TALE OF A CITY 104 ships agents in Bombay and Karachi had refused to send their commercial merchandise to Sharjah and insisted that the cargo for Sharjah had to be shipped to Dubai. Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr al-Qasimi agreed to renew the air agreement provided that the Government of India was to work towards meeting their commitment and fulfilling its promises to him when they had initially wanted him to sign the air agreement; the commitment and promise were that commercial ships would be directed to Sharjah.13 Additionally, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr al-Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, insisted that the British authorities might submit a request to renew the agreement without any changes to the original agreement signed on 22 July 1932. As a result, the Sharjah Political Agent sent a letter date 14 April 1943 to the Ruler of Sharjah complying with the Sheikh’s request. In his letter he expressed HMG’s desire to renew the BOAC agreement for another 5 years with the same terms agreed before by both parties on 22 July 1932. He ended requesting to be notified of the Sheikh’s positive response for the agreement to be effective from 1 July 1943.14 Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr responded with his approval without-change of the air agreement to be renewed for five years in a letter dated 16 June 1943.15 As for the commercial ships coming to Sharjah, the arrangements were carried out by the Deputy-Minister of the Government of India, London, who wrote on 27 November 1943 saying that arrangements had been made with the British-India Navigation Company to act as soon as possible in order for six ships a month to go both ways to Sharjah.16 No sooner had the R.A.F air base was ready to guard the mouth of the Gulf than a German submarine made its way very close to the Khor Fakkan town on 16 October 1943. An R.A.F bomber took off from Sharjah military base and bombarded it causing it to sink. Out of the 53crew members of the submarine, only one survived. As he floated on the 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid 16 Ibid., p.113.
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