page_title: Perim
section_title: Perim under British rule
hierarchical_section_title: Perim / History / Perim under British rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Passengers waiting ashore on Perim Island while their steamer is being coaled. Real photo postcard postally used in March 1925.
context_page_description: Perim, also called Mayyun in Arabic, is a volcanic island in the Strait of Mandeb at the south entrance into the Red Sea, off the south-west coast of Yemen and belonging to Yemen. It administratively belongs to Bab al-Mandab District, Taiz Governorate. The island of Perim divides the strait of Mandeb into two channels.
  The island was a part of the British Empire between 1857 and 1967.
context_section_description: In 1856, seeing the French-sponsored Suez Canal project as a method to promote French power at Britain’s expense, Prime Minister Palmerston agreed to the occupation of Perim as one of many options to counter assumed French political and military ambitions in Egypt and the Red Sea. In December 1856, Lord Elphinstone, the governor of Bombay, wrote to the Resident of Aden that "on the subject of Perim, [..] we have been directed to occupy the island, and that it is the intention of Her Majesty's government that a lighthouse should be built there." He added that since the island had already been taken possession of in the name of the East India Company in 1799, it was considered as a part of the dependencies of India, and therefore no formalities of any kind was necessary. The Resident immediately proceeded to organize a small landing party for the peaceful occupation of the uninhabited island. The actual decision to occupy might have been precipitated by an unfounded report that the French, who were said to have been surveying the area for some time, had dispatched a frigate from Réunion to annex the island. The declared reason for the occupation, however, was the urgent need to erect a lighthouse at the entrance of the notoriously dangerous Bab el Mandeb and indeed, after much bickering about the location and other factors, an 11-meter high lighthouse was finally built and inaugurated on 1 April 1861. Despite the lighthouse's operation, the treacherous waters around Perim continued to claim many vessels.
  Perim was attached to Aden, itself a dependency of the Bombay Presidency, British India. For the next two decades, the only sign of British occupation was the lighthouse and a small detachment from the Aden garrison. Otherwise, the barren waterless island was left to the few fishermen and Somali herders who went there. Occasional proposals by an Aden coaling company to open a branch on the island did not materialize.
  While Aden had a fine natural harbour, it became ineffective starting in the mid-19th century as iron and steel ships of greater draught were being built. Starting in the 1860s, many of the larger steamers had to stay well off Aden Harbour, making the process of coaling and taking in provisions both time-consuming and hazardous. This deficiency was not to be overcome until dredging and re-dredging projects began in earnest in the early 1890s.
  In 1881, a complete outsider, Hinton Spalding of London, was granted permission to start a coaling station on Perim, whose inner harbour could accommodate vessels of any draught. With the backing of a number of large ship-owners, he launched the Perim Coal Company (PCC) and on 29 August 1883 the first steamer was coaled in Perim Harbour. This marked the beginning of a struggle between Aden and Perim for the Red Sea coaling business that was to be waged by the two ports until the mid-1930s.
   
  During those 50 years, Perim was to be entirely geared to coaling: the harbour, roads and accommodation for workers were laid out for this purpose and no other interests or activities were allowed to hinder the coaling. As for Perim’s lack of water, it was no more a drawback than at Aden: both ports supplied water from condensers to the ships since Aden water, delivered from out of town, was considered too brackish for the purpose. Before long the PCC was also able to grab the lion’s share of the salvage business due to it being very near the most dangerous waters in the area.
  Between 1923 and 1927 more coal was being loaded at Perim than at Aden. However, Perim’s decline came fast due to its failure to grab a share of the fast-growing oil fuel business that was cornered by Aden as coal-burning steamers were being retired. The PCC went bankrupt in 1935 and Perim slipped back into insignificance.
  During the First World War, the Turks in Arabia sent a force to threaten Aden and the British communications along the Red Sea. This included an assault on Perim on June 14 and 15 of 1915 when Turks landed on the north coast of the island. They were driven off by a detachment of the 23rd Sikh 
caption: Passengers ashore while their ship is being refuelled
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