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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎189r] (382/580)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (286 folios). It was created in 2 Jul 1902-22 Dec 1906. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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4. As to whether any effective check could he imposed upon illicit traffic
in arms of foreign make by allowing British-owned vessels to carry Martini-
Henry rifles only, I am not at present in a position to make any definite
pronouncement of opinion. It is a matter, however, which will receive care
ful attention and he reported upon again in due course in connection with the
general question of endeavouring to check the illicit traffic under reference
by facilitating the supply of rifles of British manufacture to all in need of
them.
Confidential.
H. M. S. “ Fox ” at Aden,
1st September 1905.
Sir
I have the honour to forward for your information copy of my letter to
His Excellency the Naval Commander-in-Chief upon the subject of piracy, and
the arming of British-owned vessels in these waters.
I have, etc.,
Colonel B. I. Scallon, I.A.,
Political Besident, Aden.
(Sd.) J. B. EUSTACE,
Captain and Senior Naval Officer,
Aden Division.
Confidential.
H. M. S. ‘ £ Fox ,, at Aden ;
Piracy.
1st September 1905.
Sir,
I have the honour to bring to your notice the enclosed complaint of a
further case of piracy upon a British vessel at Muteina in the Red Sea, which
occurred not long after the case mentioned in Admiralty telegram No. 94 of
16th August 1905. These cases point to a state of affairs that require more
attention from the Turkish armed vessels in the Bed Sea.
2. Last year these vessels were surveyed by the Perim Coal Company, who
submitted a tender for cleaning them on their slipway, and making good their
defects. This tender was not accepted and no evidence is procurable of the
present state of these vessels. As they have been laid up at Kamaran Bay dur
ing this summer, they may be in urgent need of repair, although the general
impression is that the Turkish naval officers in command object strongly to
cruising during the hottest and most trying time of the year.
3. As a result of this inaction, cargoes of slaves have recently been run in
Rahaita dhows to Jeddah : there is also a constant traffic in arms between Obokh
and Kadduha, whilst at least two cases of piracy upon British vessels have
occurred between Hodaidah and Mokha.
4. In view of the expense and risk of employing modern ships to cruise
amongst the reefs and unsurveyed waters of Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , I would strongly
deprecate our sending anything but a wood or composite vessel of from 10 —12
draught, with a native crew.
5. As an alternative proposition I would respectfully suggest, that we
reconsider the “ Arms question ” as follows :—
That all British-owned vessels be licensed to carry a limited number of
M.-HI rifles for their own protection.
3

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Content

This volume is the first of three successive volumes of correspondence (IOR/L/PS/10/32-34), relating to the British prohibition and suppression of arms traffic between ports in Aden, the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa. The several correspondents include officials at the Foreign Office, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Admiralty in London, as well as officials in the Government of India Foreign and Political Department and in the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. Political Department. Other notable correspondents are the Commander-in-Chief for the East Indies Station and the Senior Naval Officer for the Aden Division, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. and the First Assistant Resident at Aden, and the British Commissioner for the Somaliland Protectorate. Included in the correspondence between officials are: a petition from the people of Zeyla [Zeila] to the Deputy Commissioner of British Somaliland in 1905, representations made by British Indian merchants to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Muscat in 1903, a witness statement made by an Arab boat captain to the Harbour Police at Aden in 1905, and an arms traffic intelligence report received from a Reuter’s agent in about 1903. There are a few nineteenth century enclosures to the correspondence between officials, including two letters written in 1891, from Ras Makunan [Makonnen] the Governor of Harrar [Harar, Ethiopia], to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. and Consul for the Somali Coast.

The volume contains a small amount of correspondence in French, in the form of an exchange of notes between the French Minister and the British and Italian Ambassadors in Paris and London, 1905-1906, as well as a copy in French of the Arms Traffic Agreement between France, Italy and Great Britain that was signed in London on 13 December 1906. The diplomatic correspondence also includes an English translation of a document entitled ‘Instructions for the Suppression of the Traffic in Arms in Somaliland’, compiled in about 1904 by the Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and the Italian Minister of Marine.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (286 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 869 (Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden) consists of three volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/32-34. The volumes are divided into three parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 288; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 67-85, and ff 97-169; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎189r] (382/580), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/32, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048399911.0x0000b7> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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