Three maps on one sheet detailing the latest surveys of the important ports of on the north east of Bahrain Island, including the approaches to Bahrain Harbour, Bahrain Harbour itself and the inlet of Khor Khaliya.


The importance of Bahrain Island as a safe anchorage and a logistical hub was recognised by both the British East India Company as well as the British Admiralty for centuries. Detailed surveys of the coasts of the island and indeed the Gulf were an ongoing project. The survey specified on this chart was performed by the Surveying Ship "Ormonde", originally a minesweeper built during World War I and later converted into a Survey ship.


Lieut. Comm. D.H. Fryer is credited with this latest survey of the north eastern portion of the island of Bahrain focusing on the approaches to Bahrain Harbour as well as the Harbour itself and the inlet of Khor Kaliya, between Mubarraq Island and Bahrain Island. The original survey was performed in 1932 but the usual update listing on the lower left shows small corrections to 1942.


Of particular interest is the transfer of this chart to the United States Navy. At the beginning of World War II, the United States Navy were chronically short of accurate charts of the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. Hence, the British Hydrographic Office sent their latest surveys of the region to Washington, where they were rapidly reproduced and disseminated. During this period, the American forces had just established the U.S. Military Iranian Mission which, through several permutations, would become the Persian Gulf Command in 1943. The major purposes of the Command were to protect vital Iraqi oil fields from sabotage and enemy action as well as to prevent possible future German encroachment through the Caucasus. At its height, the command consisted of more than 30,000 troops. On that scale, the need of the U. S. Navy for accurate charts of the Gulf for logistical purposes is obvious.


A note on the upper left states that this was an emergency reproduction of a British Admiralty Chart made in September 1941 while a U.S. Navy stamp on the lower right bears a date of 10th March 1943.


SL. [MEAST4402]