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298. In a report submitted by Commander Somerville, dated ist February
1905, he sums up the advantages and dis­
Secret E., December 1505. N01. 371*999.
advantages of Khor Kaliya as follows :_
I. —Advantages—
(a) Entry defended.
(b) Secure from torpedo attack.
(c) Perfectly sheltered.
II. —Disadvantages—
(a) Very costly to dredge (even if possible).
(b) Difficult entrance.
(c) Poor holding ground.
The latter appear to preponderate, and unless no other port were available,
Khor Kaliya is little fitted for any larger establishment than a torpedo station
on account of the expense it would entail.
His Excellency the Naval Commander-in-Chief holds also that Khor Kaliya
will not be of use as a naval base (No. 1462, dated 2nd March 1905).
The only results of the survey of the Khor, was the conversion of the cavin
erected as a mark for navigators during the survey, into a permanent beacon.
(iii) Report on Khor Musa.
299. In their letter, dated nth March 1903, the Admiralty pointed out to
the India Office that, in view of the possi­
Secret E., July 1903. Nos. 193-914 (No. floo).
bility of Russia seeking to establish a naval
basis in the Persian Gulf, it was desirable to send out a surveying officer for the
purpose of visiting and testing the hydrographic conditions of certain places in
the Persian seaboard of the Gulf, where it is possible that a Persian naval station
might be formed and of which only imperfect survey had been made.
The India Office and Foreign Office
/bid, No. 907.
concurred in this proposal.
[We have referred to already to the harbours indenting into the Mussa?idim
peninsula (see Chapter ) Khor Kaliya and Khor Abdulla.]
300. Attention has been drawn to the
Secret E., July 1904, Nos. 430-433.
advantages, which Khor Muza possesses
for a naval basis.
Though the existence of this waterway is shown on the charts and
maps of this part of the Gulf, it had never, so far as we are aware, been brought
to notice, until attention was invited to it by Commanders Kemp and Somerville
• Dated the 9oth June 1903. in a recent report,* which indicated that
Secret E., June 1934, Nos. 300-388 (N0.318). Khor Musa provides the best, if not indeed
the only, defensible naval position on the Persian coast, west of the Straits of
Hormuz. During his tour the Viceroy, in company with the Commander-
in-Chief on the East Indies Station, took the opportunity to visit this channel.
The naval aspect of the case is fully dealt with in the report of 20th June 1903 ;
and the Government of India since obtained from Major Burton, Officiating Vice-
Consul at Mohammerah, a communication, describing the land approaches to
the creek with a sketch of his route. A good road could probably be made from
Ram Hormuz on the Bakhtiari route to Mashur, whence communications exist
to Nasiri (Ahwaz) and Mohammerah. The distance from Ram Hormuz to
Mashur is 59l as against 72 miles to Ahwaz on the Karun. From the Khor
Bukhadir, or western branch of the Khor Musa, a direct route to Mohammerah
is apparently feasible across the high land. Between Mashur and the anchorage
at the mouth of the Khor Dorah, it seems likely that the construction of a
permanent road would be a work of greater difficulty, though water carriage
is at any rate possible.
3d. The capabilities of the position appeared to the Government of India
to be considerable. In a recent memorandum by the Admiralty, discussing the
prospects of the establishment of a Russian base in the Gulf, it was stated that