IOR/L/PS/5/487, ff 70-107

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 28 of 1856, dated 16 April 1856. The enclosures are dated 12 March-16 April 1856.

The enclosures comprise copies of reports and letters forwarded by Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident in Aden, and Coghlan’s correspondence with the Government of Bombay. They chiefly relate to the deployment of the HC [Honourable Company’s] sloop of war Elphinstone and steamship Queen to the Arabian and African Red Sea coasts, targeted at intimidating insurgent forces and quelling disturbances in: Mecca and Judda [Jeddah, also spelled Jedda in this item]; Hodeida [Al Hudaydah]; and Mussowah [Massawa, also spelled Massowah and Massowa in this item].

They specifically cover:

• The uprising led by the ‘rebel’ Shereff of Mecca, Aboo Montallib [Sharīf ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib bin Ghālib bin Musā‘ad], purportedly in protest at the abolition of the slave trade by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; the Shereff’s alleged intention to attack and plunder Judda; the Shereff’s retreat to Taief [Taif, also spelled Tayf in this item] with his followers and his desertion by them after an engagement with Ottoman soldiers; the re-establishment of order in Judda and Mecca; and the prospective arrival of the new Shereff of Mecca, Ebu Aoun [Muḥammad bin ‘Abd al-Mu‘īn bin ‘Awn]
• The unsuccessful attempt of the Assyr [‘Asīr tribe, also spelled Asseer in this item] to attack the ports of Hodeida and Mocha in order to drive the Turks [Ottoman local authorities] from Yemen, and then to attack Aden, including: the retreat of British merchants and their families to the safe harbour of Ras Majarmla [Ra’s Mujamilah]; the approach of the Assyr ‘in great numbers’ (f 75) at Hodeida; the arrival of the Elphinstone and Queen at Hodeida; the defence of the port organised by the Governor of Hodeida (without British help); the retreat of the Assyr due to sickness and inadequate provisions; and the rumoured death from cholera of the leaders and up to 10,000 members of the Assyr force
• An uprising in Mussawah said to be caused by the violent and oppressive policies of the authorities, and its abatement following the arrival of the Elphinstone and the mediation of the deputy Governor of Mussawah with the ‘rebels’.

This item also covers: the logistics of organising the return of the Elphinstone and Queen to Mussawah, Judda and Hodeida in April to avert renewed disturbances at those places; intelligence received by Coghlan, from the Government of Bombay, of certain ‘Sumalee’ [Somali] and Arab individuals employed by the Political Agency ‘who are not to be depended upon’ and if not closely watched would ‘betray their employers to the Asseer [‘Asīr] Arabs, who are approaching in the direction of Aden’ (f 101); and Coghlan’s assertion that all land entrances to Aden are secured and known ‘traitorous’ individuals are being watched.

The principal correspondents are: Coghlan; the Government of Bombay; Captain John James Frushard, Indian Navy, Senior Naval Officer, Aden, on the HC ship Elphinstone; Stephen Page, HM Acting Vice-Consul and Officiating HC Agent at Judda; and Lieutenant G N Adams, Indian Navy, Commanding the HC steamship Queen.