Page 324 - Records of Bahrain (2) (i)_Neat

Persian and 'I'urkish claims to Bahrain, 1870-1874 315

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Chief of Abootliabco ig a subscribing .party. On the
appearance of the fleet from Abootliabco off Quttur the
Bedouins sued1 for peace. Their fears were calmed, but
merely in order that the Chief of Bahrein might gain time.
His object waa to effect a junction with his ally. This
done, the combined fleets blockaded .the coast, and
pillaged the towns of Wukrah, Biddah, Dolio, and
Dowhali of property estimated to have been worth some
fifty thousand pounds. The people of Guttur in their
despair turned to the Wahabccs for help, but beyond
menaces and preparations for war, no steps were taken
to avenge their wrongs. Meanwhile-the British Resident
•in the Gulf had remonstrated with the Chiefs of
Abootliabco and Bahrein, but had received the most
evasive and unsatisfactory replies. In June 1808
he addressed an ultimatum to the former, saying
that, as no reparation had been made, lie should
shortly visit the Chief of Abootliabco with a view of
compelling him to act up to his engagements. A
similar communication was subsequently made to the
Chiefs of Bahrein. In the course of the same month the
Guttur tribes, having obtained no redress, took the law
into their own hands and attacked Bahrein. In the
encounter which ensued some sixty boats and numerous
. lives were lost. Mahomed bin Khalifa had meantime
sailed with his vessels of war towards the Guttur coast.
14i. Although we were fully alive to the necessity
of taking steps at this juncture to maintain the peace of
the .Gulf, in conformity with the obligations which the
maritimo truce has imposed on us, wo were in the first
instance debarred from immediate action by the in­
adequate naval force which was then at Colonel Belly’s
disposal, and afterwards by the fear of the intense heat to
which the crews of Her Majesty’s vessels would be
exposed. It was not therefore till the first week in
September that Colonel Belly appeared off Bahrein
with' the Sind, the Thigh Bose, the Clyde, and the
Vigilant, to call the pirato Chiefs to account. No
resistance was attempted. Mahomed bin Khalifa, who
wad acknowledged by all tho people of Bahrein to
•have been the instigator of -the late outrages, and
to have forfeited his claim- to'tho title of principal
Sheikh, had fled. : AH bin Khalifa, his brother and
co-Sheikh, tendered his submission unreservedly, agreed
to pay a fine of one hundred thousand dollars, and
4,