Masirah

Masirah Island ( ar, جَزِيْرَة مَصِيْرَة, Jazīrat Maṣīrah), also referred to as Mazeira Island or ''Wilāyat Maṣīrah'' ( ar, وِلَايَة مَصِيْرَة), is an island off the east coast of mainland Oman in the Arabian Sea, and the largest island of the country. It is long north–south, between wide, with an area of about 649 km², and a population estimated at 12,000 in 12 villages mainly in the north of the island (9,292 as of the census of 2003, of which were 2,311 foreigners). Administratively, it forms one of the five provinces (''Wilayah'', plural ''Wilayat'') of the Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate. Previously it was a province of the Ash Sharqiyah Region. The principal village is ''Raʾs-Ḥilf'' ( ar, رَأْس حِلْف) in the northern part of the island. It contains a Royal Air Force of Oman air base and a fish factory, as well as a few small towns. Previously, the BBC had a relay facility consisting of both HF and MF broadcasting transmitters stationed there. Most of the island's interior is deserted, with access to the island only possible by a small ferry for cars or by Royal Air Force of Oman Airbus A320 or Lockheed C-130 Hercules flights.

The main industries are fishing and traditional textile manufacturing. Formerly, traditional shipbuilding was important.

History

Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age archaeological sites are dotted over the island, with one study finding shell middens dating to 6000BC, stone axes from 3000BC and fish line sinkers from 4000BCCharpentier, Vincent, et al. “Conquering New Territories: When the First Black Boats Sailed to Masirah Island.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, vol. 43, , 2013, pp. 85–98, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43782870. The Magan Civilization was present, with archaeological records from 2000-2700BC, Indus region pottery shards, and local copper mining in small quantities around 1500BC.

There was occupation by the Portuguese navy in the sixteenth century. The modern history of the island is little researched, but we know the fishermen were accomplished sailors, constructed their own boats, and trade with the mainland was well advanced. In the 1950s the sheikh lived on the East coast at Ra's al Ya.

Landscape

The rugged terrain of the island and surrounding rough coastline has led to the appearance of many wrecked dhows on the beaches of the island, most of them well preserved by the salt water and intense heat. About 2:20a.m. on 21September 1835, the USS ''Peacock'' grounded on a coral reef. At high noon, the latitude was determined to be 20°00′ north, and the longitude 58°5″ east. ''Peacock'' later obtained this letter from the ''Palinurus'':

I certify that during the period I have navigated the Arabian coast, and been employed in the trigonometrical survey of the same, now executing by order of the Bombay government, that I have ever found it necessary to be careful to take nocturnal as well as diurnal observations, as frequent as possible, owing to the rapidity and fickleness of the currents, which, in some parts, I have found running at the rate of three and four knots, and I have known the ''Palinurus'' set between forty and fifty miles dead in shore, in a dead calm, during the night. It is owing to such currents, that I conceive the United States ship of war ''Peacock'' run aground, as have many British ships in previous years, on and near the same spot; when at the changes of the monsoons, and sometimes at the full and change, you have such thick weather, as to prevent the necessary observations being taken with accuracy and the navigator standing on with confidence as to his position, and with no land in sight, finds himself to his sorrow, often wrong, owing to a deceitful and imperceptible current, which has set him with rapidity upon it. The position of Mazeira Island, is laid down by Owen many miles too much to the westward.

Given under my hand this 10th day of November, 1835.

S. B. Haines.
Commander of the Honourable East India Company's surveying brig ''Palinurus.''

To sailing master,
John Weems, U. S. Navy.

The ocean bottom environment surrounding Masirah is hostile as the majority of the area is covered in either sand or hard rock. There is a swift current flowing through the area with a very sharp halocline visible on the surface of the ocean. The water depth nearby is around 10 m and is not conducive to side-scan sonar searches due to the shallow water and choppy surface conditions. Despite the poor quality ocean bottom, the area is very productive with marine fisheries, and any hard objects (barrels, engines) are immediately colonized by local fauna.

During summer there is normally a constant strong wind which is ideal for kite and windsurfers. Big waves are a result of the wind on the sea side and is so also attractive for wave surfers. Kite and windsurfers can pick spots around the island according to their skill and what conditions they prefer.

On 5–6 June 2007, 7000 people on the island were forced to temporarily leave their homes due to the high storm waves produced by the powerful Cyclone Gonu, the strongest to hit the Persian Gulf region in 60 years.

