Page 106 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

96 Arabian Studies IV
Wahhabis, and their supporters, would render a continuance in the
Red Sea impracticable to any fleet except her own by cutting all
the necessary supplies,48 for Kamanin provided not only an
excellent harbour but was the sole known source of fuel, fresh
water and provisions in the southern Red Sea.49 With a view to the
occupation of the island, France came to terms with a Wahhabi
agent, Sayyid Muhammad ‘Aqil, a man of immense wealth with
properties at Muscat, Jeddah, Mirbat and al-Mukha.50 By this
alliance the French position in the Red Sea would have been
greatly strengthened for most of the Yemeni coast was held by the
Sharif of Abu ‘Arish or the governor of al-Hudaydah and Bayt
al-Faqlh, both of whom were pro-Wahhabi.51 French ambitions
seemed to be advancing favourably: in September 1805 Wahhabi
dhows were swarming around Kamanin.52 Two months later
rumours reached British ears of a visit to al-Luhayyah, then under
the authority of the Sharif of Abu ‘Arish, by Muhammad ‘Aqil in
the company of three Frenchmen. The latter presented the Sharif
with presents said to be worth 4,000 Maria Theresa dollars in
return either for permission to establish a factory on Kamaran, or
for the outright purchase of the island. The three officers were also
said to have surveyed Qunfidhah and al-Hudaydah.53 Muhammad
‘Aqil next turned his attention to the fortification of Kamaran on
behalf of France but the greed of Muhammad ‘Aqil and British
fears for the safety of the route to India foiled French ambitions to
establish themselves on the island. In 1806, an American vessel, the
Essex, was seen off Kamaran and Muhammad ‘Aqil offered to
place his slaves at the disposition of the Essex to guide it to
al-Luhayyah.54 Once on board, however, Muhammad ‘Aqll’s slaves
murdered Captain Carter, seized the 60,000 dollars on the ship and
then scuttled it. When news of this action reached Bombay two
vessels were despatched to seize Muhammad ‘Aqil and drive his
men from Kamaran, but as he received intelligence of the
approach of the two East India Company’s vessels under Captain
Seton, he abandoned the island. Seton visited al-Luhayyah where
he was given assurances from the Sharif that France would be
excluded from Kamaran.55 French hopes for the control of the Red
Sea were further annihilated by the discovery of the Dahlak and
other islands on the western shore of the Red Sea from where the
East India Company’s vessels could obtain provisions.56

Wahhabi‘Asm and Yemeni attempts to control Kamaran,
1804-9
Kamaran remained under the control of the pro-Wahhabi Sharif of