SANDY SHORES J^ 



sandy shores of the Sinai Desert ; past gangs of Egyptian workers 

 reinforcing the canal banks, who paused in their labours to shout 

 ribaldries at the British sailors. Finally after dark the ship was out 

 in the Bay of Suez, the pilot was saying good-bye and Challenger 

 sailed into what was, for her, a new world — a world of blue seas 

 and brown shores, of sandy hills stretching upward and away to a 

 distant horizon; these hills have shape and form when the long 

 shadows of the morning are upon them but lie dun coloured and 

 featureless in the midday heat; a land where yellow land-tint 

 replaces green on the fair chart. 



Masira Island, composed of a number of bare, stony brown hills, 

 is about 30 miles long and three or four miles wide, and lies some 

 8 to 10 miles off the coast of Oman in south-east Arabia, parallel 

 to the mainland. Between Masira and the coast is an area of reef- 

 studded water where it was hoped to find a channel leading to a 

 sheltered anchorage, which could be used when operations were 

 put in hand to build an airstrip and air station on the island. This 

 station was to act as a staging post on flights to the East, and is 

 now one of the loneliest postings an R. A.F. officer or man can be 

 offered. 



In 1938 there was only the Arab population on Masira, living 

 in a few villages along the western shore and ruled by the Sheikh, 

 Khamis bin Hilal, who owed a distant and vague allegiance to the 

 Sultan of Muscat, with whom Great Britain has had a treaty of 

 protection for many years. So, before commencing the survey 

 of the Masira Channel, Challenger proceeded north to Muscat to 

 embark the Political Agent, Major Watts, so that he might be 

 taken to Masira to explain the proposed work to the Sheikh and 

 people of Masira. The Arab of the desert is suspicious, and sur- 

 veying vessels in the past have become embroiled in misunder- 

 standings with Arabs on remote shores, who have thought that 

 the flags erected on the triangulation stations bore political 

 significance. 



The tovsTi of Muscat lies in a semi-circular bay surrounded by 

 rugged and barren mountains. The glaring white houses are 

 disposed around the bay like seats in the stalls of a theatre; 

 flanking the stage are two old Portuguese forts dominating the 

 blue sheltered water — the stage where the ship is anchored. 



7 



