Page 488 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Notes to Chapter Eight

sudden interest of IPC in the remaining areas of Eastern Arabia. "It was
therefore rather in prudent self-defence than in spirit of self-
aggrandizement that the IPC looked abroad in 1933 and thereafter,”
Longrigg, Oil, p. 113.
56 In the shaikhdoms other than Abu Dhabi various people were involved.
The name of the company interested in oil concessions here was
changed in 1935 to Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. According to Mann these
options were obtained thanks to Hajji Williamson, an English ad­
venturer and then an employee of the IPC. See Mann, Clarence Abu
Dhabi: Birth of an Oil Sheikhdom, Beirut 1964, pp. 84f; and Stanton-
Hope, W.E. Arabian Adventurer: The Story of Haji Williamson London
1951, pp. 3 lOff.
57 The Ruler of Ra’s al Khaimah wanted all theTrucial Shaikhs to conduct
the negotiations jointly with PD (TC).
58 When the Ruler of Kalba died in April 1937, Sultan bin Salim tried to
establish his sovereignty over this former Qasimi province. Despite
warnings by the Political Residency he proceeded to Kalba with a force
of armed men and was eventually punished for his action by being
forcibly taken to Bahrain. See also above pages 91ff.
59 In 1864 a station was established on an island in the Elphinstone Inlet
at the tip of the Musandam Peninsula; the island was then claimed by
the Ruler of Sharjah. But in the 1920s the then Ruler of Sharjah could
not uphold this claim to Shihuh territory and thus could no longer
guarantee the safety of the station. The telephone line through this
station was abandoned in favour of the line running along the Persian
coast.
60 The Shaikh of Dubai refused in 1906 to agree to the establishment of a
post office which would have served primarily the Indian merchants on
the coast and was seen by the population of Dubai as yet another sign of
imminent annexation of their territory by the British Government.
61 See above pages 214f and footnote 41 of this chapter.
62 This was built on the seashore of Sharjah in the shape of a local fort. It
provided rooms and messing for about 15 people. When it was no longer
used by Imperial Airways the building became the Seaface Hotel before
it was turned into a police station in 1973.
63 Thus the British authorities became involved in the protracted disputes
over the succession to rule in Kalba after Shaikh Sa'Id's death in April
1937. See also above, pages 91ff.
64 Geologists of Petroleum Concessions Ltd. (later PD (TC)) explored some
wadis of Ra’s al Khaimah territory in 1935 and again in 1936. On both
occasions they encountered stiff opposition from the Shihuh and the
Khawatir, who claimed that the party had entered their territory.
Similar incidents happened near Jabal Fayah. for which the Ruler of

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