'14/169 Differences between Shaikh Rashid of Um ul Kowein and his brother Naser bin Ahmad, June 1912 to 22 Jany 1917' [‎129r] (266/447)

COM F1D ENTIAL .
No. 899, dated Bushire, the 28th March (received 6th April)
\
From— Major S. G. KNOX, C.I.E, Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian
Gulf,
To— The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreio-n and
Political Department, Simla, 0
In continuation of correspondence ending with your telegram No. D. S .-136
dated 5th March 1914, on the subject of bombardment of' Umm-al-Qauvain, I
have the honour to report that I embarked on board H. M. S. " Fox " on the
evening of the 15th March and reached Farur Island on the morning of the 17th
March, where we met H. M. S. "Odin," who, according to arrangements pre
viously concerted, transferred to us Khan Bahadur Abdul Latif, Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent,
Sharjah ; and, after H. M. S. " Fox" had taken over her mails, we proceeded
to Umm-al-Qaiwain, arriving there on the morning of the i8ih March.
2. The morning was misty and it was not until noon of the rSth that I was
able to despatch the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent to the shore bearing a letter from
myself to Shaikh Rasid bin Ahmad. This letter was of the nature of an
ultimatum and a translation is enclosed and forms Appendix A to this report.
The Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent returned about 4 p.m. and reported that, at first,
the Shaikh showed no inclination to open the letter but the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Agent insisted and finally read the letter to the Shaikh. He then asked
if the Shaikh, proposed to send a reply by him but the Shaikh said that
that could wait and that it did not matter. The Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent then
said that he had my instructions to say that I was willing to see the Shaikh or
an important member of his family on board H. M. S. "Fox," but the
Shaikh refused either to go himse ! f or send a deputy, saying that he was
afraid. Finally, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent stated that the Resident had business in
Lingah and did not propose to wait at Umm-al-Qaiwain until the expiry of the
period named in the ultimatum but that H M. S. " Odin " would lie off Umm-
al-Qaiwain all I hursday and that, if the Shaikh thought better of his attitude,
he could pay the money demanded to her Commander. In all this, the Resi
dency Agent simply carried out the instructions given to him verbally by myself
before he left the si.ip. As soon as he re-embarked, H. M. S. " Fox" steamed
away to Lingah, where the next day, Thursday, the iprh March, was spent in
ordinary inspection duty and consulting His Majesty's Vice-Consul. Lingah,
about the affairs of that town.
' s
3 I have omitted to mention that Khan Bahadur Abdul Latif, still in
accordance with his instructions, conveyed a warning to Brit'sh subjects, two
Bunniahs, of the danger in which the town stood, and directed them to convey
themselves and their families and belongings to the neighbouring village of
mmariyah.
4. H. M. S. " Fox" again reached Umm-al-Qaiwain shortly after daybreak
on Fnday morning and was met there by His Majesty's Ships " Dartmouth " and
Odin." The Commander of the latter delivered to me a letter, which had been
sent to my address on board H. M. S. " Odin " the day before. A translation
cf this letter accompanies this report and is marked Appendix B. Its terms were
not considered satisfactory, and I informed the Senior Naval Officer of "ts con-
ents and that it was now for him to take charge of the situation.
5- * ne objective selected for the first bombardment was a large tower stand-
HJS P^G^ically on the beach and some little distance from the rest of the town,
us tower was roughly 90 feet high and surmounted by a flagstaff, on which
o^ever no flag was flying. The usual red flag was seen flying from the Shaikh's
jf si e ^ c 6 and, round the base of the tower, were clustered a few date huts and,
0 ugh many people could be seen trekking off in the direction of Hamariyah,
or any people still remained going backwards and forwards from these
same huts. It was understood that the tower was empty which, however, from
a er r ®P 0r ts, proved not to be the case but, in order that the people might be
^arned, an attempt was made by the Captain of H. M. S. " Fox" to get into
nication, through the ship's interpreter, with some of the fishing smacks
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