Page 267 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

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from the Straits Settlements to the Red Sea were systematically overcrowded,
in violation of the provisions of Act XXI of 1858, and he suggested that
cruisers should be stationed off the Babel Mandeb Channel to search any vessels
sailing under British colours, so as to ascertain whether the passengers on board
were in excess of the number sanctioned by law. To this proposal the Govern­
ment of India replied that it had no vessels for this duty, even if it were
expedient so to employ them.
8. During the same year repeated applications were made by the Political
K«'p-\*iih to Political ProcceJm-j, December Agent for the permanent retention of a
1865, N01.181 90. man-of-war at Aden, for the control of the
tribes in the neighbourhood, and especially of the predatory Foodhlees, who, it
was thought, could best be coerced from the sea-ooard. The urgency of the
case was again pressed upon the Secretary of State by the Government in the
Office Memorandum from Home Department, Home Department, and in August 1866
No. 35sa, dated9th August i860. an answer was returned that the Lords of
the Admiralty could not undertake to keep a ship constantly on the station, but
that the spot should be visited as often as was compatible with the other duties
of the squadron.
9. Towards the end of 1865 a body of Wahabees made an inroad upon
Sohar and other places under the dominion
Political Proceedings, March 1806, Nos. 174-88.
of the Sultan of Maskat, and it was
necessary for the Resident to decide quickly what mode of punishment should
be adopted. Colonel Pelly himself was in favour of blockading the YVahabee
ports of Ojair and Katif, and the intermediate Island of Demaum, on which
were fortifications commanding Katif. In putting this plan into practice,
however, there was this difficulty, that the time of the Highflyer, the only vessel
available in the Persian Gulf, was limited, and both Captain Pasley, who comman­
ded her, and the Resident were disinclined to initiate operations which they could
not be sure that it would be convenient to carry to a conclusion. “ To act other­
wise, ” remarked the latter, " would be to confirm the impression already too
prevalent of our absence of naval power, and would leave our ally, the Sultan,
more thairever liable to YVahabee aggression.” It was therefore thought wiser
in the end to attack Katif and Demaum after giving time to the offenders to
make satisfaction had they chosen to do so, but from want of sufficient force
the measures taken were not wholly successful. In repotting the results of the
Highflyer's cruise to the Government of Bombay, the Commodore took occa-
- . f , .. . .. sion* to point out the benefit which
the*e proreedi .3-1, ex ires?ej in opinion tint Captain rasley might have derived had
Coioi.e Peily certainly ought «o have «a.‘c«i with he been accompanied by Colonel Pelly.
Captain raslcy, or if ms pretence at •*iirs!.at was 0 r r) l y • i
imperative, that tie attack on Pc.naum, when a 1 he VjOVemor Ot DOITlbay Was impressed
#hou,d h“Te bee,‘ with the justice of the remark, and in a
v Poiiticai Proceed-ngs April i865. Nos 1.3. Minute dated February 24th, 1866, record­
ed his sense of the disadvantages under which captains of Her Majesty’s ships
cruising in the Persian Gulf laboured for want of officers acquainted with the
local politics, the habits and feelings of the maritime tribes, and the navigation
of this difficult arm of the sea. As the Resident was not able on every occasion
to be present with an expedition, he therefore suggested the propriety of having
a class of officers to act as sailing masters and interpreters in the Gulf or
elsewhere on the Arabian Coast, and to be at the disposal of Her Majesty’s
ships whenever their services were required. Mr. B. H. Ellis, in a Minute on
the same subject, recommended that the evil should be remedied by increasing
the strength of the Political Staff in the Persian Gulf, and leaving the duty of
navagating Her Majesty’s ships to skilled Arab pilots. In this view the Gov­
ernment of India coincided, and two assistants were subsequently allowed to
Colonel Pelly.
10. There are several indications that in the disturbances which were rife
at Maskat after the death of Syud Thoweynee in the spring of 1866, the local
authorities were put to great straits for want of adequate naval force on the
first outbreak, when the property and even the lives of British subjects were in
greater danger. The Berenice, an armed
Political Proceedings, March 18G6, Nos. 191-93.
steamer was the only craft on which the
Christian families resident at Maskat could take refuge, and she had to start
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