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31 G HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Wahabees,* early in 1801, retook the island from the Imaum
of Muscat, who had expelled them only a few months
before.
In 1804, Seyyid Sultan met his death at the hands of the
Wahabee pirates off Linjali, while on his return from Bussorah,
to which he had proceeded to receive the annual gratuity, awarded
by the Sultan of Turkey to the successor of the Imaum Ahmed,
who, in the year 1756, raised the siege of that city, then
beleaguered by the Persians. The following were the circum-
stances under which Seyyid Sultan died at the hands of his
traditional foe. He left his frigate, the ' Jinjawar,' off Linjah,
and embarked in a tender, called ' El-Badry,' in order to
proceed through the Clarence Straits to Gombroon. About
midnight of the 19th of November, 1804, according to the
Arabic historian, whose work is translated by the Rev. G. P.
Badger, he was hailed by three boats from Ras-ul-Kbymah, and
it was agreed that they should fight at daylight. The Seyyid
disdaining to flee, connuenced the conflict at dawn, and was
almost victorious when a musket-ball struck him in the mouth
and he expired on the spot. Upon this the enemy overpowered
the crew, but spared their lives.t During his rule, Seyyid
Sultan's brother, Imaum Said, being still alive, he never assumed
the title of Imaum, which, as Palgrave remarks, " is unused in
Oman itself, and belongs to European and not to Arab nomen-
clature." Since the time of Said, son of the Imaum Ahmed,
who founded the dynasty in 1741, the rulers of Oman have
never adopted the title of Imaum, but are uniformly designated
" Seyyid," or lord. Said, the last of the race Avho adopted the
religious title of Imaum, or chief priest, died during the regency
of his nephew, Seyyid Said, between 1811-21, but the latter
never laid claim to the title, and he and his successors always
retained the appellation of Seyyid, in preference to the- religious
prefix, though the English knew him as the Imaum.
On Seyyid Sultan's death his two" sons, Salim and Said,
ruled conjointly, and ultimately, on the death of Salim in 1821,
the younger brother. Said, became supreme, and for fifty years
ruled Oman with prudence and firmness, while he showed his
* The Wahabee chief, Saood the Second, the first patron, and the successful
defender and propagator of the new doctrine, died about 1800, and his son, Abd-
ul-Asiz, at once turned his arms against Xateef, Bahrein, and the Kmgdom of
Oman.
t Fraser, in his narrative of a Journey into Khorassan, says, " While proceed-
ing witli his fleet to the island of Kishm, and thence to E-hameer, to visit the
great sulphur mines, which he received from Persia, he left his ships, five in
number, becalmed between Polior and the Tombs, and got into a boat to proceed
alone, when, night coming on, he was attacked by five Joasmi boats, which
happened to be crossing from the Arabian side to celebrate a wedding at Linga.
The contest was severe, but ended in the murder of the Imaum and his whole
party, and it was the more distressing, as his own ships were near enough to see
the llashes of the guns, though being .becalmed they could have rendered no
assistance, had they even known the danger of their chief."