Page 24 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol IV_Neat

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posed that, in ordor to prevent any foreign flag
being planted in the harbours of the Musaudim
Pcniusula, lilpbiuslonc Inlet should be rcoooupicd.
It was suggested that tho best way of effecting
this rooccupation would bo to erect a flagstaff on
the isthmus which commands Elphinstono and
Malcolm Inlets and on Telegraph Island, in the
former iulet. It was ulso proposed, on the ndvico
of the Admiral, that a flagstall’ should be planted
on Sheep Island, in the anchorage of Khor Kawi,
ou tho western side of the peninsula, which is
not only very commodious, but which might, it
was suggested, some day be useful as a coaling
station.
In a Report dated December 1903 Rear-
Admiral Atkinson-Willcs had furnished details of
Khor Kawi

“The Khor appears capable of sheltering
several large cruisers besides a numbor of small
cruft. Its strategical position is excellent, and,
in conjunction with the Islands of Kishm,
Hcnjam, Larak, and Hormuz, it will form a
strong position for the control of the entrance to
the Gulf."
On the 20th November, 1901, tho Viceroy
reported that, the flagstaffs had beon erected.
On learning that the flagstaffs had been erected
ou the sites in question, the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty demurred to the action which
had been taken. They formulated their objections
in the following terms:—
" My Lords cannot admit that tho fact of their having
offered no objection to tho proposal to rcoccupy Telegraph
Island by placing tliero a native Agent in charge of a
British flag can l>e held to cover their unsolicited ac­
quiescence in the proposed fiulhcr distribution of tlug-
h tuffs in the district, one being on the mainland.
“ The original proposal was simply a case of reverting
to a state of things which had previously existed without
question, to tho renewal of which there was a reasonable
answer in the event of objections being raised by European
Powers, and in which there could l>o no question of terri­
torial expansion, as the so-called island is nothing but a
rock. As regards the oilier flugstafl's, it is a very different
matter, and my Lords felt that if the flag was not intended
to denote British territorial expansion, it not only meant
nothing, hut was a possible source '{ international com­
plication."

In view of this expression of opinion tho
question was submitted to the Committee of