“The H.E.I. Company’s surveying brig ‘Tigris’ will shortly be out of dock, where she has been undergoing a thorough repair, and if fitted up with a round house on the quarter-deck would answer the purpose well. She might be equipped in a couple of months, and dispatched to her ground before the South-west Monsoon sets in, or be usefully employed in observing at Zanzibar instead of lying idle in Bombay Harbour. On former surveys of the Arabian and African Coasts, a small tender of from thirty to forty tons has always been granted, as otherwise operations are much crippled in boisterous weather and exposed on inhospitable shores. Should no other vessel be available, one of the smallest of the new Pilot Schooners now unemployed at Bombay might be directed to wait upon the ‘Tigris.’ Lt. H. G. Fraser, I.N., has volunteered for duty upon the African Coast, and I have the honour to transmit his letter. Nothing more would be required were some junior officer of the Indian Navy stationed at Zanzibar for the purpose of registering tidal, barometric, and thermometric observations, in order that something of the meteorology of this unknown region may be accurately investigated.
“When passing through Aden I was informed that the blockade of the Somali Coast had been raised without compensation for the losses sustained on my last journey. This step appears, politically speaking, a mistake. In the case of the ‘Mary Ann’ brig, plundered near Berberah in A.D. 1825, due compensation was demanded and obtained. Even in India, an officer travelling through the states not under British rule, can, if he be plundered, require an equivalent for his property. This is indeed our chief protection,—semi-barbarians and savages part with money less willingly than with life. If it be determined for social reasons at Aden that the blockade should cease and mutton become cheap, a certain per-centage could be laid upon the exports of Berberah till such time as our losses, which, including those of government, amount to 1380l., are made good.
“From Harar news has reached Aden that the Amir Abubakr, dying during the last year of chronic consumption, has been succeeded by a cousin, one Abd el Rahman, a bigoted Moslem, and a violent hater of the Gallas. His success in feud and foray, however, have not prevented the wild tribes from hemming him in, and unless fortune interfere, the city must fall into their hands. The rumour prevalent at Cairo, namely, that Harar had been besieged and taken by Mr. Bell, now serving under ‘Theodorus, Emperor of Ethiopia’ (the chief Cássái), appears premature. At Aden I met in exile Sharmarkay bin Ali Salih, formerly governor of Zayla. He has been ejected in favour of a Dankali chief by the Ottoman authorities of Yemen, a circumstance the more to be regretted as he has ever been a firm friend to our interests.
“The present defenceless state of Berberah still invites our presence. The eastern coast of the Red Sea is almost entirely under the Porte. On the western shore, Cosseir is Egyptian, Masawwah, Sawakin, and Zayla, Turkish, and Berberah, the best port of all, unoccupied. I have frequently advocated the establishment of a British agency at this place, and venture to do so once more. This step would tend to increase trade, to obviate accidents in case of shipwreck, and materially assist in civilizing the Somal of the interior. The Government of Bombay has doubtless preserved copies of my reports, plans, and estimates concerning the proposed agency, and I would request the Royal Geographical Society to inquire into a project peculiarly fitted to promote their views of exploration in the Eastern Horn of Africa. Finally, this move would checkmate any ambitious projects in the Red Sea. The Suez Canal may be said to have commenced. It appears impossible that the work should pay in a commercial sense. Politically it may, if, at least, its object be, as announced by the Count d’Escayrac de Lauture, at the Société de Geographie, to ‘throw open the road of India to the Mediterranean coasting trade, to democratise commerce and navigation.’ The first effect of the highway would be, as that learned traveller justly remarks, to open a passage through Egypt to the speronari and feluccas of the Levant, the light infantry of a more regular force.
“The next step should be to provide ourselves with a more efficient naval force at Aden, the Head-Quarters of the Red Sea Squadron. I may briefly quote as a proof of the necessity for protection, the number of British protégés in the neighbouring ports, and the present value of the Jeddah trade.
“Mocha now contains about twenty-five English subjects, the principal merchants in the place. At Masawwah, besides a few French and Americans, there are from sixteen to twenty British protégés, who trade with the interior, especially for mules required at the Mauritius and our other colonies. Hodaydah has from fifty to sixty, and Jeddah, besides its dozen resident merchants, annually witnesses the transit of some hundreds of British subjects, who flock to the Haj for commerce and devotion.
“The chief emporium of the Red Sea trade has for centuries past been Jeddah, the port of Meccah. The custom-house reports of 1856 were kindly furnished to me by Capt. Frushard, I.N. (now commanding the H.E.I.C’s. sloop of war, ‘Elphinstone,’) an old and experienced officer, lately employed in blockading Berberah, and who made himself instrumental in quelling certain recent attempts upon Turkish supremacy in Western Arabia. According to these documents, thirty-five ships of English build (square-rigged) arrived at and left Jeddah between the end of September and April, from and for various places in the East, China, Batavia, Singapore, Calcutta, Bombay, the Malabar Coast, the Persian Gulf, and Eastern Africa. Nearly all carried our colours, and were protected, or supposed to be protected, by a British register: only five had on board a European captain or sailing master, the rest being commanded and officered by Arabs and Indians. Their cargoes from India and the Eastern regions are rice, sugar, piece goods, planking, pepper, and pilgrims; from Persia, dates, tobacco, and raw silk; and from the Mozambique, ivory, gold dust, and similar costly articles. These imports in 1856 are valued at 160,000l. The exports for the year, consisting of a little coffee and spice for purchase of imports, amounts, per returns, to 120,000l. In addition to these square-rigged ships, the number of country vessels, open boats, buggalows, and others, from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Coasts, amount to 900, importing 550,000l., and exporting about 400,000l. I may remark, that to all these sums at least one-third should be added, as speculation abounds, and books are kept by triple entry in the Holy Land.
