"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٦‎٨‎٢] (١٧٨٢/٨٢٥)

682
1832.33.
1833.
1834-
Final
outbreak of
piracy
among the
Bani Yas,
1835.
the value of one 'Ajman Batil seized in reprisal by the people of Masqat
had been deducted, made good the balance of the claim by handing
over boats, money, jewels and other property to the required amount.
These events took place in 1832.
In May 1832 a boat belonging to a British subject was taken by
pirates off the Persian Coast; and subsequently three of the principal
offenders, who belonged to the village of Khan in the Sharjah princi
pality, absconded from that place and took refuge with the Shaikh of
Abu Dhabi. The settlement of this case was delayed by other more
pressing demands on the services of the British cruisers in the Persian
Gulf; but in 1833 the chief of Abu Dhabi, on whom the first demand
was served, paid up a fine of $1,500 rather than surrender the criminals.
Shaikh Sultan, from whom $2,000 fell to be recovered, was at first
recalcitrant; but a few shots fired into a Sharjah Batil lying near
.Ajman quickly brought him to his senses.
In 1833 the crew of a Qasimi boat touching at the island of Khargu
carried away a portion of a tent belonging to the British Residency,
which had been transferred to Khargu during the prevalence of plague at
Bushehr; and, as the marauders were well aware of the British owner
ship of the article stolen, the case was treated as one of intentional
insult, and a war vessel was sent in pursuit. The thieves were found at
Muhammareh and brought back with the stolen property to Bushehr,
but were afterwards released at the intercession of the Shaikh of
Bushehr.
In 1834 some members of the Sudan tribe who had recently removed
from 'Ajman to Abu Dhabi attacked a Batil of the Matarish from
Matrah and plundered her of property worth $1,000; no loss of life,
however, occurred. In this case redress was withheld by the Shaikh of
Abu Dhabi, until British vessels, prepared to enforce it, appeared off
his port. In this year the squadron in the Gulf consisted of two
cruisers only, the " Amherst " and the " Elphinstone.""
The year 1S35 was made remarkable by an expiring flicker of the
old piratical spirit, which this time flamed up, not among the subjects
of the Qasimi Shaikh, but in the formerly well-behaved and law-
abiding tribe of the Bani Yas. The outbreak may be attributed
partly to a change of rulers at Abu Dhabi and to dissensions among the
Bani 1 as ; partly to the passions kindled by recent savage wars between
the Shaikhs of Sharjah and Ras-al-Khaimah ; and partly to the weak
ness of the British naval establishment in the Gulf. The Bani fas
pirates placed themselves in the fair-way of the Gulf and began to
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