'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎32v] (64/344)

44
Part II—Chap. XV.
country. The town, with the vessels in port, amounting to upwards of fifty,
with the English prize ship the Minerva, were burnt.
118. The Sheikh of Ras-ul-Khima, in the most insulting manner, had
the audacity to demand a tribute from the Government to allow British ships
to navigate the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in safety.
119. Prom Ras-ul-Khima the armament proceeded to Lingah, where
twenty dows were destroyed, the inhabitants abandoning the town on the
approach of our ships. Finding no vessels in the ports of Congoon, Bunder
and Homer am, the armament proceeded to Luft, situated on the
north side of the island of Kishm. The town was soon taken possession of by
our troops, but the unexpected strength of the fort, and the desperation with
which it was defended, frustrated every attempt to carry it by storm. All the
essential objects of the attack were however fully attained ; their boats ard
dows were completely destroyed. The bombardment having continued, Mulla
Hussein surrendered the place, together with property to the amount of two
lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , belonging to the Imam, which, with the fort, were delivered
in trust for the Imam to Sheikh Dervish, the head of the Beni Nairn,
a tribe of Arabs who have always been firmly attached to His Highness.
On the reduction of Luft, the armament proceeded to Maskat. The
commanders of the expedition expressed their readiness to co-operate with His
Highness in the recovery of any other of his ports. He proposed to accompany
the armament with a considerable force to the attack of Shims and Rhore
Fakavn.
120. They reached Shin as on the 31st of December. A summons to surrender
a n isoq - i sin being unattended to, it was immediately
bombarded. The fort, however, being
too distantly situated to be reduced by those means, the troops were landed,
those of His Highness taking up their ground on the left of the British. A
battery having been raised and completed on the evening of the 2nd of Janu
ary, a breach was made on the morning of the 8rd. It having been determined
to storm the place, in which a body of four hundred of the Imam's troops
was to co-operate, these, considering the movements mane by our different
detachments in taking up their stations as moving to the attack, or misunder
standing their orders, got before the British, and entered the breach first, but
the moment the British got up, they readily yielded to us the remaining labour
and honour of the day.
121. After a most determined, san guinary and heroic defence on the
part of the Wahabi officer, the fort surrendered, and was given up to the
Imam's troops, but the fort was so mueh demolished that His Highness did f
not think it prudent to keep possession of it.
122. The Imam having expressed some hesitation on the policy of
attacking Khore Fakaun, from an apprehension of experiencing a similar
obstinate resistance as was made at Shinas, which would render it untenable,
the object was abandoned, as it had no British interest connected with it,
there being no pirate vessels belonging to that port; nor was it deemed
necessary to attack Khor Hassan, as the Utubis of that place had never
molested the British t v ade ; the armament accordingly returned to Bombay,
123. The commanders were unable to form a treaty with Ras-ul-Khima,
Sheikh Sultan their chief having been seized by the Wahabis, and their
Government completely withdrawn ; independently of which no treaty could be
binding on the Joasmis without the direct authority and participation of Saud
on which tribe th(y were entirely dependent; but as the commanders observed,
such had been the impression of our operations against the principal pirate
ports, that they succeeded in their demand to destroy all the dows and large
boats of the petty chieftains from Ramse to Ahooshe'/le, on the Arabian side
as well as Mogu, on the Coast of Persia. The Chief of Charrak, not having
any dows of large boats, was admonished to refrain from giving encourage
ment or protection to future pirates. A similar message was sent to the Chief
of Nakheeloo, with a demand, at the request of the Imaum, for the release of
Sheikh Jabara of Congun, the friend of the English. It was not deemed
material to insist on the destruction of trankeys and small boats,— a measure