Lloyds Signal Station
In December 1885, that is about two years after the
Perim Coal Company opened its coaling station on Perim,
it began acting as agents for Lloyds, using a signal
station it had built on the higher ground on
Company Side, near the
Eastern Telegraph Company’s complex. This arrangement of
acting as agent might have continued but for a blatant
case of nepotism. The nephew of the Secretary of Lloyds
needed the extra allowances from an overseas posting; at
that time all the signal stations overseas were run by
agents but the solution was to open a new signal station
manned by Lloyds personnel with a European in charge,
and Perim was selected.
Thus in 1890 Lloyds was granted a concession to build a
signal station on Point 214, the highest point above sea
level on Perim, and situated South of the lighthouse.
The concession was almost 8,000 square yards in area and
included permission to construct living quarters and a
cookhouse as well as a signal station. Lloyds was
granted a 24 year lease from 1 January 1891. As Lloyds
intended to appoint a European to Perim it was assumed
he might have a sailing dingy for recreational purposes.
The company therefore requested a landing place and a
right of way from there (on Government Side) to the
signal station. Both requests were granted. This is a
contemporary description of the signal station:
The lower portion of this building is of stone and
mortar to a height of 9ft 8 ins, having a signal house
on top with wooden frames, and covered with 4 ply
Wilsden paper, besides having a wooden hand-rail all
round. A lower mast is built into masonry to a depth of
18 ft. The mast is supported by four stays attached to
large iron bolts built in masonry. The topmast can be
lowered down having all stays, crosstrees and yardarm
and all necessary gear for a signal station.
This change was not popular with the Coal Company as it
would no longer receive agency fees. The root of the
problem was the financial guarantees the Coal Company
had given the Eastern Telegraph Company some years
before, to induce the
ETC to erect a cable station on
Perim – see Eastern Telegraph Company. So perhaps it was
no surprise when in July 1896 it turned down a request
by Lloyds for a right of way over part of their
concession. Lloyds wanted to put up a telephone line to
connect their new Signal Station near the fort with the
ETC’s office which was on the Coal Company’s concession.
A slight digression here. Open any copy of The Times
from the 1920s (or earlier, or later) and you will find
a Lloyds report of the ships that had passed Perim the
previous day. This, and other information to and from
the shipping companies to their ships, needed to be as
up-to-date as possible. Hence a telephone line from the
signal station near the lighthouse to the
ETC (a
distance of around three miles) was essential.
Lloyds then began lobbying the India Office in London
for a ruling in their favour regarding the telephone
line. They stated that their messages regarding passing
ships were of great importance to shipping and they even
went so far to suggest that steps should be taken to
close or modify the concession to the Coal Company.
However the official position at the India Office was
that there was no reserved right of way. Fortunately for
Lloyds the Resident in Aden took a different view. His
argument was that since the Coal Company only paid a
peppercorn rent for their concession and as Lloyds
request was in the public interest, Lloyds should only
pay a peppercorn rent for the land over which the line
should pass. It was illogical that the Perim Coal
Company should get the land free from Government in
order to make money by leasing it for a profit for a
public purpose. The land was entirely valueless and the
Coal Company would be put to no loss derivable from the
land.
It was now time for the head office of the Perim Coal
Company in Liverpool to go onto the offensive, putting
forward a convincing argument mingled with threats to
stop all logistic support it was giving to Lloyds
personnel. As a result this impasse regarding rights of
way was not settled until 1900, when Hilton Spalding
died. He was succeeded as Managing Director by his chief
assistant Mr Youen. In the middle of June 1900 Youen
visited the India Office and when talking about Perim he
said it was his intention to stop the opposition and
acrimony that had at times characterised the company’s attitudes towards Government. (He obviously
was conscious that the Company’s concession only had 13
years more to run!) It was then put to Mr Youen that he
could make a start by letting Lloyds their wayleave for
the telephone line. But it was to be nearly another year
before Lloyds got their right of way.
On 3 May 1901 the following short letter was sent out on
Lloyds stationary: It has been arranged that in future
all maritime signalling at Perim shall be conducted
under the direct control and supervision of Lloyds.
Lloyds had lately a signal station at Perim, which
however was worked under the supervision of the Perim
Coal Company as Lloyds agents. The employees were
employees of the Perim Coal Company. The Perim Coal
Company also had a signal station near the
Eastern
Telegraph Company’s offices. Lloyds signal station
commanded the small strait, and the Coal Company the
large strait. It has now been arranged that Lloyds shall
take over both signal stations and that Lloyds alone
shall control and conduct maritime signalling at Perim.
The Perim Coal Company will undertake not to report any
vessels or do any signalling.
This photograph (above) from around 1901 or 1902 shows the
signal mast near the
ETC’s offices, probably just after
Lloyds had taken over the direct running of the station
from the Perim Coal Company. The lower part appears to
be similar to the description of the signal station
erected on Point 214 South of the lighthouse; there
appears to be a ladder of some kind up to the cross
trees.
At the moment the date the signal station was closed
down is being sought; since Cable & Wireless (the
successor to the Eastern Telegraph Company) did not
close down their facilities on Perim until November
1946, Lloyds may have continued to man their signal
station until about then.
The postcard below, of around 1929 and which is entitled
‘Dawn Perim’, includes several of the key landmarks,
some of which help to pinpoint the exact location of the
Lloyds signal mast, a support of which can be seen in
the bottom left-hand corner.
Above the Perim Coal Company’s salvage tug one can see
the upper one of two navigation cairns on Murray Point.
Behind the cairn, on ‘Government Side’ can be seen a
white building; this was the dispensary manned by a
medical assistant responsible for the detachment and all
civilians on Government Side.
Other landmarks of interest are the lighthouse on the
horizon, with the hills running inland from Sheikh Syed
further away still. In the middle distance, behind the
houses in the foreground and immediately behind the
telegraph pole, is the Residency (as it was at the time
this photograph was taken.)
The telegraph pole itself is of interest. The Coal
Company had a telephone licence, with the exchange being
in their office. By the late 1920s there were 11
extensions, including the Lloyds Signal Station, the
offices of the
Eastern Telegraph Company and the bungalow of each
the senior representatives of these installations. The
pole in the photograph was the first supporting the line
to the Residency.
On the extreme right of the photograph one can see the
corner of a substantial building – presumably that of
the offices of the
ETC.
The next postcard, entitled ‘Telegraph Hill, Perim’ and
dating from around 1912 poses a different problem. What
direction was it taken from? The answer, almost
certainly, is from the road leading from Balfe Point
lighthouse up to the
ETC complex.
The main building, the one behind the left-hand figure,
was the offices of the
ETC.
