Page 87 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

PART IV—CHAPTER XVI.
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CHAPTER XVI.

Construction of the Telegraph in the Persian Gulf.*
The genesis of the construction of the Persian Gulf Telegraph Line Is
explained in Chapter II of Sir E. Goldsmid’s 'Telegraph and Travel. Here we
shall give a brief summary of the facts.
Telegraphic communication between Europe and India was first established
when the first Red Sea cable was laid in 185960 by the “Telegraph to
India Company " under guarantee from the British Government of 4J per cent.
This cable after leaving Aden landed at the Kuria Muria Islands, Maskat and
Cape Monze (near Karachi), but on completion in i860 it failed at once due to its
being too light and weak, to its having been too tightly laid, to insufficient surveys
of the bottom of the sea where laid, to the want of protection of the outer wires
from the action of sea-water, and to the want of any experience in similar work
for guidance.
When this cable failed it was found impossible to form another company for
the enterprise, as the confidence of the public in the practicability of any scheme
Wrought forward was shaken. But as telegraphic communication was an abso­
lute necessity, the British Government took the' matter up, and after extensive
enquiries and surveys the Persian Gulf route was decided upon as the best.
The Turkish lines, at this time, ran in connection with the European system
of telegraphs as far as Baghdad. It only required, therefore, an extension of this
line to Fao and a cable from there to Karachi, for the East to be brought into
direct telegraphic communication with the West.
Under instructions from Government, the Reverend Mr. Badger, in Decem-
• Letter to Government, dated the 17th Decem- ber i860,* submitted a scheme for estab­
ber i860. lishing a line of telegraph overland from
Basrah to Karachi, vid Bandar Abbas and the Mekran Coast. Mr. Badger pointed
out that the Home Government had signified their readiness, on the completion
of the line to Basrah, of continuing it from that point to Karachi by cable through
the Persian Gulf. This project, he observed, contemplated a long sea line, but
the signal failure of all such lines hardly warranted the expectation of its success.
He then proceeded to state his reasons for considering why a land line was less
impracticable than was generally supposed, and suggested, as a preliminary to
more formal and authoritative measures, that the Commissioner in Sind, and the
Political Agents at Khelat, Maskat and Bushire, should be invited to report on
the practicability of the scheme proposed by him. This suggestion was adopted
by Government, and the officers namedf
^Circular letter No. 72, dated the 7th January 1861.
by Mr. Badger were requested to favour
Government, after due enquiry, with their opinions on the important subject dis­
cussed by him.
A copy of Mr. Badger's letter was, at the same time, forwarded to Her
Majesty’s Secretary of State,} and the
X Despatch No. 4 of 1861.
prospect of the speedy completion of the
telegraphic line to Basrah was dwelt on as an additional reason for establishing
regular steam communication with the Persian Gulf, a subject which had been
repeatedly submitted to the attention of Her Majesty’s Government.
On the 25th January the Commissioner in Sind§ replied to the reference
S Letter to Government, No. 16, dated the 85th made to him, expressing his full COncur-
january 1861. rence in the practicability of the proposed
line from Basrah to Karachi. The Political Agent at Khelat, with whom Mr.
Inverarity had communicated, considered the line was not only practicable, but
the best and the most certain plan of obtaining connected telegraphic communica­
tion with England. Major Green promised a further report on the subject
after he had collected full information regarding the ports and tribes on the
Mekran Coast.
* Paragraph* 1, a, 3 are taken from a note of Mr. Whitby Smith, dated aand September 1904. and paragraphs
407 from a Summary, drawn up by the Bombay Political Department in 186a, copy of which was sent to us
in November 1904.
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