LLOYD'S 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 photo 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.

In the photo to the right, 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 1st photo, 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. The stays on the signal mast do not appear to be reaching ground level, which makes it likely that the mast was rebuilt (and possibly marginally re-located) sometime after 1912.