The 1860s was still an era when the most likely
future enemy of the British was going to be the
French. It was therefore a matter of some
urgency and importance when in November 1862 the
chief of Bir Ahmed, the head of the Akrabi,
reported an offer of agents of the French
government to purchase Little Aden. Whilst there
was no practical facility there at that time,
its occupation by the French would in every way
have been very detrimental to British interests;
by sea it was within four miles of the British
anchorage and 20 miles overland. No time was to
be wasted. On hearing of the offer the British
government ordered The India Office to purchase
Little Aden to prevent its sale to another
power.
Negotiations were going to take some time due to
there being several interested parties involved
and to show good intentions Colonel Coghlan, the
Aden Resident, made an advance of 3,000 dollars
to the chief of Bir Ahmed. Coghlan’s successor,
Colonel Merewether, in 1864 continued to try to
get an agreement but made little progress. By
1867 he had managed to get the chief of Bir
Ahmed to the negotiating table and it was
thought the purchase could be completed on the
payment of another 20,000 dollars.
The next Resident, Major General Russell, had 10
days of negotiations, during which the chief
said the French had offered 60,000 dollars. This
was almost certainly a bluff to get Russell to
up the ante. Over the next few months Russell’s
Assistant, Captain Goodfellow, worked patiently
to forge a deal. By December 1868 the situation
was that the Akrabi chief who owned the Little
Aden peninsula was willing to sell but the Fadli
(or Fadtheli) sultan was claiming ownership of
some of the land. Naturally the British
government wanted to complete the deal as
speedily as possible, but the claims of the
Fadli had to be heard and investigated.
Agreement by all parties was reached in March
1869. The Fadli sultan had no lien on the
territory of the chief of the Akrabee and claims
by the Sultan of Lahej had been met by the
payment of 2,000 dollars. All former claims were
nul and void. The agreement to sell was signed
by the Akrabi chief’s two sons acting on his
behalf. Russell reported that this was the first
step towards the purchase of Little Aden and
that Goodfellow had shown ‘great judgement and
patience’.
The final purchase was completed on 3 April 1869
with a cash payment of 30,000 dollars. In
addition the monthly subsidy paid to the Akrabi
chief was increased from 30 to 40 dollars. It
was also agreed that the Akrabi chief was
entitled to raise dues on articles passing
through his territory. (In 1877 Captain Hunter
estimated that the annual income to the Akrabi
was about $600.) In recognition of his
assistance in the negotiations the Resident
agreed that the stipend currently paid to Syud
Alour , the current head of the influential
Aidroos family (and referred to as ‘the Aidroos’
in the same way as one referred to ‘the Abadli’),
should continue to the next generation after his
death.