Geography

Located about off the east side of Barr al Hikman, the island is generally hilly, especially on its east side. The hills along the east side of the island are separated from the island coast by a narrow sandy plain; they run nearly its entire length. A steep plateau stands in the middle of the range on the northeast side of the island. Along the west side of the island, there are a few low hills separated from the east range by an extensive sandy plain marked by several hillocks:
* Jabal Madrub, a high mountain, stands about south of the north end of the island.
* Ras Abu Rasas, the south extremity of Al Masirah, is low and rocky. Jabal Suwayr (Jabal al Hilm), a conspicuous conical hill, rises to a height of , about north-northeast of Ras Abu Rasas.
* Ras Kaydah, a small and rocky headland, has a conspicuous, conical hill about high nearby. There are small islets east and north of Ras Kayda.
* The coast between Ras Kaydah and Ras Zafaranat, about to the northeast, is regular with a few small rounded projections and a low rocky beach. Haql (Hakkan), a small village in a grove of trees, lies close to the shore about eight km north of Ras Kaydah.
* Ras Zafaranat is rocky with hills rising abruptly. Between Ras Abu Rasas and Ras Kaydah, about to the northeast, the coast is indented by small, sandy bays fringed by rocks.
* Ras al-Ya, about northeast of Ras Zafaranat, is the east extremity of the island and consists of a prominent bluff rising to a ridge of hills which extend westward to the center of the island. A conspicuous peak, high, stands about west-northwest of Ras al-Ya.
* Jabal Madrub rises about farther west-northwest.
* Ras al-Jazirah, about six km north-northwest of Ras al-Ya, is rocky and well-marked by a black patch on its south side. A sharp peak, rising to a height of , stands about west of this point.
* Jazirat Thukhayr, a sandy islet close north of Ras al-Jazirah, lies on a drying reef connected to the shore. Drying rocks extend up to off the eastern extremity of the islet.
* The coast between Ras al Jazirah and Ras Qudufah, the northeast extremity of the island, about further north-northwest, is indented by a bay. Ras Qudufah, consisting of two rocky projections about apart, rises to Jabal al-Jidufa, about high, a short distance inland. A cairn stands on a hill close south of Jabal al-Jidufa, and a small monument stands close southwest of Ras Qudufah.

Climate

Saiq has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification ''BWh'') with hot summers and warm winters. Precipitation is low, and falls mainly from February to April as well as in the brief monsoon season from June to August.

Tourism

Masirah Island opened for tourism in the 1990s. One can still only get to the island by ferry, managed by the National Ferry Company www.nfc.om, which runs six times a day between Shannah to Masirah.

There is now a four-star-hotel (Masirah Island Resort on the north east coast), five other listed hotels, and a kitesurfing camp. For kitesurfers, Masirah is an attractive spot in summer because of the monsoon winds which blow steadily at over . Rental cars are available on the island.

More eco-tourism possibilities exist.

Military base

The British established a military presence on Masirah in the 1930s. A small stone building, a fuel store for land based aircraft flying between Aden and Muscat, stood at the midpoint of the island on the west side, and had a stone above the door inscribed "RAF 1936". Reputedly, the fuel store was locked and visiting aircrew used to bring a key, refuel from cans, lock the store and fly onwards.

A dispute between British forces and the local inhabitants took place in 1942, led by one of two local sheikhs, who were eventually forced to flee the island.Top Secret Cabinet Office Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Air and Secretary of State for India (CP 45 3) of 29 May 1945. The National Archives, Kew.

During WW II, The British paid the Sultan of Muscat a stipend of £18,000 per annum for affording British forces 'necessary facilities', which included Masirah. A Cabinet Office memorandum of 1945 recommended the acquisition of Masirah on a 99-year lease, US interests in the island notwithstanding (During World War II the United States also had a base on the island.). The Sultan was to be offered an annual payment of £3,750 with an initial premium of £7,500. The base continued to expand into the 1970s, supporting British and Oman forces fighting insurgents during the Dhofar Rebellion and providing transit facilities for long-distance RAF flights.

The British military presence at RAF Masirah extended until 31 March 1977, when Sultan of Oman's Air Force (now the Royal Air Force of Oman) took over the base, which became first SOAF Masirah and then RAFO Masirah. In the 1970s, the base included a HF communications hub and a rear link to SAS units and british Royal Engineer Units based in Oman in support of the actions against rebels in the south of the country (RAF Salalah). United States' units used Masirah Island as a staging base in Operation Eagle Claw, the unsuccessful 1980 attempt to free US hostages then held in Iran. The island was subsequently used as a staging area for operations into Afghanistan in 2001.

, the American private military contractor DynCorp had a contract to staff and serve a US military storage-depot at this base.

Radio Relay Station

In 1966 Masirah took on a new role, it became the base for the British Middle East Relay Station. This was built by the British Diplomatic Wireless Service to be a relay station for the World Service of the BBC. The station had been previously based in Somalia and Perim called the East Africa Relay Station. These stations were both closed as the politics of the region changed. The same transmitters were used in all three stations and were sent back to the DWS main technical base https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidistra_(transmitter) at Crowborough in the UK for thorough rebuilds prior to their being set up in their new homes. The station was badly damaged by a Hurricane in 1976 but was rebuilt and handed over to the BBC in 1985.

Ecology

The island is an important hatching ground for loggerhead sea turtles, similar in importance to the beaches at Ras al Hadd and nearby Ras al-Jinz as a hatching ground for green sea turtles. Critically endangered humpback whales also migrate in the waters surrounding the island and Masirah gulf.

Economy

Historically, the island had copper ore mining dating back to the Bronze Age.

The fishing industry, building on a long tradition, is centered on the north coast, and includes a fish processing plant.

See also

* Duqm
* List of lighthouses in Oman
* Socotra, another hilly/mountainous island off the coast of the Horn of Africa

References

External links

A military history

Sailing Directions (with geographical information)

{{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q106438320

Islands of Oman
Ash Sharqiyah South Governorate
Lighthouses in Oman