'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎23v] (51/180)

36
Piracies by
Dibai boats,
1834-35.
Piracies by
Sharjah
boats, 1835.
of 3 large Bani Yas vessels being taken for due payment of the balance of $1,600;
all prisoners in the hands of the pirates were released; and two of the principal
buccaneers, Muhammad-bin-Saqar and Muhammad-bin-Majid, were handed over
to be tried for their crimes. In addition a Bani Yas Batil, which happened to
arrive from India at Masqat, was detained by the authorities of that port. At
Bombay Muhammad-bin-Saqar was convicted of piracy on the high seas in the
case of the " Durva Dowlut " and sentenced to transportation for life; but
Muhammad-bin-Majid, on the failure of the case against him, was brought back
to the Gulf to be handed over to Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar, and unfortunately
escaped by swimming ashore from an anchorage lour miles off Sharjah. _
General depredations on the trade of the Gulf were commenced by the A1 Bii
Falasah of Dibai soon after their secession, elsewhere described, from Abu Dhabi;
they attacked and plundered 1 Masqat, 1 Bahrain and 2 Naband vessels, murdering
in the first case 5 men; and they looted a village on the coast of Batinah near
Masqat. A British demonstration against the town of Dibai, however, procured
full satisfaction in the cases in which it had not been voluntarily afforded or
otherwise obtained.
In 1835 the Sharjah chief, on pretence of assisting the Saiyid of 'Oman against
the rebellious town of Sohar, proceeded with a fleet to Khor Fakkan and Dibah,
but his depredations soon extended beyond the shipping of Sohar to that of his
nominal ally, and even to neutral vessels; for such as were reported, however, he
was compelled to afford satisfaction.
Relations of the Pirate Coast Shaikhs with the Saiyid of Masqat, 1820-35.
Before proceeding to review the internal history of the Pirate Coast from the
General Treaty of Peace in 1820 to the first Maritime Truce in 1835, we may take
account of some external influences which were not without their effect upon
domestic policies. The foreign factor or greatest importance on the Pirate Coast,
after the British power, was at this time undoubedly the Saiyid of Masqat. The
principal supporters of His Highness on the Pirate Coast were ordinarily the
Shaikhs of Abu Dhabi and Dibai; but in 1823 an exceptional combination
occurred, Abu Dhabi and Dibai allying themselves with Sharjah, while 'Ajman
sought to preserve his independence of Sharjah by attaching himself to Masqat.
The Baraimi- In 1824 a dispute arose between Saiyid Sa'id of Masqat and Shaikh Sultan-
Dairah case, bin-Saqar of Sharjah over the oasis of Baraimi, which, in a former treaty between
1824-27. them, had been declared neutral territory; the details of the quarrel are now
obscure, but it seems that the Shaikh of Sharjah had wrongfully built or taken
possession of some towers in Baraimi. The Shaikh of Abu Dhabi had in the
meantime encouraged a colony of Sudan refugees from Sharjah to build a fort at
Dairah between Dibai and Sharjah; this settlement was a source of much
annoyance to the Sharjah Shaikh, and, in conjunction with the Baraimi difficulty,
produced a general state of tension which the British Resident considered it his
duty to relieve.
At a visit to Sharjah in December 1824 the Resident effected a reconciliation
of the parties on an understanding that the Baraimi towers and the Dairah fort
should both be demolished, and that the Stidan immigrants should be removed
to some other part of the Abu Dhabi principality. In February 1825, no steps
having been taken by Sultan-bin-Saqar to carry out his part of the arrangement,
a strong remonstrance was addressed him by the Resident; the Shaikh in reply
pleaded intrigues on the part of his adversaries and suggested that a commission
of three persons, one appointed by himself, one by the Saiyid of Masqat and one
by the Resident, should be sent to Bairami to superintend the execution of the
agreement. In May 1825 the Resident took advantage of a visit which he paid
to Masqat to despatch Gulab Anandas, the Native Agent Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. representing Britain at
that port, along with some troops of the Saiyid to witness the destruction of the
Baraimi towers under an authorisation specially obtained from the Sharjah Shaikh.
Scarcely however had the delegate started when Sultan-bin-Saqar made a sudden
attack on Dairah, afterward repulsing a force sent by Tahnun-bin-Shakhbut to
its relief; and this treacherous action on his part necessarily put an end to the
efforts of the Resident to adjust the quarrel. The Masqat Agent, it may be noted,
on his return from Baraimi, reported about the delay in the proceedings in a sense
wholly unfavourable to the good faith of Sultan-bin-Saqar.