Abstract: Enclosure nos. 2-23 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Government of Bombay [Mumbai], dated 30 November 1841. The enclosures are dated 11 July-27 November 1841. The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to the trade in enslaved persons in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, including:Reports that ships belonging to the Imam of Muscat and members of his family have been taking enslaved persons from the east coast of Africa to Bombay [Mumbai], Dewul [Diu] and Kurratchee [Karachi], and enslaved Hindu women from Bombay to Muscat and Zanzibar, with an insistence that the Imam is unaware of such use of his shipsMethods used to disguise the trade in enslaved persons, including recording enslaved persons as crew members and their wives, disguising enslaved women as men in order to pass them off as crew members, and the use of bribesReports that a ship under British colours carried enslaved persons from Mocha to MuscatReports of enslaved persons being carried from Burbarah [Berbera] to Shargah [Sharjah].The primary correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Native Agent, Muscat; the Collector of Customs, Bombay; and the Government of India.Physical description: 1 item (52 folios)
Abstract: The item consists of copy extracts of Political Letters from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, dating from 12 November 1845-3 August 1846. Enclosures to these letters can be found at: IOR/F/4/2157/103839; IOR/F/4/2157/103840; IOR/F/4/2157/103841; IOR/F/4/2157/103842; IOR/F/4/2157/103843; IOR/F/4/2157/103844; IOR/F/4/2157/103845; IOR/F/4/2157/103846; IOR/F/4/2157/103847; and IOR/F/4/2157/103848.The letters relate to attempts by the British government to suppress the ‘slave trade’ [trade in enslaved people] in the Persian Gulf and include mention of:Agreements with Saeed Saeed Bin Sultan, Imaum of Muscat [Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd, Imam of Muscat], with attention given especially to the agreements’ translationsAgreements with the rulers of: Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]; Debaye [Dubai]; Amulgavine [Umm al-Qaywayn]; and Ras-el Khyma [Ra’s al-Khaymah]Specific incidents related to the ‘slave trade’Suggestions by Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf, for suppressing the trade.The margins of these letters contain extracts from letters sent to the Government of Bombay from the Court of Directors, dating from 17 April 1844-16 April 1845.The item also contains copy of a letter from the Commissioners for the Affairs of India [Board of Control] to the Court of Directors, dated 8 September 1846, which relates to the above subjects. This letter includes:A copy of the agreement made between the British government and the Imaum of Muscat, 2 October 1844 (ff 800-803)A copy of the instructions for commanders of Her Majesty’s ships for enforcing the terms of the above agreement (ff 804-805)A copy of a letter from Lord Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to HM envoys at Teheran [Tehran] and Constantinople [Istanbul], 31 August 1846, regarding Hennell’s suggestions (ff 806-808).The item also contains copy of a letter from Henry Unwin Addington, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the Commissioners for the Affairs of India, dated 3 September 1846, which also relates to the above subjects.The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘P.C. [Previous Communication] 5410, Draft 786/46’, ‘Collection’, ‘Vol: 1’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 774, and terminates at f 811, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the item also contains an original pagination sequence.
Abstract: This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, a political letter from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai]. The correspondents are the Government of Bombay and Captain Atkins Hamerton, Her Majesty's Consul and the Honourable Company's Agent in the Dominions of His Highness the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat. The political letter, of which this item is an enclosure, can be found in IOR/F/4/2121/100024.The item concerns a request by the Government of India for a report on the history of Britain’s relations with the states on the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, and contains a report on the Imam of Muscat and the territories belonging to him, produced by Captain Hamerton, and related correspondence.The item contains a table of contents (f 331), and the title page (f 330) contains the following references: ‘P C [Previous Communication] 5061, Coll. 5, Vol. 3’, ‘D/t 29/46’, ‘Collection No. 3 of No. 18’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 330 and terminates at f 339, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original pagination sequence.
Abstract: The item consists of a summary document enclosed within a letter from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] to the East India Company Court of Directors. The document, written by William Henry Wathen, Secretary in the Persian Department, provides brief details on the political status of 'states' under the following headings:'Cashmere' [Kashmir]'Chinese Tartary' [parts of modern-day China, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Bhutan and Nepal]'Independent Tartary' [parts of modern-day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan]'Countries formerly dependent on or in the vicinity of Afghan states''Afghan territories''Beloocheestan [Balochistan] and Mukran [Makran]''Scind' [Sindh]'Persia' [Iran]'Persian Gulf''The Provinces of Oman in Arabia''Coast of Arabia from Muskat [Muscat] to the straights of Babeel Mandeeb [Bab el Mandeb]''Red Sea''Arabia''Egypt and Nubia''Abyssinia (Hubbush)' [Ethiopia]'North East and East Coasts of Africa''East Coast of Africa called by the natives Suwahil [suwāḥil or ‘coasts’ in Arabic]'The title page of the item contains the following references: 'P.C. [Previous Communication] 1631, Draft 696, 1835', 'Coll[ection] N. 4', 'Bombay Political Department', 'Examiner’s Office 1835'.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 60, and terminates at f 69, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the item also contains an original pagination sequence.
Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 77 of 1841, dated 30 September 1841. The enclosures are dated 17 July-28 September 1841.The principal correspondents are: Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden; the Officiating Chief Secretary to Government, Bombay; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; and the Military Board.The papers cover and include the following matters:A copy of a survey of the ‘coast of Africa in the southward and westward of Aden’, entitled ‘Memorandum to accompany the Chart of the Bay of Tajoorah [Tadjoura], & part of the Coast of the Hebrawul’, by Lieutenant W Barker, Indian Navy, Commanding the HC [Honourable Company’s] brig
Euphrates(ff 38-79), forwarded by Haines to the Secretary to the Government, Bombay. Also included are letters from the Acting Secretary to Government, Bombay, to Haines, the Engineers’ Department, Bombay, the Secretary to the Government of India, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy. The letters acknowledge the ‘memoir’ and map (not included in this item), order and forward copies of the map, and convey the approbation of the Government, Bombay for the ‘zeal and energy’ of Lieutenant BarkerAn application by Haines to the Government of Bombay explaining the need for the appointment of a clerk to aid the Assistant Political Agent (notably with Post Office duties) and listing the current duties of the Assistant and his own duties (ff 87-91), and the refusal of the Government of Bombay to agree to the requestReports by Haines of the disruption to kafilahs [camel caravans] of supplies entering Aden, resulting from violent clashes between divisions of different competing tribes near the frontier of the settlement. Haines notably describes the activities and forces of Sultan M’Houssain Futhel of Lahidge [Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-‘Abdalī, Sultan of Lahej] and the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ [Sultan Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī], their apparent hostility to the British, and the alleged plan of the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ to attack the field works at AdenMeasures to be pursued as a result of the ‘perseverance exhibited by the Chief of Lahedge in stirring up the other tribes in the neighbourhood to unite with him in hostile attempts against our garrison at Aden’, and the policy to be adopted with respect to the ‘oppressive and unjust treatment of the subjects and dependents of the British Government by the Sheriff [Sharīf] of Mocha’ (f 98)Minute by the Governor in Council, Bombay, concurred in by civil members of the Board (ff 100-102), giving Haines discretionary powers, during the relief of the European portion of the garrison of Aden, to mount an offensive against the tribes in the immediate neighbourhood who are considered hostile to the British Government, including authority to attack Shaick Othman [Ash Shaykh ‘Uthmān] where a post has been erected by ‘the hostile Arabs’ (f 107). Authority is given for military measures provided that: Haines thinks it would be politically expedient; the officer commanding at Aden has the means to undertake it; it will not increase hostility towards the British; and it will not require prolonged operations. Haines is also permitted to take advantage, if necessary, of HMS
Endymionin the Red Sea to enforce ‘redress’ from the Sheriff of MochaHaines’s detailed response and justification of his actions, subsequent to a complaint made by the Superintendent of the Indian Navy regarding Haines’s ‘interference’ in the duties of various vessels in the Red Sea, notably delaying the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner
Constancefrom being despatched to Suez with the mails (ff 108-110). Included are copies of Haines’s letters to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy concerning the use of the
Euphratesand
Constancein connection with Captain William Cornwallis Harris’s mission to Shoa [Shewa] and to monitor and counteract French activities and influence in the vicinity of Zeyla [Zeila] and Tedjoura, and requesting that the HC sloop-of-war
Cliveremain at Aden to potentially proceed on ‘secret service’ to Mocha (ff 111-115). The Government of Bombay responds that vessels should ‘not be interfered with except under some great emergency involving the safety of important interests which justify the disregard of ordinary rules altogether on the responsibility of the officer deviating therefrom’ (f 116), and undertake to inform him in future when a vessel is on express orders from GovernmentThe murder of the ‘Arab interpreter named Ahmed’ outside the Turkish Wall at Aden, notably a copy of an account written by Captain George Duff, 10th Regiment Native Infantry, Commanding the Turkish Wall outpost (ff 119-124)Supplies and stores on board the HC brig
Palinurus(at Bombay [Mumbai] harbour) including: distribution of the biscuit amongst the Indian Navy vessels in harbour and the steam vessel conveying the relief regiment to and from Aden; instructions for the rest of its provisions to be unloaded; and the lack of room on the steamer proceeding to Suez on 1 September to convey to Aden any portion of military stores on board the
Palinurus(ff 125-131)A memorandum recording the present establishment attached to the
Palinurusand her proposed employment to convey convicts to Singapoor [Singapore], including a table of foodstuffs ‘of the quantity of diet for convicts’, and a ‘statement shewing the monthly cost of provisions supplied during the voyage to European and native convicts transported from Bombay’ (ff 132-135).Physical description: 1 item (105 folios)