"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٤‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٠٠١)

846
sale of
plnndored
British
property in
Balirain,
1819.
Bani Yas
mistaken for
Qawasim in
Bahrain,
1819.
and " Antelope," were despatched to Bahrain for an enquiry into the
matter. The report was not substantiated, but Captain Loch succeeded
in obtaining, by an exchange of prisoners through the Shaikh of
Bahrain, the liberation of 17 Indian women who were held in captivity
by the Qawasim at Ras -al-Khaimah ; and, before his departure from
Bahrain, he persuaded the Shaikh to execute an agreement for preventing
the sale of captured British property in his dominions,—an agreement
which, unfortunately, the Shaikh afterwards treated as if it did not exist.
During his stay in Bahrain Captain Loch received information from
the British Residency Agent, a native, that a squadron of Qasimi vessels
was lying in the " southern anchorage ,J —perhaps Khor-al-Qalai ah ;
and immediately, without paying sufficient attention to the assertions
of the Shaikh and his ministers that the crews were not Qawasim but
Bani Yas, or to the advice of the East India Company^s officers, he sent a
boat expedition under cover of the " Antelope " to take possession. The
vessels, which were boarded and captured after a stout resistance, were
wrecked in being brought out of the anchorage ; the Shaikh of Bahrain
professed great indignation at violation of the neutrality of his port; and
the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, to whom or to whose subjects the vessels were
afterwards proved to belong, made a claim for reparation on the Bombay
Government which, it is believed, was admitted and satisfied in respect
both of property and of lives lost.
Bahrain affairs in connection with the British expedition against
Ras-al-Khaimah, 1819-1820.
British
policy of
neutrality in
regard to
Bahrain.
When in 1819 an expedition was despatched from Bombay against
the piratical stronghold of Ras-al-Khaimah^ the policy of the British Gov
ernment in regard to Bahrain was defined as one of complete abstention
from interference between rival claimants to possession; and it was
resolved to inform the 'Atbi Shaikh that, so long as he restrained his
subjects from piracy, he would reap the advantages of a friendly neutrality
on the part of Britain, whereas, should a piratical spirit manifest itself in
Bahrain, the same measures of coercion would be applied to the 'Utub
as to tht Qa\\ asim. The conclusion with the Shaikh of (e an engagement
similar to that negotiated by Mr. Bruce in the year 1816," which
would . issuk the Utub of the benevolence of British intentions, was also
contemplated by Government. From the general line of action thus
marked out there seems to have been no deviation.