MURRAY’S EXPEDITION TO PERIM IN 1799

The invasion of Egypt by Napoleon posed a very real threat to India. In April 1798 Napoleon in a letter had written “...the truth is that the expedition to the East will oblige the enemy to send six additional ships of war to India and perhaps twice as many frigates to the mouth of the Red Sea.” This letter was intercepted by the British but Napoleon had overestimated the British response. Lord Dundass, the War Minister, had finally decided on 13 June 1798 that Napoleon’s immediate objective was Egypt and that from there he would probably advance overland to India to give support to Tipoo Sultan and others. Orders were passed to Bombay and towards the end of September Rear Admiral Rainier, C-in-C East Indies, was ordered to be ready to send as large a squadron as possible to the Red Sea. Rainier had few ships so Cape Town was asked to send any reinforcements they could spare. These amounted to three ships under Commodore Blankett, the Leopard (50), the Daedalus (32) and the Orestes (18).

Nelson then defeated the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile on 2 August 1798 and although it was then much less likely that the French would be able to move on India, Napoleon remained a threat in Egypt. No chances were being taken. It was still thought possible that the French might have forces sufficient to take and hold Perim, thus blocking the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. (East India House was well aware that the strait between Africa and Perim was 14 to 15 miles wide, but it was little used by ships on account of the numerous rocks and shoals towards the African shore. There was a mistakenly-held view that it was necessary for ships to steer close to the western point of Perim or through the narrow strait between Perim and the Arabian shore.)

At the end of November 1798 Rear Admiral Rainier was sent a letter ordering him, based on intelligence he had at the time, to send sufficient ships of his squadron, together with a military expedition, to take possession of Perim and then hold it against all-comers. Whilst the military force for Perim was being got ready Rainier sent some ships on ahead. Two of these, Centurion (50) and Albatross (18), appeared before Suez on 27 April 1799 and chased two French gunboats into the harbour.

The force assembled for Perim was the 1799 equivalent of a present day all-arms battlegroup. The largest element was the infantry, from the 84^th Regiment, and this amounted to only the equivalent of one full strength rifle company plus a robust detachment from Headquarters Company. The Commanding Officer of the 84^th, Lieutenant Colonel Murray, was the expedition commander. From his Regiment there were six other officers, one captain and five lieutenants, plus 10 NCOs. Artillery consisted of one Indian battery of two Indian officers, 10 Indian NCOs, 10 British and 70 Indian gunners, or matrasses as the latter were called, plus two drummers (of which the 84^th also had five.) There was also a weak company of Marines. An Engineer detachment completed the military part of the expedition. This comprised three officers and 33 men with specialist trades, including 10 bricklayers and 10 carpenters. Altogether the military element totalled only about 350 men out of the 1066 souls who set sail. The remainder were ‘followers’. These can be divided into two groups: civilian workers of some kind and families. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, for some detachments this was an ‘accompanied tour’. The 84^th were unaccompanied, as were the Engineers. But the Artillery had 37 wives and 20 children with them and the Marines 20 wives and five children. But the biggest group of families was accompanying the crews of the transports that were ‘under command’. These totalled 174 men but with them they had 120 wives and 55 children. Another group of ‘workers’ was the Indian 100 labourers taken on by the Engineers to assist the specialist tradesmen. The final group of followers was the Indian 125 men servants, over half of whom were with the 84^th. An important small group was providing medical support: one assistant surgeon and five hospital assistants, the latter listed as followers of the 84^th.

Meanwhile Blankett’s squadron had been sailing up the East Coast of Africa. These ships arrived at Madagascar on 5 October and off the Comores Islands on 5 November. The squadron was making very slow progress due to the lack of suitable winds and supplies had run short, so Daedalus was ordered to return to the Cape while the other two ships continued on to Aden, arriving there on 11 April 1799. There they met up with Fox (32) which had been escorting the troop transports from Bombay. These were carrying the troops for two expeditions, one going to Mocha and the other to Perim. Blankett’s two ships escorted the expedition to Mocha, whilst the Fox went with the expedition going to Perim. This consisted of the East India Company’s cruiser Strombolo (being used as a transport) and two hired transports the Upton Castle and the Jehangeer. Lieutenant Colonel Murray was a Detachment Commander in his own right, reporting directly back to the Governor of Bombay.

Murray landed on Perim on 3 May 1799, the day before Tipoo Sultan was killed and his army defeated at the battle of Seringapatan. Murray wrote his first despatch to Bombay on the 7th, to be taken back to India in the frigate Antelope which had just arrived from Mocha. There were two major disappointments: the first was that Perim was barren and that prospects of finding water were slim. The second was that no batteries erected on the island could command the entrance to the Red Sea; in spite of this aim not being achievable he thought the harbour could be of the greatest importance to the Navy. However, in the absence of a naval squadron, he would need troop reinforcements to hold the island, which was larger than he had expected. He requested a further 150-200 European troops and 250-300 sepoys. In effect he asked for the military element of his force to be doubled.

He had sent an officer on a reconnaissance to the Arabian shore and preliminary reports suggested that he could procure all necessary supplies and water from there. He included in his despatch a request for provisions and for additional water casks and a wide range of building materials and tools. Unfortunately Surgeon Day had died during the voyage from India and Murray requested a replacement, the Navy providing medical cover in the meantime.

Murray added a p.s. to his despatch that Commodore Blankett’s squadron was now working into the harbour. Whilst Blankett was entering he recalled the Antelope by signal so that he could send his own despatch to Bombay. This also allowed Murray to add to his first despatch of 7 May. One of Murray’s problems was that his two civilian transports were on a fairly short charter and he might not be able to release them in time.

Much of the content of the exchange of letters between Blankett and Murray was to do with water. A letter from Blankett to Murray, written on board the Leopard in Perim harbour on 21 May, was an example of continuing poor relations between the two officers. Blankett wrote that as the Bombay Presidency had not done him the honour even of notifying him of Murray’s arrival, he must naturally be allowed to be ignorant of the motives that had led that Presidency to take possession of the Island of Perim!

In his report to Bombay Murray had mentioned the problem of his two civilian transports being on a fairly short charter. Early in June he decided to send the Upton Castle back to Bombay to get her there before her charter ran out. Murray took this opportunity of weeding out non-essential personnel from Perim, sending a total of 263 men, women and children back to Bombay.

In August, Blankett, now a Rear Admiral, replied to a further request from Murray for him to send one of his ships from Mocha with all available water casks in the period 6-8 September, by which time the tank being constructed on the island should have been completed. The aim was to bring in a six-month supply of water before that part of the monsoon set in that would have prevented resupply from Mocha. Blankett said he could not spare a ship for this task as the only two ships he had with him were the Leopard and the Centurion. Blankett pointed out that Murray had three ships with him, plus several country craft which he should use to arrange for water supply.

On 7 September, having received this negative response and with only 45 days worth of water remaining and not knowing from where or when the next resupply could be obtained, Murray decided to withdraw the majority of his force to Aden where the Sultan was very happy to receive him and his force. On 21 September Murray himself returned to Perim selecting to leave behind mostly European troops in Aden as they were the better disciplined. On 30 November Murray (on Perim) wrote to his subordinate commanders (who were in Aden) asking them to give their opinion as to the feasibility of ever commanding the straits with artillery sited on Perim. His engineer replied that it was impossible, having even considered the practicability of building a fort on the end of a pier at least a mile out into the Small Strait! It needed to be a mile to be able to cover the navigable channel with 32 pounders, which had a range of about a mile. His artillery commander was emphatic that no batteries could be established on any part of the island that would in any degree command the Red Sea.

It will be recalled that it had been thought unsafe for a ship to be sailed towards the African side of the main strait. Early in December the captain of the Strombolo found a good route near the African coast. There was now no valid reason for Murray to remain on Perim.

On 26 February 1800 a letter was sent from Bombay to Murray at Aden approving his conduct and his decision to withdraw part of his force to Aden. Bombay at the same time made it quite clear that troops could not remain there permanently, in spite of the Sultan having offered this facility, which Murray was to decline as tactfully as possible. Murray was to withdraw his detachment back to Bombay ‘with all practicable expedition’. Murray was not able to confirm receipt of his new orders until 10 April, expressing also his relief that his actions had met with approval. No date has been found for the eventual withdrawal from Perim of the last of Murray’s troops, but the expedition was back in India by the end of June, Murray himself having remained in Mocha as Political Agent.

On now to 1876, when Lieutenant King was OC Outpost Perim. During his second tour of two months there he explored the island and wrote a comprehensive booklet about Perim. This is what he wrote about Murray’s expedition of 1799:

Numerous traces of Murray’s occupation still exist at the head of Murray’s Bay, a long narrow bay of which the spit forms the South West boundary. Here may be seen the remains of well-built walls about two feet thick and formed of stones broken into shape with a hammer and neatly fitted together without any mortar. Nothing but the bare walls remain now. Still, one can easily discover which were the barracks for European troops and which for natives. Other scattered ruins on some slightly elevated ground at a short distance appear to have been officers’ quarters, cookhouses and stores, etc. There is also a ruined circular tank, 500 yards from the beach, intended to hold 25,000 gallons. It is well built and has been lined with some hard cement. I have been told by the natives that there was formerly in the wall of this tank a large stone with an inscription on it but some other officer or other took it away with him. In the corner of the large plain nearest to Murray’s Camp and separated from it by a low range of hills is a row of 10 or 11 graves, close beside one another. The centre grave, which appears to have been formerly plastered over with mortar, I conjecture to be that of a lieutenant of the 84th Regiment.

A naval chart of 1886 shows the ruins of the two barracks referred to by King. They were about 150-200 yards from the shore on the southern edge of Murray Bay. Their location is marked on the photograph from Google Earth. In 1888 the Coal Company was tasked by the Residency in Aden to produce an inventory of all buildings and structures on their concession. Of particular relevance was ‘Building No.80’, a freshwater tank built at the head of Murray Bay. The plan shows a circular tank, 15ft 2ins in diameter at the bottom and 25ft 3ins in diameter at the top. The tank was 14ft deep and stepped up from the bottom with steps 4, 4, 2, 1, 1 and 2ft in height, each step forming a ring 2ft wide. This was the tank described by King in his 1877 booklet, but as yet it has not been identified on Google Earth. There was also a water catchment system consisting of a wall built of stone and mortar for a length of 286ft, 2ft thick and 2ft high.

Winding the clock on to 1964, one of the many fascinating things about the Perim of that year was the presence there of the barrels of two quite large breech-loading cannon. One had a date of manufacture of 1798 and the other 1799. The latter date especially cuts things a bit fine for them to have been put on Perim during Murray’s occupation.

The National Maritime Museum was contacted for further information about the marks on the two cannon. The earlier of the two had the mark WG 32-2-17 and the other WG 34-3-3. The Museum stated that the numerals referred to their weights in hundredweights, quarters and pounds and that from the tables of dimensions for various calibres of muzzle-loaders the cannon were both 12-pounders. WG was the maker’s name, Wiggins and Graham. If the cannon were not on Perim in 1800 they must have been put there subsequent to the 1857 reoccupation, but this seems unlikely although muzzle-loaded cannon were still in use in the British Army at this date.

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