“The next port in importance to Jeddah is Hodaydah, where vessels touch on their way northward, land piece and other goods, and call on the return passage to fill with coffee. As the head-quarters of the Yemen Pashalik, it has reduced Mocha, formerly the great coffee mart, to insignificance, and the vicinity of Aden, a free port, has drawn off much of the stream of trade from both these ancient emporia. On the African Coast of the Red Sea, Sawakin, opposite Jeddah, is a mere slave mart, and Masawwah, opposite Hodaydah, still trades in pearls, gold dust, ivory, and mules.
“But if the value of the Red Sea traffic calls, in the present posture of events, for increased means of protection, the Slave-trade has equal claims to our attention. At Aden energetic efforts have been made to suppress it. It is, however, still carried on by country boats from Sawakin, Tajurrah, Zayla, and the Somali Coast;—a single cargo sometimes consisting of 200 head gathered from the interior, and exported to Jeddah and the small ports lying north and south of it. The trade is, I believe, principally in the hands of Arab merchants at Jeddah and Hodaydah, and resident foreigners, principally Indian Moslems, who claim our protection in case of disturbances, and consequently carry on a thriving business. Our present Squadron in the Red Sea consisting of only two sailing vessels, the country boats in the African ports have only to wait till they see the ship pass up or down, and then knowing the passage—a matter of a day—to be clear, to lodge the slaves at their destination. During the past year, this trade was much injured by the revolt of the Arabs against the Turks, and the constant presence of the ‘Elphinstone,’ whose reported object was to seize all vessels carrying slaves. The effect was principally moral. Although the instructions for the guidance of the Commander enjoined him to carry out the wishes of the Home and Indian Governments for the suppression of Slavery, yet there being no published treaty between the Imperial Government and the Porte sanctioning to us the right of search in Turkish bottoms, his interference would not have been supported by the Ottoman local authorities. It may be well to state, that after a Firman had been published in the Hejaz and Gemen abolishing the trade, the Turkish Governments of Jeddah and Hodaydah declared that the English Commander might do as he pleased, but that they declined making any written request for his assistance. For its present increased duties, for the suppression of the Slave-trade, for the protection of British subjects, and for the watching over Turkish and English interests in the Red Sea, the Aden Squadron is no longer sufficient. During the last two years it has numbered two sailing vessels, the ‘Elphinstone,’ a sloop of war, carrying twelve 32-pounders, and two 12-pounders; and the ‘Mahi’ a schooner armed with one pivot gun, 32-pounder, and two 12-pounders. Nor would it be benefited by even a considerable increase of sailing vessels. It is well known that, as the prevailing winds inside the sea are favourable for proceeding upwards from September to April, so on the return, during those months, they are strongly adverse. A fast ship, like the ‘Elphinstone,’ requires 30 days on the downward voyage to do the work of four. Outside the sea, during those months, the current sets inward from the Indian Ocean, and a ship, in event of very light winds falling, has been detained a whole week in sight of Aden. From April to September, on the contrary, the winds set down the Red Sea frequently with violence; the current inside the sea also turns towards the Indian Ocean, and outside the S.W. Monsoon is blowing. Finally, sailing ships draw too much water. In the last year the ‘Elphinstone’ kept the Arabs away from Jeddah till the meanness of the Sherif Abd el Muttalib had caused his downfall. But her great depth (about from 14-6 to 15 ft.) prevented her approaching the shore at Hodaydah near enough to have injured the insurgents, who, unaware of the fact, delayed their attack upon the town till famine and a consequent pestilence dispersed them. With little increase of present expenditure, the Red Sea might be effectually commanded. Two screw-steamers, small enough to enter every harbour, and to work steadily amongst the banks on either shore, and yet large enough to be made useful in conveying English political officers of rank and Native Princes, when necessary, would amply suffice, a vessel of the class of H.M.’s gun-boat, ‘Flying Fish,’ drawing at most 9 feet water, and carrying four 32-pounders of 25 cwt. each, as broadside, and two 32-pounders of 25 cwt. each, as pivot guns, would probably be that selected. The crews would consist of fewer men than those at present required, and means would easily be devised for increasing the accommodation of officers and men, and for securing their health and comfort during cruises that might last two months in a hot and dangerous climate.
“By means of two such steamers we shall, I believe, be prepared for any contingencies which might arise in the Red Sea; and if to this squadron be added an allowance for interpreters and a slave approver in each harbour, in fact a few of the precautions practised by the West African Squadron, the slave-trade in the Red Sea will soon have received its death-blow, and Eastern Africa its regeneration at our hands.