IOR/L/PS/5/476, ff 540-552

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 25 of 1853, dated 29 March 1853. The enclosures are numbered 3-8. Enclosure numbers 3-5 are dated 14 to 28 March 1853.

Enclosure number 3 is a letter from the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet, reporting on the general state of affairs at Aden and in its vicinity, and in the Red Sea ports. Haines discusses matters including relations between the Foutheli [Fadhli] Chief, Sultan Hamed bin Abdalla Foutheli [Aḥmad bin Abdullāh al-Faḍlī] and the Lahidge [Lahij] Chief, Sultan Ali M’Houssain [‘Alī I bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī]. Haines states that the Sultan of Lahidge is anxious to consult him about how he can prevent supplies to Aden being disrupted by the Foutheli Chief, who had united with other tribes in an attempt to achieve this, in order to annoy the Sultan of Lahidge.

In the same letter Haines also reports the arrival of the French frigate Jeanne D’Arc at Aden on 9 March and its departure on 11 March 1853, and states that the French corvette Caiman would leave Aden to join the French Admiral at Mocha a few hours after Haines’s despatch. Haines goes on to state that he had been received on board the Jeanne D’Arc by the French naval Commander-in-Chief Rear Admiral Laguerore [Laguerre?], and Haines provides details of the ship. He reports that the Admiral informed him that he intended to take a cruise to Mocha, Hodeida [Al Hudaydah], Mussowa [Massawa], and Judda [Jeddah], and the officers mentioned that they were also bound for Suez. Haines states that the Admiral was secretive about the reason for their visit to the Red Sea, but the younger officers told him they wanted a settlement to assist them in their steam communication with France. Haines discusses possible places they could choose for such a settlement or coal depot, noting the disadvantages of each place, and speculates about other possible reasons for the visit.

Enclosure number 4 is another despatch from Haines to Malet, submitting a report by Lieutenant King of the Indian Navy on affairs at Mussowa, Hodeida, and Mocha.

Enclosure number 6 is a minute by the Governor of Bombay concurred in by the Board, stating that the actions of the Political Agent at Aden may be approved, that he should be directed to communicate to the Government of Bombay any further information he may obtain regarding the movements of the French vessels of war in the Red Sea.

Numbers 6-8, which a note on folio 541 dated 2 November 1906 states are missing, are listed in the abstract of contents as copies of the Bombay Times, the Telegraph and Courier, and the Bombay Gazette overland newspapers of 29 March 1853.