Page 285 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

246 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [ch.

to supply the quantity they required. Hardly

had they received it, than, with an audacity
which could only be paralleled by the weak­
ness which had furnished them with the

means, they commenced an attack upon the
identical vessel, which had treasure on board,

as she lay at anchor; but, under the charge of
a gallant young officer (whose name I regret
being unable to supply), she cut her cable,

and, after a brave defence, succeeded in beat­
ing them off.

I will add two other instances, which ex­
hibit their mode of proceeding when success­
ful in capturing a vessel:—

In 1808, the Sylph, a small ship of only
one hundred tons, proceeding with the Per­

sian Secretary from Bombay to Bushir, was
attacked, off the island of Kenn, by two large
bagalas, each having a crew of upwards of

two hundred men. After a short but despe­
rate conflict, the vessel was carried, and the

Arabs then commenced a deliberate massacre
of the survivors. The work of death, how­
ever, was fortunately arrested by the timely

appearance of His Majesty’s ship Nereid,
whose captain, perceiving how affairs stood,

immediately fired into, and sunk the baga-