Abstract: The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, dated 19 June and 15 November 1847.The item relates to investigations by Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Captain in the Indian Navy and Political Agent at Aden, into the disappearance of crew members and passengers belonging to the schooner,
Highflyer. Captain Alcock, Master of the
Highflyer; Mr Wheatly, a passenger; and two seamen were last seen on a dinghy near Zeyla [Saylac]. Lieutenant Charles John Cruttenden, Assistant Political Agent at Aden, reports on his discussions with Hadj Shermarkhi [Ḥājjī Sharmārkī ‘Alī Ṣāliḥ, Shaikh of Saylac, also rendered in text as Sheermarka]. Cruttenden and Haines’s opinions on the fate of the missing persons are included.Correspondents include: Haines; Cruttenden; the Government of Bombay; and the Court of Directors.The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘Draft N. 345/48’, ‘Collection No. 4 of No. 86’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 711, and terminates at f 722, 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 part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 92 of 1840, dated 31 October 1840. The enclosures are numbered 3-42 and are dated 1 September to 27 October 1840. They mostly consist of correspondence relating to Aden affairs.The enclosures concern matters including:The Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, reporting the arrival at Aden of the Honourable Company’s sloop of war
Elphinstone, brig
Euphrates, and steamer
Victoriacarrying the mail, and forwarding the reports of the Commanders of the
Elphinstoneand the
Euphratesto the Government of BombayThe proposed appointment by Haines of Mr Hatchatoor as Agent at TadjouraThe amount of reward to be paid to the Commander, Captain Warden, and crew of the barque
Arielfor assistance provided at Aden over several days in November and December 1839, and the Political Agent at Aden paying Warden 200 German Crowns on account of the two brass guns which he suppliedThe approbation of the Government of India of the ‘gallantry’ with which the attack on Aden by ‘a large body of Arabs’ on 5 July 1840 was repulsedHaines reporting that he has ordered the
Elphinstoneto return to Aden for subsequent despatch to the Persian Gulf, and the Government of Bombay referring him to previous instructions for the detention of the
Elphinstoneat Mocha during the ‘present settled state of affairs’, for the protection of British interests in that areaThe crediting of money raised from the sale of goods recovered from the barque
Duria Dowlut, which was wrecked at Aden in 1837, to the Government of MadrasThe political state of affairs in the neighbourhood of AdenMeasures taken by the Political Agent at Aden to counteract attempts to establish French influence on the eastern coast of AfricaOvertures from the King of Shoa [Shewa] to establish friendly relations with the British Government, and the question of whether or not it would be advisable to send a British mission to ShoaHaines’s opinion on the strength and description of the force required to proceed into the interior from AdenThe Government of Bombay informing the Government of India that it is impossible at present for it equip a force of the strength and description considered necessary by the British authorities at Aden, for an attack on Lahedge [Lahej].The correspondence is mainly between Haines and the Government of Bombay, and between the Government of Bombay and the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India.Other correspondents include: Captain Sanders, Commander of the Honourable Company’s sloop of war
Cliveand Senior Naval Officer at Aden; Lieutenant Richard Ethersey, Commander of the
Elphinstone; Lieutenant W Barker, Commander of the
Euphrates; the King of Shoa; and Reverend F L Karff.The enclosures also include copies of commercial treaties entered into, in September 1840, between the East India Company and the following: the Governor of Zeyla [Zeila], Syed Mahomed bar [Sayyid Muḥammad Barr]; and the Governor of Mocha, Sherriff Hussein bin ali bin Hydar al Hassenee [Sharīf Ḥusayn bin 'Alī bin Ḥaydar].Physical description: 1 item (106 folios)