POINT HOUSE

The photograph of Point House (right) is taken from a postcard issued around 1911. The group of four men by the wall were not staff at Point House but almost certainly the four Somali oarsmen of the pilot boat in their sailor-suit type uniform. It is just possible that they were the boatmen of the Perim Cutter, the official boat of the Assistant Resident, but there are four or five reasons for doubting this.

This was probably the best-located house on Perim, certainly until the two oil tanks were built in the early 1920s no more than 150 yards away! Originally it was the Managing Agent’s residence, until he had Murray House built on the high ground northwest of Murray Point. From Point House he would have been able to keep a sharp eye on every aspect of the Perim Coal Company’s operations.

The managing agent moved back to Point House when Murray House became the Residency (for the Assistant Resident) around 1908. In the intervening period it was used by the medical officer of the Perim Coal Company. Some time after 1936 it became a government rest house for anyone able to get there from Aden. It was still a rest house in 1964 when everything in it from furniture to furnishings was pre-war, at the very latest.

The pilots lived on the spit below Point House where there was also a small pier, or bunde, for their use. In this next postcard of around 1901 the four-oared pilot cutter (‘Pilot’ near the stern and ‘Perim’ near the bows) is bringing some people ashore.

This photograph shows the view from just outside the front gate of Point House. It was probably taken prior to 1900 as the positioning of all the boats is identical to those in the lithographed card, Perim’s first postcard, of which this copy is dated May 1900.

The first set of buildings below Point House was where the two pilots lived, and also possibly the divers - who at one time were a Maltese and a Greek, which might not have got them elected to be members of the Perim Club!

It might appear from the photograph (right) that Perim had proper hard surface roads. Well, they were (and are) in a way. All that one needs to do to make a road is to clear to the side the volcanic rocks and boulders that cover much of the island.