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James Burness & Sons
138, Leadenhall Street

London, 7th November 1918
Messrs Worms & Co. - Paris

Dear Sirs,
Opening of your new house on the Syrian Coast. We have to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 4th inst. following up your letter of the 28th ulto., the contents of which are carefully noted, particularly the first paragraph thereof, from which we gather that you do not wish it to be widely known that you have opened the new branch in question, and we shall be guided accordingly.
After having given the rest of the contents of your letter our careful consideration we came to the conclusion that we could not do better than have some confidential conversation with our old friend Mr. W. G, Westcott of Messrs Westcott & Laurance (one of the Ellerman acquisitions) as to the 'lay of the land' in the particular vicinity of the port in question. This gentleman, better than any man we know, as captain of a mercantile steamer, has been in and out of every port on the Syrian coast any number of times and as we can absolutely trust him we felt we could take him into our full confidence about the matter in question.
The steamers of their line used to call regularly there in pre-war times but owing to the practical extinction of the Armenians by the Turks, the exports died away and the trade of the port languished for want of anything to be exported from the interior:
however as there is a very fine corn growing hinterland in the interior and other fertile sources of supply capable of development under good and stable conditions of Government there are great possibilities in the future when peace is restored and labour can be encouraged to settle down without fear of indiscriminate maltreatment & slaughter, seeing that it is the port of Damascus, which has also behind it a very rich & fertile hinterland, which is capable of considerable development.
In the meantime he says that so far as the Shipping Agents there are concerned they are practically a nondescript lot; a man may deal in Turkish fezzes, Attar of Roses and things of that kind and add "Shipping Agent" to the other branches of his business, picking up what he can thereby; the local agent of their Line used to be a man named Tattarachi, a Greek, but so far as he is aware there is practically no firm of any standing or account there and if tomorrow one of their own (Westcott & Laurance) steamers were likely to be calling there "he would at once give Messrs Worms & Co. the agency etc. and likewise give them their permanent agency when matters again became normal, subject to the approval of Sir John Ellerman", which he had little doubt would be forthcoming. Captain Westcott has visited the port on several occasions; he says it has a capital Harbour constructed by a Frenchman, with outlying Moles, somewhat on similar lines to Algiers, Oran, etc, and whilst it is not so commodious as Smyrna, he thinks there is a big future for it as well as for all the ports on the Syrian & Asia Minor Coast, including Mersina, Tripoli & Alexandretta.
We asked whether he could give us the names of steamers that were in the habit of calling there regularly, but he said they were practically very few in number: they included their own (Westcott & Laurance Line), the Khedivial Mail Co., which would doubtless be operated from Alexandria, the Prince Line, and a few chance boats; he thought the Prince Line was the biggest asset of the lot, but that they would be difficult to move from their present agents. We will however sound Messrs Furness, Withy & Co. on the subject tomorrow.
Captain Westcott was unaware that any boats of the Papayanni or Wilson Line had ever called there; in fact he doubted whether they had or were likely to do so. So far Messrs James Moss & Co. are concerned he believed some years ago that they bought up the business of a local coasting concern carried on for many years by a Mr. John Bell of Prestwick, Ayr, but he believed, they found it unprofitable and disposed of it to others and he doubted whether the Line was now running at all.
As regards bunkering, he did not think any regular business would materialise although one might expect to be able to book a chance order now and again. We think the foregoing information from a man who thoroughly "knows the ropes" may prove of interest to you and it remains for you to say whether under the circumstances any further steps should be taken so far as Messrs Wilson Sons & Co. of Hull and James Moss & Co. of Liverpool are concerned in the meantime; if you decide in the affirmative we would suggest that in the former case you should request your Mr. W. H. Dearden of Hull to sound Messrs Wilsons on the subject and as regards the latter, we could get our Liverpool representative to do the needful.
We are, Dear Sirs,
Yours truly,

James Burness & Sons