Page 161 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

few minutes until this was rectified. If this had not happened, a
hundred men would have lost their lives. Boats from the Liver­
pool now joined those of the Eden, and gave chase to the pirates
whose ships were driven ashore under the town walls, but the
men on board them were able to escape and join the defenders.
When the boats returned, the Eden ran out into deep water, and
anchored near the Liverpool leaving the pirate vessel burning on
the beach, its flames lighting up the walls of the town from which
the disappointed defenders looked down.
The Sultan arrived on December ist with his squadron of three
large ships, and the troops which he had arranged to provide when
he discussed the plans of the campaign with Sadlicr. Several
thousand of his Arab troops were to operate from the land,
marching up through the mountains from Muscat, but they took
longer to arrive than had been expected, and it was not until after
the town had fallen that they made their appearance. Loch was
much impressed by the seamanship of the officers of the Sultan’s
navy.
‘It was natural to suppose that, in a nation so rude and so little
accustomed to manage ships of any sort, to say nothing of ships
of war, that there would be great irregularity, and much noise on
board them. Indeed, the general supposition among us was that
they would hardly have been able to manage them at all. But
judge of our astonishment, when the ship, on board which the
Imam was, ranged close under the stern of the Liverpool, saluting
her with fifteen guns, with as great precision of time between each
gun fired as was possible. Every stitch of sail was then shortened
at once, and in an incredibly short time, they were furled, and the
anchor let go, all without hearing a word except the orders which
were given, and as well done, as many of our crack ships of war.’
Next day, the Curlew and the other ships of the expedition
arrived, and Loch was given detailed orders about the landing of
the troops. He was in command of the landing operations, which
began before dawn on December 3rd, in fine, cold weather. The
boats, loaded with troops, moved in a long line towards the beach,
with gunboats, under the command of Captain Walpole, on the
flanks. As they drew near the shore, at dawn, guns from the
ships opened fire on the town, distracting the attention of the
enemy who probably expected the landing to be made nearer to
the town. There was no opposition, ‘in a crack, all were landed
i37