'Précis of correspondence regarding the affairs of the Persian Gulf, 1801-1853' [‎106r] (211/344)

Part VI—Chap. XLII.
191
332. The Joasmi Chief superseded his brother Salehin the Oovernment of
Shargah, and appointed in his place his son, Saggar bin Sultan; a change
which was viewed with some dissatisfaction hy the British authorities^ the
former being by them considered one of the most enlightened and intelligent
Arabs on the coast, who had ever laboured to check the predatory spirit of his
countrymen, and maintained a continued cordial understanding with the
British Agent, Mulla Hussein, residing at this port.
333. Two piracies were in 1838 committed by two Joasmi subjects,
named Sultan bin Sohar and his brother Mahomed ; the former attended with
the murder of several persons, and the plunder of much property, to the north
of the Gulf, upon a boat belonging to Karrack, having on board a wealthy
subject of Chaab, who had fled Mohammerah on its attack and capture by Ali
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Bagdad, and was now on his return ; the other on a Batinah boat off
Ras-ul-Hud. Sultan bin Sohar was after some time discovered and seized at
Lingah, and placed at the disposal of the Resident, who sent him to Sheikh
Samur, the Chaab Chief, to be dealt with as he might think proper ; the other
Mahomed took refuge at Ejman, but, as a subject of Sultan bin Saggar, was
upon demand subsequently given up by that Chief, together with the Nakhoda
of the pirate vessel. As the first of these had suffered severely from his con
finement in chains at Shargah, he was released, together with his fellow-prisoner
on their furnishing a bond to pay the sum of 100 crowns.
334. Alarmed at the threats held out against them by Sheikh Samur, the
Governor of Cbaab, in consequence of the piracy committed on the Karrack
boat, having on board one of his most wealthy subjects and firmest
adherents, by Sultan bin Sohar, the Joasmi Chiefs of Lingah and Ras-ul-
Khima, despatched their boats in a body, forming unitedly a fleet of
twenty-two sail, in order that, in paying their annual visit to Basrah, they
might be prepared to repel force by force. On their arrival at Bushire, the
Besident addressed a letter to the Sheikh of Chaab, deprecating any interference
or molestation on his part towards the Joasmi boats, on the grounds that
neither Sheikh Sultan bin Saggar nor his subjects had the slightest concern in
the piracy on the Karrack boat, and that Sheikh Syud bin Guzib had done
all in his power to forward justice, inasmuch as he had, at great trouble and
expense, seized and given over the perpetrators. The misunderstanding was
thereby amicably arranged, to the satisfaction of both parties.
335. Shaikh Sultan bin Saggar, after various unsuccessful attempts by
land against the Shihayin tribe, residing
a.d. 1839, Kumza, and Ras Mussendom,
resolved to despatch a naval force to blockade their ports, and thus briug
them under control. Although the Shihayin were completely enclosed on
the land side by the territories of the Joasmi Chief, whose alleged authority
over them was admitted by Sis Highness the Itnayn to the British authorities
in the Gulf in 1836, yet that tribe had long continued to maintain a sort of
independence, and, keeping up a friendly intercourse with Maskat, to exhibit
little disposition to submit to the claim of supremacy advanced by the Joasmi
Chief.
336. The immediate cause of the present quarrel arose from the trea
cherous surrender of one of the Shihayin forts to the Naib of Sheikh Sultan,
residing at Dubba, who immediately dismantled it. Skirmishes and predatory
inroads on either side were the consequence, until the Joasmi Chief, finding
that he could make no impression by land, meditated the adoption of the
measures before alluded to.
Alarmed, however, at the rapid successes of the Egyptians, and their tool
Amir Khalid, he relinquished his hostile intentions against the Shihayin, and
both parties being thus equally averse to war, amicable arrangements were
quickly concluded, through the means of an envoy from himself.