established between the Vice-Consulate at Busra and the Consulate General at Bagdad.”7 The use of steamships was critical as it offered the promise of much greater regularity, being less dependent on weather.