"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٥‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٤١١)

eommsaaSSSSS^M
the belligerents,—an omission which may have been due to want of time
but which was mere probably dictated by the attitude of the Turks, the
iigreement with whom he was about to violate by leaving while the town
still held out.
Ihe descent of the river began at noon on the 11th of April; and the
officers of the fleet, which consisted of the Eagle/' the " Success/' the
lashas two ketches, and the two Turkish Gallivats, were apparently
allowed to suppose that only an attack on the Bushehr fleet was medi
tated, after which the ships would return to Basrah. About three in
the afternoon 12 Gallivats and 13 armed Trankis, the latter carrying
stoies for the Persian army, were sighted at anchor about three miles
below the first island; at -1 p.m ., the Persians having weighed, their
principal Gallivat fired a shot at the " Eagle/' on which the Agent and
the members of his Council were passengers; and immediately thereafter
a cannonade, seemingly directed at the two British ships, was opened by
the other Gallivats. At half past four the " Eagle/' on arriving within
suitable range, replied with a broadside; the Success " followed her
example ; and soon afterwards the Persians began to retire down a narrow
reach of the river, assisted by a strong ebb tide, firing as they went, and
pursued by the a Eagle " and " Success," which kept them in play with
such guns as could be brought to bear upon the alternate tacks. The
Pasha's ketches and Gallivats could not keep up with the British vessels,
and the ketches twice went aground. About half past five the "Success,"
hit h had already been struck three times, sustained some additional
age by having a ^aid-arm shot away, two gun-ports broken in, and
two shot lodged in her starboard side. A little later the Persians took to
flight, the faster ships among them helping the slower to escape by
towing them, and at 6 p.m . they anchored in shoal water close to the
Persian bank of the river. The " Eagle " and - Success " then took up
positions abreast of them, as near as their draught of water would allow,
and an artillery fire began at no great range, supplemented on the side of
the British by musketry; this continued until dark, when both comba
tants desisted simultaneously as if by mutual consent. Not one of the
Pasha s vessels got near enough to fire a single shot during this
engagement at close quarters, nor did any of them anchor until it was
t is a remarkable fact that, in the whole day's proceedings,
no one was Killed or even wounded on board the u Eagle" or the
uccess, and it is believed that the Persians likewise escaped