'File E5. Murder of Sheikh Selman bin Diaij and 25 others on the 3rd December 1900 at Deraya by the Behaih' [85r] (169/252)
The record is made up of 1 file (126 folios). It was created in 12 Dec 1900-19 Feb 1906. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
No. 920, dated Trincomalee, the 26tli April 1903 (Confidential).
From—His Excellency Reab,-Admiral Sie , C. C. Deury, K .C.I .E., Commanding
His Majesty's Naval Forces, East Indies Station,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
In reply to your confidential letter No. 675 E. of the 16tli instant, be
pleased to inform His Excellency the Viceroy in Council that I consider that
the Agreement made with the Sheikh of Bahrein in 1861 to abstain from any
act of aggression or retaliation by sea should still be adhered to, as, if it was
cancelled, complications might easily arise.
2. I would first desire to point out that in my opinion the results
achieved by the use of armed dhows in the Gulf of Aden have not been as
great a success as is generally supposed, and it is a very demoralising service
for officers and men.
3. The best course appears to me to be that I should be informed every
year when the pearl fishery is to begin and end, and I would then endeavour
to arrange for a'gun-boat to police those waters during the time the fishery was
being carried out.
4. If it is decided that an armed
dhow
A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean.
is necessary, I am of opinion
that she should be commanded by a Eoyal Indian Marine officer who would
require a commission from the Admiralty; the vessel would fly the white
ensign and be under the orders of the Naval Commander-in-Chief on this
station, and be a tender to the Senior Naval Officer's ship in the Persian Grulf.
She might be provided and maintained by the Sheikh of Bahrein and
partly manned by his subjects, as his interests are primarily affected, but he
could have absolutely no control over her movements and actions on the high
seas.
5. With regard to paragraph 3 of your letter, the Consul-General ^ at
Berbera has recently bought and equipped two armed dhows, and could give
you all details, so as to enable an estimate of the cost of one to be arrived at.
As far as I am aware, they have each one 3-pounder quick-firing gun.
Two Europeans, one as Captain and one as Mate. The Captain receives £120
a year.
The services of his dhows are confined to the territorial waters of British
Somaliland.
6. The dhows recently employed by the Hoyal Navy in the Gulf of Aden
for the suppression of the arms traffic were hired by us at the rate of Bs. 225
a month, which included the services of the native crew.
The guns, fittings, &c., were supplied by the ships to which the dhows
were attached.
Foreign Office Press —No. 199—12-5-03—60.
About this item
- Content
This file contains correspondence between British officials at Bahrain and Bushire; Captain Oldham on board HMS Lapwing ; Shaikh ‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah, ruler of Bahrain; and the kaymakam (Ottoman governor) of al-Qaṭīf.
These correspondence concern the murder in 1900 of Salmān bin Di‘aj Āl Khalīfah, cousin of Shaikh ‘Īsá, together with some twenty-five others, at the hands of the ‘Behaih’ section of the Āl Murrah tribe while on their annual hawking trip on the mainland of Eastern Arabia at al-Darayah, some thirty to forty miles south of al-Qaṭīf.
The file contains details of the murder itself (folio 7), as well as subsequent dealings with Turkish officials and the Āl Thānī family in order to avert revenge attacks (‘blood feud’) by the Āl Khalīfah family (for example, folio 45) between 1902 and 1906. There are incidental references to the outbreak of plague in the Gulf in 1903 (folio 76).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (126 folios)
- Arrangement
This file is arranged approximately in chronological order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: This file has two foliation numbers in the top right hand of each folio. The primary number is enclosed by a circle and begins on the first page. The secondary number is not enclosed by a circle and begins on the first page of text.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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'File E5. Murder of Sheikh Selman bin Diaij and 25 others on the 3rd December 1900 at Deraya by the Behaih' [85r] (169/252), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/28, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100024001420.0x000033> [accessed 28 August 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/28
- Title
- 'File E5. Murder of Sheikh Selman bin Diaij and 25 others on the 3rd December 1900 at Deraya by the Behaih'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:3v, 6v:14v, 19r:22v, 28v:29v, 30v:95v, 96v:125v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence