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OC
Outpost Perim
From the permanent occupation of Perim in 1858 to the
coming of the Perim Coal Company in 1883, Perim had the
official designation of being a ‘military oupost’, with
the officer commanding the detachment of 50 men signing
his official correspondence as ‘OC Outpost Perim’. His
tour of duty was two months at a time, the same as his
men, being this short length to reduce the incidence of
scurvy, to help combat which there was a daily issue of
lime juice to all ranks. The Resident in Aden had
stipulated that the OC Outpost should [but not must] be
a European – that let-out needed as a battalion of
Indian infantry normally had only eight or nine British
officers, and occasionally less.
The biggest problem must have been
loneliness – with no like-minded person to talk to or
drink with. There were three other people on Perim who
might have been British, but none would ever have been
from the same social background as the OC Outpost. The
three were the engineer in charge of the
lighthouse and
the water condenser, someone from the Commissariat in
charge of rations and stores and a medical assistant –
the last two being either Senior NCOs or civilians.
Indian battalions did a two year
tour in Aden and a junior officer could expect to do at
least two short tours on Perim during that time;
Lieutenant Candy managed to do four or five in his two
years. Certainly one, Lieutenant King, took his family
with him. When he returned to India King transferred to
the Bombay Staff Corps and in 1877 an official booklet
written by him on Perim was published. It was probably
this that prompted an officer serving in Madras, writing
under the pseudonym Aliph Cheem to include the following
in his enlarged edition of ‘Lays of India’ which was
published in 1878 or 1879.
THE CONTENTED SUB by Aliph Cheem
When the island of Perim became British soil,
Many pounds on a lighthouse were spent;
And to show British power, and replenish the oil,
A sub and some sepoys were sent.
But Perim is lonely, and barren, and hot,
Not a vestige of life in the place;
And many who’ve seen it consider the spot
A blotch upon Nature’s face.
So the duty, though simple enough of its kind,
Wasn’t fancied as much as might be.
Sub the first - Sub the second-went out of his mind,
Sub the third drank himself to D.T.'s.
Sub the Fourth, finding Christmas unbearably slow,
Very nigh brought his prospects to grief
By signalling “Stop!” to the Mail P. and O.
And asking for “pudding” and “beef”
‘Twas resolved then to send off a pair at a time;
But, once tried, ‘twas abandoned as cruel,
For monotony drove them to quarrel and crime,
And they slaughtered themselves in a duel.
The Gov’nor of Aden he raved and he stormed
His mind with perplexity laden,
“A duty’s a duty, and must be performed,
But how?” cried the Gov’nor of Aden.
"I don't like despatching young subs to their graves;
Still, a duty’s a duty, they’ll own;
So send to . . . that little place over the waves,
Lieutenant MacOdic Alloan."
Lieutenant MacOdic Alloan very soon
Took command of the feeders of oil ;
And the Governor wondered, as moon after moon
Found MacOdic Alloan at his toil.
And he wondered the more when a letter from Mac
Informed that, so far from disliking
The post, he’d at present no wish to come back,
And considered the scenery striking.
“By gad!” cried the Governor, chuckling, “at last
We have got the right man, I should say;
And what’s more, as he likes it, we’ll keep him there
fast
As long as the beggar will stay.”
At the end of six months or so Mac again wrote,
“That he liked his retreat even more.
He could never again take to collar or coat,
And trousers would prove a sad bore.
“He’d no letters to answer, no duns to cajole,
No visits, no ponderous feeds,
No trouble, but now and then calling the roll,
And the rest of the day to his weeds,¬ -
“Lounging about in a jolly long laze,
Very like lotus eating, in fact.”
Said the Governor- “As long as it suits him, he stays,
But I’m hanged if I don’t think he’s cracked.”
Another six months, and a letter that said
That Lieutenant MacOdic Alloan
Was quite ready to stop a successor instead
So attached to the island he’d grown.
“Oh, pray let him stop!” roared the Gov’nor, “the muff.
A successor’d be awkward to find.
Some day, I suppose, he’ll be crying, ‘enough!’
I wish they were all of his mind!”
So MacOdic Alloan stopped a couple of years
“Which,” he wrote, “had too rapidly fled.”
And now very strong grew the Governor’s fears
That the lad must be wrong in his head.
And they grew, and they grew, till he swore by the Lord
That the youth must be mad as a hatter,
And he sent off to Perim a medical board
To see him and settle the matter.
To Perim the cargo of doctors soon ran
But they found not a trace of the sub.
He’d been living, this very contented young man,
At home, for two years, at his club!
There was an element of truth about the 4th verse – an
OC did signal a mail steamer on Christmas Day. On
another occasion, in late January 1869 a steamer of the
French Messageries Imperiales line was passing through
the Small Strait when the officer of the watch spotted
signal flags denoting ‘short of provisions’ being flown
at the signal mast beside the fort. Her captain at once
sent an officer on shore with a supply of biscuits and
cheese, plus some pale ale and porter for the OC Outpost
who asked that the captain inform the Residency of the
situation and that the detachment was short of dhal [an
Indian puree made from pigeon-pea], ghee and beef. The
Resident, Major General Sir Edward Russell, was not
amused. He sent his thanks via the French Consul and his
regret that the officer commanding at Perim should have
taken the responsibility upon himself of making such a
signal which the commander of the ‘Emirne’ could not but
attend to. The OC Outpost, Lieutenant Davie, was asked
to refund the cost from his own pocket and in due course
would receive a reprimand from India for his actions.
The OC Commissariat was carpeted
and asked to report on how this inefficiency had
occurred, as Russell was under the impression that three
months worth of provisions were kept on Perim. He also
ordered that the requisite stores should be forwarded to
Perim without delay. The Commissariat replied that some
dhal and ghee had been sent on 1 January, and that beef
was not an item supplied by them. It was also pointed
out that the signal hoisted had been ‘short of’ and not
‘out of’. The Commissariat then admitted that the
contract to keep three months worth of provisions had
run out on 31 December and had not been renewed due to a
long running disagreement with the contractor, who
presumably had not bothered to top up the reserves on
Perim towards the end of the contract period. The
loneliness of the OC Outpost! Perhaps he should have
chosen to stop a British ship, on the basis of not
washing dirty linen in public. |
