3-085-903 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Seizure of Arms off the Persian Coast, 1898. 'H.M.S. "Lapwing" firing a gun across the rows of the steam-ship "Baluchistan," one of the vessels engaged in the traffic in arms from Europe to the Persian Gulf. From Sketches by Mr. Bernard Ley, Surgeon, H.M.S. "Lapwing." The seizure of the Baluchistan off Muscat...by the British gun-boat Lapwing, and the confiscation of her cargo of arms and ammunition, formed an incident of more than ordinary importance in view of the still recent disturbances in the territory adjacent to the Persian Gulf...the Baluchistan had shipped in the Thames a quantity of powder and rifles...This cargo was called in question before the Baluchistan left the Thames, and part of the powder was detained. At Newport...a further quantity of rifles and powder was disembarked...and the Baluchistan then sailed for the Red Sea...The disaffected state of the country inland from the Persian Gulf had meanwhile led to the maintenance of a close look-out by the British and Persian authorities upon any contraband traffic in arms to Persian ports, with the result that the Baluchistan, however blameless the original meaning of her cargo, was seized off Muscat, and the rifles and ammunition were promptly confiscated'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.