Unusual variant of a British Admiralty Chart covering the coast of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the eastern coast of Qatar.


This chart is unorthodox as Admiralty Charts usually cite specific parent surveys; this chart however states that it is sourced "from the latest information in the Hydrographic Office to 1934". It could be speculated that the reason for its production at this time is either the discovery of oil in Bahrain in 1932, hence the need for charts of the approaches to the region or the international recognition of the new state of Saudi Arabia and its claims to part of the Trucial coast, also in the same year.


The chart actually warns the potential user that "this chart should be used with great caution, as with the exception of Jezirat Yaz and Sharja, it is compiled from old and imperfect surveys" on a caption below the title. The "old and imperfect surveys" almost certainly refer to the foundational survey by Constable and Stiffe, compiled between 1857-60 but continuously updated into the early 20th century.


Despite the age of its sources, the chart still bears extraordinary detail of the coast of the U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, including the areas around Sharjah, Dubai, here Fort Dabei, stretching south to Abu Dhabi, now showing a faint bay in its vicinity, then turning west to the Saudi coast and finally to the east coast of Qatar including Doha and its bay. The details are quite sketchy except for the area around the island of Jezirat Yaz. Much of the coast is faintly engraved, indicating approximation as opposed to exact accuracy.


Although imperfect, this chart was part of a group of records made available to the United States at the beginning of World War II. The United States Navy was 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, or in this specific case, whatever they had, 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 May 1942 while a U.S. Navy stamp on the upper right bears a date of 23rd June 1943.


SL. [MEAST4403]