Page 109 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

Foreign Interventions and Occupations of Kamaran /. 99
much of the Tihamah in 1848: the Imam seized Bajil while another
force was sent to al-Luhayyah,70 but it is unfortunately not clear
whether Kamaran changed hands during the hostilities between
the Sharif and the Imam continuing into 1849.
It was that year that Turkey decided upon the reoccupation of
Yemen. Accordingly, in March, Turkish troops under Tewfiq
Pasha left Jeddah bound for Kamaran and al-Hudaydah.71 On 19
April the Pasha reached al-Hudaydah; which the Sharif surren­
dered, together with the rest of the Tihamah under his control.
Other Turkish forces occupied Kamaran. The administration of the
Tihamah was divided between Tewfiq Pasha and ‘Abdullah, son of
Muhammad ‘Awn of Mecca: the former received authority over
the northern territories, including Kamaran.72 The following year,
in the course of Turkish attempts to extend control over the
Yemeni highlands, Tewfiq Pasha was injured and died of his
wounds whereupon ‘Abdullah b. ‘Awn received the governorship
of the whole Tihamah.73

European rivalry for Kamaran, 1851-60
It was at this time that France showed renewed interest in the Red
Sea. After failing to purchase Ras Hafun as a coaling station in
1847, she turned her attention to Kamaran in 1851, but the timely
intervention of the Indian Navy forced her to abandon her plans/4
Later in the decade the French were again ‘remarkably busy* in the
Red Sea. As the British administrator in Aden put it, ‘they had
their vessels of war poking about every hole and comer of its
southern end ... in search of a suitable spot for a settlement. They
tried the Camarans (sic) first. ...,75
It appears that Britain too showed considerable interest in
Kamaran both before and after the occupation of Aden in 1839.
The Cyclopedia of India76 states that Britain had decided upon an
occupation of Kamaran until the seizure of Aden made this
unnecessary.
On 24 December 1856 a Convention was concluded between the
Red Sea Telegraph Company and the Sublime Porte ‘for the
establishment on Turkish territory of telegraph stations’. Article i
of the Convention mentions Kamaran as one of the points at
which a cable might be laid. The importance the British Govern­
ment attached to this project is evidenced by the Admiralty’s offer
of assistance to the Red Sea Telegraph Company to permit H.M.S.
Cyclops to take soundings to determine the best route from Suez to
Aden. The log book of the Cyclops, however, makes no mention of
a visit to Kamaran.77 Nonetheless, the cable was laid via Kamaran