"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٥‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٤٠٩)

1254
walls was made by a body of about 300 Persian horse, but they were
careful to remain beyond range of the Turkish guns.
About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the " Eagle " and "Success" with
the Pasha's two ketches, slipped their cables and set off down stream
under full press of canvas to attack a Bushehr fleet of 16 vessels which
had been observed working up the river in the morning, and which Lad
now arrived within about a league of the town; but the Persians turned
back on seeing them and escaped, the possession of oars in addition to
sails giving them an advantage in speed over their pursuers. The
Bushehr fleet included the East India Company's brig " Tvger " which
had been taken by the Ka'ab in the Shatt-al-'Arab two years previously,
and it consisted for the rest of five Cfallivats of 10 guns each and ten
G alii vats of 6 to 8 guns. The movement of the British squadron against
it look place at the suggestion of Lieutenants Robinson and Tbietleton,
who were in command, and who received the permission of the A^ent to
act as they thought best for preventing a junction between it and the
Ka'ab fleet.
At 4 o'clock Mr. Moore, accompanied by all the members of the
British Factory and by Mr. Parsons, rode round the walls, going as far
as the mouth of the J Ashar creek. On their way they met the Mutasallim
upon his rounds, who promised to hold the town by land if the Agent
would keep it by water ; find they observed that the Turks and Arabs all
<>pptared cheerful and confident, but that no townsman was any longer
allowed to absent himself from his place at the wall, either by day or
night.
About 2 o'clock on the morning of the 9th of April, the sky being
perfectly dark, without either moon or stars, the Persians tried to scale
the walls at several places between the Baghdad and Zubair gates; and
a hand-to-hand struggle with the defenders ensued, which lasted for
more than two hours. In the midst of the din and confusion of this
conflict the Biitish hastily quitted the Factory and made their way to
the mouth of the Ashar creek, which they reached in safetv notwith
standing the thick darkness; Mr. Parsons and another gentleman, who
were the last to lea\e, took an hour on the way and narrowly escaped
being killed by atones and tiles which Arab women, imagining them to
b„ Peisians, flung down at them from the tops of houses. The entrance
of the creek vas found to be well defended by bodies of two to three
hundred armed Arabs, under the Kapitan Pesha, drawn up on either
side of it; and the party from the Factory embarked safely on the
" Eagle/' J