'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎31v] (67/180)

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of a brother of Shaikh Maktum, a crisis again occurred, and again passed over
harmlessly. Finally, a direct collision took place in the interior between the
Ghafalah and the Shaikh of Dibai and several men were killed on either side;
the Shaikh was victorious, but lost the sight of one eye.
1844. In July 1844 the Shaikh of Sharjah set about trying to recover his lost influence
with the tribes of the interior; but in Bedouin state-craft he showed himself no
match for Khalifah-bin-Shakhbut, who, in the course of a summer tour, succeeded
in attaching to his cause even the tribes that he had most recently plundered. At
Baraimi the Abu Dhabi Shaikh held a gathering of his friends and allies, which
was attended by Saiyid Hamud-bin-'Azzan, ihe ruler of Sohar, and Saiyid Qahtan-
bin-Saif, Deputy-Governor of Shinas; but Shaikh Maktum of Dibai, who was
invited to present himself for a settlement of his differences with the Ghafalah,
thought it more prudent to excuse himself and sent his brother Sa'id in his room.
1846. In 1846 the whole of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. was involved in war by the ambition
of Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar, whose object still appeared to be the annexation of
Umm-al-Qaiwain and 'Ajman and the crippling of Dibai. The threatened chiefs
combined in self-defence against the Shaikh of Sharjah, who in his turn persuaded
Sa'id-bin-Tahnun, a new Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, unversed as yet in Qasimi duplicity,
to enter with him into a counter-alliance. We are not here concerned with the
conduct of the Umm-al-Qaiwain or of the 'Ajman Shaikh, though the steadfastness
of the former had a strong influence on events, but shall confine our attention to
the dispute between Sharjah and Dibai and its results.
The immediate cause of quarrel was a resolve by Sultan-bin-Saqar to set
limits to the growth of Dibai by building a number of towers at Abu Hail, a place
situated on the coast of his own territory but distant only five miles from Dibai,
which proceeding Shaikh Maktum felt it necessary at all costs to prevent.
Hostilities had scarcely begun, when they were interrupted by the arrival off
Sharjah of a British and Indian naval squadron under the command of Commodore
Sir H. Blackwood, R.N., who urged the combatants to suspend matters until a
reference should have been made to the Resident. To this suggestion they agreed,
but on the departure of the ships Shaikh Sultan immediately broke his promise
and recommenced building at Abu Hail; and Captain Kemball, who arrived in
March 1846 to promote a reconciliation on behalf of the Resident, found war fairly
begun and his own best efforts of no avail.
A day or two after the Assistant Resident's departure the situation was greatly
altered by the death of Saqar, son of the Sharjah Shaikh, who was killed in an
attack on Umm-al-Qaiwain; and, at the request of Shaikh Sultan himself, a truce
for more than 6 months, to the 12th of November following, was mediated by
Commodore Hawkins. On the part of the principal mover in the matter the
observance of this truce was merely nominal, for Shaikh Sultan at once resumed
his building operations and excluded Dibai subjects from Sharjah, besides
instigating the Abu Dhabi chief to insult the Shaikh of Dibai and to harass the
Bedouin allies of Umm-al-Qaiwain; and on one occasion over 20 men of the latter,
belonging to the Ghafalah tribe, were reported to have been butchered in
consequence of his incitements.
On the expiration of the land truce the Shaikhs of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah
again met, and it was decided first to reduce Dibai; but Shaikh Sultan, seized by
a sudden fear lest Shaikh Sa'id should retain the place, if captured, in his own
hands, changed his mind and insisted that Umm-al-Qaiwain should be the first
objective of the combined force.
1847. Hereupon the allies opened separate negotiations with Shaikh Maktiim, their
intended victim, who threw himself into the arms of the Sharjah Shaikh and in
February or March 1847 concluded a peace with him, while with Abu Dhabi he
remained at war. The reason of Shaikh Maktum's choice appears to have been
that Shaikh Sultan now promised to destroy the towers at Abu Hail,—an under
taking which he did not fulfil or even intend to fulfil,—while Abu Dhabi, on the
other hand, pressed upon him a disagreeable condition implying forgiveness of the
obnoxious Bani Qitab.
184^ Matters remained stationary until the 12th of January 1848, when intercourse
between 'Ajman and Sharjah having been but lately resumed, a treacherous attempt
was made by the governor of Sharjah, Shaikh 'Abdullah-bin-Sultan, a worthy son
of his father, to possess himself of the "Ajman fort. The scheme miscarried and
was at once disavowed by the elder Qasimi Shaikh; but the disgust which it excited
was such as to throw the four other Trucial Shaikhs into combination against
Sultan-bin-Saqar and his sons. No active retaliation however was attempted.