East India Company Office Suez
Company agency and lodgingWhitewashed walls, half a dozen desks, and the particular stillness of men sweating quietly through paperwork.
A whitewashed building near the harbour flying the Company flag — half a dozen desks, and cool enough inside to be worth the walk.
Description
A whitewashed building near the harbour flying the Company flag — half a dozen desks, and cool enough inside to be worth the walk. It handles the overland dispatch traffic between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which in practice means a very small staff and a great deal of waiting.
Notable Features
- Two company houses attached to the agency, where travelling Company men are put up. Whitewashed rooms, a real bed apiece, and nothing beyond that. Modest by any standard, and a luxury after days on camelback.
- Starved for news from home. The men here see Europeans rarely enough that an arriving party is an event.
- Paper works here. Freddy’s calling card and Board of Control appointment got a hearing; the name Hugh Cavendish settled it outright.
Connections
- Sam — the young clerk on the desk who took Freddy’s paperwork.
- George — his colleague, who arranged the lodgings and later walked the party down to The Watering Hole.
- The party lodged here, split between the two houses, for the whole of their stay in Suez.
Appearances
Relationships
- Part of Suez — Stands near the harbour, flying the Company flag