Page 146 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

considerable number of large dhows to the pearling banks. The
Shaikh of Linga agreed that his fleet would bring supplies of
dates from Basra to Ras al Khaima, to provide for the defenders
who expected to be besieged there. He also agreed that some of
the pirate ships should join the Linga fleet in order to carry out
piracy at the top of the Gulf, under the protection of the Linga
ships, which were unlikely to be interfered with by the British.
The Shaikh knew how difficult it was for the British to identify
pirate ships when they were not actually engaged in piracy. ‘So
under this deception’, as Loch puts it, the Joasmi would continue
their piratical activities. Much of this information was given to
Bruce by Rahmah bin Jabr, the famous (or infamous) pirate chief
of the Jalahamah tribe, whom Loch met in Bushire for the first
time. Rahmah bin Jabr is mentioned several times on different
occasions in Loch’s diary, but to obtain a more composite picture
of him, all that is known of him has been put together.
In the markets and coffee shops of the coastal towns of the
Gulf, old men still tell stories of the life and death of Rahmah bin
Jabr of the Jalahamah tribe, who was for half a century the im­
placable enemy of the Khalifah Shaikhs of Bahrain. He was one
of the most vivid characters that the Gulf has produced, a daring
freebooter, without fear or mercy. The only other men about
whom one hears the same stories constantly told by the Arabs,
both of very recent times, arc the late King Abdul Aziz Al Saud
and Sir Percy Cox, who served in the Gulf in the first decade of
this century.
Today, young Arabs regard the stories about Rahmah as ‘old
wives’ tales, but the men of the Khalifah family and of the Jala­
hamah tribe, who now live peacefully together in Bahrain, still
think of him as an historical figure. He is one of the few Gulf
Arabs of the early 19th century, who was described by more than
one contemporary eye witness, both Buckingham and Loch met
him frequently, he features prominently in Nabhani’s history
of Bahrain, and is mentioned by several Arab and European
writers.
His career started many years before Loch came to the Gulf,
and it ended, dramatically, some years after Loch had left. He is
said to have begun his life as a horse-coper, with the money which
he made, he bought a boat, and with twelve companions, he
started his career as a pirate. His next venture was a 300-ton
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