IOR/L/PS/5/487, ff 142-160

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 33 of 1856, dated 28 April 1856. The enclosures are dated 14-26 April 1856.

The enclosures comprise copies of reports and correspondence relating 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 Juddah [Jeddah, also spelled Jedda and in this item]; Hodeida [Al Hudaydah, also spelled Hodeidah in this item]; Mussowa [Massawa, also spelled Massowah and Massowa in this item]; and Zeylah [Saylac, or Zeila, Somalia].

The papers notably include:

• Letters and reports by Captain John James Frushard, Indian Navy, Senior Naval Officer, Aden, on the Elphinstone to: Stephen Page, HM Acting Vice-Consul and Officiating Agent at Judda, requesting Page to forward any proclamation made by the British Government and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire abolishing the trade in enslaved persons in the Hedjaz [Hejaz]; Camil Pacha [Muḥammad Kāmil Pāshā, also written Mehmed Kiamil Pacha in this item] Governor of the Hejaz, announcing his arrival at Juddah to assist in quelling the disturbances in Mecca; William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident, Aden, describing proceedings of the Elphinstone and Queen at Hodeida and with Mahmud Pasha, Governor of Hodeida, against the Assyr [‘Asīr tribe], and reporting the small French presence in the Red Sea ports
• Letters and reports by Lieutenant G N Adams, Indian Navy, Commanding the Queen, to Coghlan and Rear Admiral Sir Henry John Leeke, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Navy, reporting his proceedings at Mocha and Hodeida, Juddah, and Mussowa, including conditions on board ship and running aground on the way to Aden
• Leeke’s commendation of Frushard and Adams, notably for their ‘zeal and energy’ which saved Hodeida from being ‘cruelly murdered and robbed’ (f 146) by the Assyr
• Coghlan’s instructions that the Queen convey the Assistant Political Resident, Lieutenant Robert Lambert Playfair, to Zeylah to investigate reports that Haj Shermarkay [Ḥājjī Sharmārkī ‘Alī Ṣāliḥ], former Ruler of Zeylah, has blockaded the port and committed acts of ‘piracy’ in the vicinity, and to take any necessary action to prevent the interruption of supplies.

The principal correspondents are: Coghlan, Frushard, Adams and Leeke.