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Perim Island
Perim Island
Yemen
About Perim Island
Perim Island (also known as Barim, Mayyun, Meyun) is a volcanic island located 90 miles west of Aden in the Bab-el-Mandeb, 1 ½ miles from the Arabian coast and 11 miles from the African coast. The island has a surface area of 5 square miles and rises to 213 feet. It was formerly part of the Aden Colony.
Albuquerque landed on Perim Island in 1513 and named it Vera Cruz. Later, for a short while, it became a base for pirates till they concluded there was no available fresh water, even after digging 15 fathoms, and moved elsewhere........more
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I remember when I was about nine years old I was given a very interesting jig-saw puzzle of a wartime convoy, the main subject being the famous tanker the San Demetrio; the problem was that about 40% of the pieces were missing! Due to the fact that so few records on Perim survive I am afraid that the story of the Morris family on Perim is another San Demetrio situation.....more
The news of the murder of Lieutenant Lawrence, at the time the Assistant Resident on Perim Island, was passed by the superintendent of the Eastern Telegraph Company’s office on Perim Island to his opposite number in Aden. His telegram, sent at 0645 on 2 September 1924, read: “Inform resident soonest assistant resident found this morning murdered sentries bolted telephone cut stop just reported to me by his butler and lance corporal ahmed saleh stop doctor advised.” .....more
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The Assistant Resident on Perim Island was also the local Income Tax Collector. In 1901- 02 Captain Oldfield appears to have spent most of his time trying to nail the Perim Coal Company, his only major ‘client’, for tax evasion. The basic problem was that the PCC’s standard argument was that as tax was paid by Head Office in Liverpool on the annual published accounts of the Company in the UK, there was no liability for any Aden income tax. .....more
Maps of Perim show one that the cricket ground was more or less directly in front of the Perim Hotel, which was therefore well placed to be the pavilion. Until very recently I had come across only two photographs that included cricketers: one a postcard of what is almost certainly a group of cricketers in front of the hotel and the other of a match in progress, also on a postcard and illustrated in The Postal History of British Aden by Major R W Pratt. .......more
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