'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎32r] (68/180)

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The relations of the Shaikhs with one another during the next two years in
Baraimi and Batinah, have been partially described above, and at home no move
ments of importance took place among them. It may be added here that, during
the occupation of Baraimi by Shaikh Sa'id-bin-Tahnun, his relations with the
Sharjah and Dibai Shaikhs were much strained. In July 1848 he required the
former, as his ally, to break with the latter—a requisition with which Shaikh Sultan
merely pretended to comply; and in December the Shaikhs of Sharjah, Dibai,
and possibly 'Ajman combined to recover Baraimi for the Wahhabis, but the force
which they assembled never, apparently, reached its destination.
In 1851, notwithstanding the efforts of Shaikh Maktum to prevent it, peace
was concluded between Shaikh Sa'id-bin-Tahnun and Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar;
but in 1852 Shaikh Sultan, who had interfered in the domestic affairs of the Dibai
principality, found himself confronted by a defensive alliance between the Shaikhs
of Dibai, Abu Dhabi and Umm-al-Qaiwain.
The aggressions of Shaikhs Sultan-bin-Saqar on the small neighbouring
Shaikhdom of Umm-al-Qaiwain, the independence of which, notwithstanding his
repudiation of suzerainty in 1832, he would willingly have destroyed, demand a
short separate notice. In 1839, two inhabitants of Dibai having been slain in the
desert by men of Umm-al-Qaiwain and others who mistook them for members of
the Manaslr tribe, the Shaikh of Umm-al-Qaiwain, 'Abdullah-bin-Rashid, hastened
to tender compensation through the Shaikh of Sharjah, for the share of his subjects
in the deed; but his offer was not accepted, nor was the friendly intervention of
the British Resident productive of any result. A raid was then made by the Shaikh
of Dibai, with the consent of the Shaikh of Sharjah, upon the territory of Umm-
al-Qaiwain; but it ended in the capture of six of the Dibai party by the Shaikh
of Umm-al-Qaiwain, who placed them in confinement and refused to let them go.
Shaikh Saqar-bin-Sultan, son of the Qasimi chief, now openly sided with Shaikh
Maktum of Dibai; and Umm-al-Qaiwain was approached by a joint force, which
after drawing the defenders into the open by a simulated flight, inflicted on them
a loss of 20 killed and many wounded. The affair ended with the release of the six
prisoners and the payment of blood-money in the original case by the Shaikh of
Umm-al-Qaiwain.
On the expiration of the current Maritime Truce in the following year. Shaikh
Sultan-bin-Saqar, who was by no means satisfied with the blow which his son
and ally had dealt to the Shaikh of Umm-al-Qaiwain, made a well-organised effort
to reduce that port. While he himself with 700 Bedouins invested the place by
land, a fleet of 3 Baghlahs and 60 Baqarahs, commanded by Saqar-bin-Sultan and
the Shaikh of Dibai and carrying 1,500 men, proceeded fo blockade it by sea;
but a tower, situated at the entrance, prevented the boats from entering the back
water or creek, without possession of which the blockade could not be made
effective. An entrenchment covering the tower was taken by a landing party of
the Qawasim One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. , but they were beaten back from the tower itself with a loss of 8 men
killed and 40 wounded; and meanwhile the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, with a view to
relieving Umm-al-Qaiwain, had made an attempt to surprise the town of Dibai.
In these circumstances the mediation of the British Resident was gladly accepted
by the parties, and a formal treaty of alliance and friendship was concluded on the
following conditions: that Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar should withdraw his demand
for the destruction of a particular tower protecting the water supply of Umm-al-
Qaiwain; that 'Abdullah-bin-Rashid should compensate the Qasimi Shaikh lor
his loss in skirmishes previous to the siege; and that no fresh fortifications should
be erected by the Shaikh of Umm-al-Qaiwain.
In 1841, encouraged by dissensions between the Qasimi Shaikh and his son
Saqar, Shaikh 'Abdullah-bin-Rashid sounded the British Resident as to the
permissibility of resuming work on certain fortifications, left incomplete at the
time of the siege, upon the sea face of Umm-al-Qaiwain; but the project was
severely discouraged by the Resident as involving a breach of the treaty mediated
by himself. The Shaikh, however, disregarding the Resident's wishes, shortly
proceeded to complete the unfinished towers and even build an additional one for
the defence of the backwater.
Upon this Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar immediately applied to the Resident for
enforcement of the treaty; and in November 1842 the Assistant Resident was
deputed to the coast of Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. to enquire into the case. The Shaikh of
Umm-al-Qaiwain was unable to justify, except as a precaution against treachery
which he apprehended from Shaikh Sultan, his own open and undeniable violation
of the treaty; not only did he refuse to dismantle the new works, but he even
1848-50.
1851-53.
Relations
between the
Shaikhs of
Sharjah and
Umm-al-
Qaiwain,
1839.
1840.
1841.
1842.
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