Perim Island
EASTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY
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By March 1870 the laying of the Suez to Aden cable had been completed. The Eastern Telegraph Company had about 300 miles of cable spare and offered to lay a cable for government use between Aden and Perim. This offer was turned down by Bombay in early June on the grounds that it was not of sufficient priority.
Thus when the Perim Coal Company opened its coaling station in 1883 there was still no cable station on Perim. Such a facility was essential for a coaling station and in
1884 the Company persuaded the Eastern Telegraph Company to lay a cable into Perim, but at a price. The Company gave a guarantee that it would send a minimum of £1060 worth of telegrams a year. It also agreed to provide free rations and water and some other back-up to ETC staff living on Perim. The Company also provided the land on which the ETC could put up offices and accommodation, the carriage of which from Aden to Perim was included in the arrangements.
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In July 1890 a marine cable eight miles long was laid from Perim to Sheikh Syed. The extra distance is accounted for by virtue of the fact that the point on Perim where all cables came ashore was on the western side of the island. The cable house where the cables came ashore can be seen in this postcard (above) of around 1902.
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By 1911 there were three direct cables from Suez to Aden (and on to Bombay). This triplication of a vital communications link should have been sufficient insurance against interdiction, but the weakness of the link was that two of the three cables, although permanently joined, touched at Perim. Perim was also a local cable hub, with five other cables being landed there. These were: a separate link between Aden and Perim; the original Suez to Aden cable via Suakin and Perim; a local link across the Narrow Strait to the Turkish fort at Sheikh Syed (the one laid in 1890), which place was connected to Hodeida by land line; a French government link from Perim to Obock (and on to Jibouti); and an Italian government cable from Perim to Assab (and on to Massaua), although this link had been out of repair for some time.
After the Perim Coal Company went into liquidation in 1936 the cost to government of administering Perim was partially offset by charging the ETC (and Lloyds) for utilities and other services. For example during their final year on Perim in 1946 Cable & Wireless were paying a concessional rate of Rs4 As8 per 100 gallons of water collected from the condenser tanks. They were also paying Rs5 per month for each living quarter and Rs15 per month for medical supervision of employees, including ordinary medicines.
