"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٦‎٣‎٥] (١٧٨٢/٧٧٨)

635
6ome Suri vessels returning from Basrah, and were granted, on the request
of the representative of the Indian Government, at Bushehr, a supply
of powder and cannon shot from the H.E.I. Company's brig " Viper 33
of 14 guns ; having received it, they treacherously and without warning
attacked the " Viper 33 at anchor, while her crew were at breakfast
on deck. The " Viper,with great promptitude, slipped her cable and
made sail to escape being boarded ; and, in the engagement which
followed, she not only beat off her assailants but succeeded in chasing
them out to sea ; her gallant commander. Lieutenant Carruthers,
was killed, and among a crew of 65, all told, there were no less than 32
casualties. Once more the authors of the outrage were suffered to escape
without punishment. The British authorities were apparently satisfied
by an assurance received from the dasimi Shaikh, that he had the
highest regard for the British nation but exercised no control over
Shaikh Salih, who a had proceeded to the Persian shore and there estab
lished himself among the Bani Khalid Arabs, marrying a woman of that
"tribe, Which was one of a villainous nature and character; " and no excep
tion appears to have been taken even to a statement b} the Snaikh that
the fC Viper " had been the first to fire.
In 1798 Saiyid Sultan of 'Oman made peace with the Qawasimm
order to facilitate the enforcement of certain claims which he had against
the Turkish authorities at Basrah ; but with the settlement of the Turko-
'Omani dispute there was a return to the normal state of warfare between
the two Arab powers, and Saiyid Sultan made a naval attack, which
was beaten off, on the Qasimi seaport oi Dibah.
In 1799 an attempt on Sohar was made by the Na'im and Bam
Qitab tribes, assisted by Bani Yas from Dibai ; but the invaders were
defeated at Liwa, with great loss, by the Saiyids Sultan and Qais o
; Oman.
In 1800, as related in the history of the 'Oman Sultanate, an
advanced force of the Wahhabis, who bad lately annexed the oases o
Hasaand Oatif, arrived in Baraimi. The leader of the expedition imme
diately took measures for a permanent occupation of the place, which
he must have seen to be admirably adapted for controlling all western
'Oman, and succeeded in attracting some of the neighbouring Bedoum
tribes to his standard; and the ruler of Masqat and the S .^ alkl1 '
Khaimah—though they sunk for the moment their hereditary difierences
consulted together, and even tried conclusions with the m
field-were unabk to rid themselves of their P—'
of 'Om ta continued to flock to the standard of the Wahhabi invaders,
and, by the middle of 1802, the whole eastern coast of . «> -
Relations
with Masqat,
1798-99.
Bstablish-
nient of th^
Wahhabis in
'Oman,
1800-03.