From the number of letters on the subject and the periodic rockets given to the Assistant Resident at Perim for the all-important cable not being sent, or being sent late, it would seem that there was an element of paranoia on the subject, but not for the reasons one might imagine. Notice was needed not so that letters from ‘home’ could be collected as soon as possible, but so that official and business letters could be timed to catch the outgoing mail, bearing in mind that Aden was administratively under Bombay. This warning system dates from July 1886 when the Resident sent a telegram to the Assistant at Perim ordering him in future to cable the time the steamer with mail for India passed Perim.

It took time for the system to work efficiently. Some mail steamers were not being recognised as they passed Perim and in September that year the P&O ordered captains of outward mail steamers to hoist the English Mail pennant during daylight at the foremast and at night to show two vertical lights, the same as mail steamers were doing when entering Aden Harbour. On other occasions the Eastern Telegraph Company (ETC) failed to pass the cable immediately; this brought the order from Aden that a Register be kept by the ETC as correct and timely signalling of the mail was of public importance.

In December 1886 the P&O had to clarify their orders to captains that the Directors’ instructions must be strictly carried out and the English Mail pennant (red with three white crosses) was to be flown and that the Royal Mail bargee was not to be flown at the same time. This was necessary as other mail steamers, for example those carrying the Australia Mail, also passed Perim.

On receipt of the cable from Perim giving the time the steamer passed, the P & O flew a number of flags from their masthead at Steamer Point. In January 1899 a notice was issued to better define the time the steamer had passed Perim if it had done so in daylight. As well as the Royal Mail flag, a flag to indicate the hour would also be hoisted, plus a pennant to denote a.m. or p.m.; the a.m. pennant was alternate red and white stripes (three red and two white) and the p.m. pennant a white circle on a blue background. The a.m. pennant flown without an hour pennant would signify that the mail steamer had passed Perim at noon.

Two footnotes were added to the notice: in black heavy type that the mail steamer could be expected at Aden six hours after passing Perim and another in red that these signals had nothing whatsoever to do with the hour the mail would close at the Post Office.

In addition to the notification by P & O of the hour a mail steamer passed Perim there was also the official government system of advising the Aden community that the mail steamer had been sighted, that based on the firing of saluting guns, mentioned above. On 12th July 1886 one of the signals was changed: in future four guns would be fired at the lightship when the Bombay Mail was sighted. Following representations from those working and living in Crater that this signal was of no earthly use to them, a relay system was introduced whereby the lookouts on top of Sham Shum and at Marshag would each fire three guns.

It is noted that in 1892 the warning signal for when the mail steamer from Bombay arrived at night was still three guns fired at the light vessel and two each at Marshag and Sham Shum [Shamsan]. The Port Officer also complained that mail steamers were often not hoisting the ‘Mail’ flag until well within the harbour limits.

This was important as the mail bag for India closed in the post office in Camp half an hour after the signal guns had been fired and at the main post office in Steamer Point one and a half hours after. This was because the mail contract only allowed for a four-hour stay in Aden. [Hence the booklet for passengers ‘Three Hours in Aden’ mentioned in the article ‘Aden 1906’]