Page 101 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

principals on board. This class of vessel is from two to five
hundred tons burden.’
‘The other vessel was a batil, having a crew of 70 to 100 men,
and some 60 to 70 tons burden: she was a beautifully built vessel,
and sailed remarkably fast. The baggala has an enormous mast,
as large as a small frigate, stepped one third from the stern, raking
forward, with a mizzen mast abaft. On the main mast is hoisted
a prodigious sail, the yard of which is equal in size to a 36-gun
frigate. The sail of the batil is larger in proportion, having but
one mast stepped one third forward. I had models of these
vessels made, when I was in Bushirc, and presented them to the
Museum of the College of Edinburgh.’
The batil and the baggala were too badly damaged to be taken
in tow, so Loch decided to give them to the Bahrain Shaikhs, in
return for their - unwilling - co-operation. Before Loch left,
Shaikh Abdulla agreed that, in future, he would never allow any
British subjects, either Europeans or Indians, to be brought to
Bahrain for sale as slaves, at the same time, he once again assured
Loch that no Europeans had ever been offered for sale in Bahrain.
Loch then asked the Shaikh if he would agree to be a mediator
between the British and the Joasmi, to arrange for an exchange of
prisoners. The prisoners who were held at Ras al Khaima were
to be exchanged for pirates who had been sent for confinement
in Bombay. In this matter, too, the Shaikh acceded to Loch’s
request. Subsequently, an exchange was arranged, and some
Indian women, wives of Indian soldiers, were exchanged for some
of the pirates. After completing his business with the Shaikh,
Loch returned to Bushirc.
But this was not the last of the affair of the European Lady and
her niece. On arrival in Bushire, Loch’s friend Bruce again in­
sisted that, in spite of what the Shaikh and the Banian had said
‘there was yet a report of the women being concealed in Bahrain’,
so ‘to set the matter at rest’ (although it is difficult to understand
how the subsequent action was calculated to do so), a number of
trading vessels from Bahrain, which happened to be in Bushire
harbour on their legitimate business, were taken possession of by
the British. Their captains were taken on board the Benares, who
proceeded with the Company’s cruiser Vestal to Bahrain where
the captains were displayed as proof that their ships were in the
possession of the British. At the same time, Bruce wrote a letter
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