Page 59 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

QasimI Piracy and General Treaty of Peace 49
al-Khaymah, and later also to the Amir at Dir’iyyah. Piratical
warfare, therefore, perpetuated itself, but also advanced the
political and territorial aims of the Qawasim.
At the turn of the 19th century, naturally, the East India
Company had a different perspective. To the Bombay Government
had fallen the responsibility of maintaining the Gulf as one of the
routes to India. The Cape of Good Hope and the Red Sea
dominated the imperial scheme, but the Gulf was part of the mail
route between Western India and Europe. Also, Indian merchants
called upon Bombay to take responsibility for the security of their
ships, which often sailed under British colours. Bonaparte’s
invasion of Egypt in 1798 and the Franco-Russian Treaty of Tilsit
in 1807, followed by intrigues in Persia, appeared to threaten
England’s position in the Middle East. Bombay, therefore, had
always to be wary of outside influence in the Gulf.
The spread of Wahhabi power stimulated Bombay’s interest in
Muscat. Pressured by the Wahhabis on his borders, and by
religious and tribal divisions within Oman, the Ruler of Muscat6 at
first looked to both the French and the English for support. As
British Supremacy became apparent, he turned more and more to
Bombay. For its part, Bombay saw in a friendship with Muscat an
opportunity both to increase Company trade in the Gulf, and to
have a political ally in the area. The British, therefore, disapproved
of QasimI attacks on Muscati ships.
It was with these preoccupations and with only limited resources
that the Bombay Government confronted the specific problem of
QasimI attacks on Company shipping, the first of which occurred
in 1797. In 1806, the British concluded a vague peace agreement
with a QasimI shaykh. After three years they sent a small punitive
expedition against al-$Ir, and later a few British ships attempted to
police the Gulf. None of these measures had sufficient or lasting
effect.
The incidents of a single year may serve as an example. In 1808,
at least twenty native Indian vessels fell victim to the Qawasim. In
the same year four ships of the East India Company were attacked.
The incident which drew most attention was the capture of the
Minerva, a merchant ship owned by the Company’s Resident at
Ba$ra, Samuel Manesty. The Minerva was chased by a large
squadron of QasimI boats, encircled, and boarded. Nearly all the
crew members were ceremoniously put to death.7 The religious
overtones of the executions in this and other instances encouraged
the British to believe that, once the Wahhabis had imposed
themselves in al-$Ir (possibly in 1803 and definitely by 1807®), the
Qawasim had accepted their doctrine with zeal and had been