IOR/F/4/2580/153773

This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, resolutions, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, an extract of a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 20 July 1854. The enclosures are dated 5 November 1853-21 June 1854. It is the ninth in a series of twelve items about the ‘slave trade’ [trade in enslaved people].

The main correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Captain Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Resident in the Persian Gulf; and Mulla Ahmed [Mullā Aḥmad], British Agent at Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh].

The item concerns:

• A report of thirty enslaved people having been taken from Zanzibar to Charrack [Bandar-e Charak] on a ship owned by Hassan Abdullah [Ḥasan ‘Abdullāh], along with a further enslaved woman taken from Socotra. It includes a statement providing details of where the enslaved people were subsequently taken and the names of those who purchased them (ff 823-824)
• A report of forty enslaved people having been taken on a ship from Zanzibar to Kelat [Kalat]. It includes depositions taken from Abdul Hadee Humadee [‘Abd al-Hādī Hamādī] the nacodah [nakhuda] of the ship, giving details of the names of the people who purchased the enslaved people, and the ports where they were landed (ff 820-821 and f 822)
• The actions taken to locate and take charge of the enslaved people and to punish the offenders, including a visit by the Company ship Tigris to Charrack and Kelat
• Discussions as to whether the naval squadrons at Aden and in the Persian Gulf might be able to increase their surveillance of the Arabian coast in order to intercept ships carrying enslaved people.

This is the first of two items on these incidents. The second item can be found at IOR/F/4/2580/153774.

This item also contains a brief report of events in Oman, mentioning that Abdullah ben Fysul [‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal] is preparing to leave Brahmie [Al Buraymi], while Ahmed Saidaree [Aḥmad bin Muḥammad al-Sudayrī] continues to remain near Sohar [Suhar].

The item contains a table of contents (ff 802-803), and the title page (f 801) contains the following references: Draft Number ‘1045/54’, ‘Collection No. 9 of No. 49 of 1854. (In 2 volumes) Vol: 1’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.