"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٩‎٩‎١] (١٧٨٢/١١٤٦)

991
of Umm Na'asan. On the 6th of September a Bahrain boat was
attacked near 'Oqair by Bani Hajir of the Al Muhammad section ; two
men were wounded and much property was carried away, of which the
bulk belonged to merchants of Hasa.
In the last of these instances Sa'id Pasha, the Mutasarrif of Hasa, Behaviour of
bestirred himself to the extent of sending out troops by whom tribal ^gard t^the
camels were seized and Shaikhs arrested, and the Irlasa merchants
received compensation, but none was obtained by such of the sufferers as
happened to be subjects of Bahrain ; and in the Shiqqatah and Has
Tanurah cases partial redress only was afforded to the Bahrain com
plainants. The matter was accordingly brought, through the British
Consul at Basrah, to the notice of the Wall ; but the latter treated the
subject nonchalantly and ultimately refused to discuss it on the ground
that Bahrain was a Turkish, not a British, dependency.
In August 1901 fresh demands for indemification and for the
suppression of piracy were made on the Wali of Basrah, but without
apparent result. So far as could be learned, the only Turkish measure
for maintaining security at sea off Hasa continued to be, as in the past,
the rare despatch from QatTf to Bahrain of an armed boat, which, after
remaining for a few days at Manamah, was accustomed to return direct
to the Turkish coast.
Accordingly, with a view" to ascertaining the steps, if any, taken Visit of
by the load Turkish authorities, a visit by H. M. S. Sphinx»SpWnx"
to Qatif was authorised, and in February 1902 was carried out ; but to Qatif,
the results were unsatisfactory, and no information of the kind desired
was obtained. On the other hand the Commander of the British vessel
and the Assistant Political Agent in Bahrain, who accompanied him, were
treated with marked discourtesy ; they were detained first at the customs
house and then at the port office, they had great difficulty even in obtain
ing an interview with the Qaim-Maquam, and they were prevented from
entering the town.
In 190-2 a fresh series of maritime outrages began, and a new pirate Piracies of
, , . -t n Ahmad-bin-
leader made his appearance, w r ho soon proved himselt a worthy successor g a \ m an,
of Zaid-bin-Muhammad ; this was Ahmad-bin-Salman, the son of a 1902-1907.
member of the ruling family of Bahrain by a daughter of a Shaikh of
the Al Muhammad section of the Bani Hajir. Ahmad had been for
lono- an outlaw from the Bahrain islands and had lived for a time in
Qatar, but he was now virtually domiciled in Turkish territory.
Early in July 1902 this individual, with some Bani Hi^ir companions, 1902.
stole a boat from Saihat near QatTf and put to sea for nefarious pur-