Page 66 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

u Part II—Chap. XV.

oountry. Tho town, with the vessols in port, amounting to upwards of fifty,
with tho English prize ship tho Minerva, wcro burnt.
118. Tho Sboikh of Ras-ul-Khimn, in tho most insulting manner had
tho audacity to demand a tributo from the Government to allow British* ships
to navigate tho Persian Gulf in safety.
119. From Ras-ul-Kbima tho armament proceeded to Lingah, whore
twenty dowa were destroyed, the inhabitants abantjoning tho town on the
approach of our ships. Finding no vessels in tho ports of Congoon, Bunder
Mullim, and IComcram, tho armament proceeded to Luft, situated on tho
north side of tho island of Rishm. Tho town was soon takon possession of by
our troops, but the unexpected strength of tho fort, and the desperation with
which it was defended, frustrated every attompt to carry it by storm. All tho
essential objects of the attack wcro however fully attained ; their boats and
dows wore completely destroyed. Tho bombardment having continued, Mulla
Hussein surrendered the place, together with property to tho amount of two
lakhs of rupees, belonging to tho Imam, which, with the fort, were delivered
in trust for the Imam to Sheikh Dervish, tho head of the Beni Naim,
a tribe of Arabs who have always been firmly attached to His Highness.
On the reduction of Luft, the armament proceeded to Maskat. The
commanders of the expedition expressed their readiness to co-operate with His
Highness in tho recovery of any other of his ports. He proposed to accompany
the armament with a considerable force to the attack of Shinas and Rhore
Fakaun.
120. They reached Shinae on the 31st of Decomber. A summons to surrender
being unattended to, it was immediately
A.D. 1809-1810.
; bombarded. The fort, however, being
too distantly situated to be reduoed by those means, the troops were landed,
those of His Highness taking up their ground on the left of the British. A
battery having been raised and completed on the evening of the 2nd of Janu­
ary, a breach was made on the morning of the 3rd. It having been determined
to storm the plaoe, in which a body of four hundrod of the Imam’s troops
was to co-operate, these, considering the movements made by our different
detachments in taking up their stations as moving to the attack, or misunder­
standing their orders, got before the British, and entered tho breach first, but
the moment the British got up, they readily yielded to us the remaining labour
and honour of the day.
121. After a most determined, san guinary and heroic defence on the
part of the Wahabi officer, the fort surrendered, and was given up to the
Imam’s troops, but the fort was so much demolished that His Highness did
not think it prudent to keep possession of it.
122. The Imam having expressed some hesitation on the policy of
attacking Rhore Fakaun, from an apprehension of experiencing a similar
obstinate resistance as was made at Shinas, whioh would render it untenable,
the object was abandoned, as it had no British interest connected with it,
there being no pirate vessels belonging to that port; nor was it doemod
necessary to attack Khor Hassan, as the Dtubis of that place had never
molested the British trade ; the armament accordingly returned to Bombay.
123. The commanders were unable to form a treaty with Ras-ul-Kliima,
Sheikh Sultan their chief having been seized by the Wahabis, and their
Government completely withdrawn ; independently of which no treaty could be
: binding on the Joasmis without the direct authority and participation of Saud
on which tribe they were entirely dependent ; but as the commanders observed,
suoh had been the impression of our operations against the principal pirate
ports, that they succeeded in their demand to destroy all the dows and large
boats of the petty chieftains from jRamse to Abooshegle, on the Arabian side
as well as Mogu, on the Coast of Persia. The Chief of Charrak, not having
any dows of large boats, was admonished to refrain from giving encourage­
ment or protection to future pirates. A similar message was sent to the Chief
of Nakheeloo, with a demand, at the request of the Imaum, for tho release of
Sheikh Jabara of Congun, the friend of tho English. It was not deomed
material to insist on the destruction of traukeys and small boats,— a measure