IOR/F/4/2442/134094

The item contains two Political Letters and one extract of a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors. It is the first in a series of five items relating to the 'slave trade' [trade in enslaved people] in the Persian Gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula.

The first letter, dated 31 January 1850, relates to the recent mission undertaken by Lieutenant Adams, Commanding Company schooner Constance, to Judda [Jeddah]. Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden, asked Adams to make enquiries about alleged 'slave trade' activity there by a shopkeeper from Bombay [Mumbai] and to investigate complaints against the Turkish [Ottoman] authorities by British subjects at Judda. Enclosures to this letter can be found at IOR/F/4/2442/134095.

The second letter, dated 1 October 1851, relates to correspondence from Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Henell, Resident in the Persian Gulf, regarding suppression of the 'slave trade' in the Gulf and methods used by vessels engaging in the trade to escape detection by Company ships. Enclosures to this letter can be found at IOR/F/4/2442/134097 and IOR/F/4/2442/134098.

The extract of a letter, dated 31 October 1851, relates to the Imam [Imām] of Muscat's subjects continuing in the 'slave trade', as well as further updates on the alleged activity at Judda. The extract also contains extracts from a previous letter from the Court of Directors, most likely to the Government of Bombay, dated 27 March 1850. Enclosures to this letter can be found at IOR/F/4/2442/134096.

The title page of the item contains the following references: 'Bombay Political Department', 'Draft No. 17 of 1852', 'Collection in 5 Volumes', 'Vol: 1', and 'Examiner's Office'. The number of volumes was originally given as '4' but this has been crossed out and replaced with '5'.