Page 158 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

136 Part V—Chap. XXXI.

CHAPTER XXXI.

DEPUTATION OF Du. JUKES ON A MISSION TO THE PERSIAN
GULF—IIIS DEATH AT SHIRAZ.
272. In May 1821 Dr. Andrew Jukes was deputed to tho Persian Gulf
with a view to allay tho suspicions of tho
Volume 20 of 1820-21, page 592.
Persian Government roused by detention
of tho British force in tho Island of Kishra. Tho points which Dr. Jukes had
to bear in mind in his mission were explained in tho following letter of the
Bombay Government, datod iGtii May 1821

No. 98 of 182
To
Andrew Jukes, Esq., eto., etc.
Sib,
1. You are already informed of the doubts which have been ontertained in regard to the
sovereignty over the Island of Kishma to which the Governments of Persia and Maskat
assert pretensions. The former having recently betrayed the strongest apprenhensions nt our
occupation of it, and preferred a formal demand for the removal of the detachment, as you
will perceive from theaooompauying despatch, dated the 20th of December, from His Majesty’s
Charge d’Affaires at Tehran, to the address of His Excellency the Most Noble the Governor-
General in Council, and the Honourable the Governor in Council having determined to des­
patch you on a mission to tho Persian Gulf with the view of allaying these unfounded claims
or of adopting such measures as the exigencies of the ca6e may render expedient, I have the
honour to furnish you with these instructions for tho regulation of your conduct in this
important duty.
2. The Governor in Council anticipating the60 alarms ndopted at the earliest period on
the despatch of the expedition against ftassukhima, precautions in furnishing Mr. Willock
with the fullest exposition of our policy in the occupatiou of tho island iu question ; a perusal
of that correspondence will shew the anxious, though unavailing, efforts that have been made
to satisfy the Persian Government of the integrity of our views as limited exclusively to the
suppression of piracy in the Persiau Gulf.
8. Equally solicitous has the Governor in Council been to ascertain the justness of the
olaim which the Imam of Maskat advanced to the sovereignty of Kishma, the result of Captain
Sadleir's enquiries leadiug the Government to believe those claims to bo well founded. The
detachment was transferred from Rasool Khima to that island with the sanction of the Imam.
This document will enable you to draw from the Court of Persia a statement of the grounds
ou which her pretensions to Kishma niay be founded and which may he as untenable as her
claim to tribute from Maskat which the Imam has refused to pay and Persia been unable to
exact, since the death of Shah Abbas.
4. By despatches recently received from the Officer Commanding at Kishrafc, it appears
that a Vakeel from the Prince of Shiraz had arrived there, bearing a written message from
the Prince regarding our occupation of that Islaud and of Angar, explaining that he had
learnt we were building forts ; that he bad written to the Presidency and sent his Vakeel to
prohibit such proceedings. The Officer Commanding pointed out to the Vakeel the necessity
of reference to this Government, and the Vakeel stated that he intended to write to the
Prince, that the report of our constructing forts was erroneous, aud that we were there solely
for the purpose of obecking piracy.
5. Captain De3champs had been informed by the Vakeel that the mission bad arisen from
a representation of Sultan bin Suggur of Sharga to the Shaik of Bontush by whom it was
forwarded on to Shiraz, purporting tbit we contemplated the subjugation of the power of tho
different Chiefs in the Gulf, and the lessening the authority of the Persian Government.
Information has been received also of a force having been ordered by the Prince to be prepared
in the vicinity of Bunder Abbas, and other parts of the coast to the extent of 16,000 meu.
6. In consequence of these advices the Governor in Council deems it proper that you
should proceed with the least practicable delay to Kishmd, and eventually, if you think it
necessary, to the Prince’s oamp. If you consider it probable that the Prince will attack
Kishmfc, you will explain to His Highness that the King of Persia’s representations had
been referred to the Governor-General, who will give them every consideration, who alone