IOR/F/4/1699/68463

This item consists primarily of copies of correspondence, minutes and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, a letter from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] to the East India Company Court of Directors.

The item relates to the efforts of the Government of Bombay to suppress the slave trade on the coasts of Cutch [Kachchh] and Kattywar [Kathiawar Peninsula, also referred to in the item as Katteewar], and in particular to prevent enslaved people from Africa being imported into these places by vessels from the Arabian Peninsula. It specifically addresses:

• Attempts to persuade local rulers in Cutch and Kattywar to adopt measures to prevent enslaved people being traded at their ports. Included are copies of communications from the Jam of Noanuggur [Jam Saheb of Nawanagar], the Rana of Porebunder [Porbandar] the Guicowar [Maharaja Gaekwad] of Baroda, the chief [Shaikh] of Mangrolle [Mangrol], and the Rao of Cutch.
• The arrival of three vessels at Porebunder [Porbandar] carrying enslaved children; the release of the children and their removal to Bombay; and the arrangements made for their accommodation and support. A register of the children is included
• The seizure of a merchant vessel from Porebunder at the port of Kisseen [Qishn, also referred to in the item as Kisheen and Cusson] on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and the efforts made to retrieve the vessel and its cargo. Those alleged to be responsible are members of the Maharah tribe [al-Mahrah, referred to in the item by a number of variant spellings] who are said to have seized the vessel in retaliation for the earlier release of the enslaved children in Porebunder
• The arrival of two more vessels carrying enslaved children into ports in Kattywar; the removal of the children to Bombay; and the arrangements made for their future support
• Proposals for further measures that might be taken, both in Cutch and Kattywar as well as in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.

The primary correspondents are: Robert Grant, Governor of Bombay; William Lang, Acting Political Agent, Kattywar; Charles Malcolm, Superintendent Indian Navy; Jewan Oodhowjee [Jivan Udhoji], Manager of the firm Dhurumsey Luckmeedass [Dharmse Lakhmidas]; Captain A P Reid, Officer Commanding Detachment at Porebunder; Rana Wikmathjee [Vikramatji Khimojiraj], Rana of Porebunder; John Warden, Senior Magistrate of Police, Bombay; and John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to Government, Bombay.

The item contains contents pages (ff 5-20), and the title page (f 4) of the item contains the following references: ‘P C [Previous Communication] 2196, No. 1, Draft 573-1838’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.