Page 165 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

During the previous night, under cover of darkness, the enemy
had thrown up trenches and earthworks a short distance in front
of the attackers* lines. The weather changed, it became cold and
rainy and, oil the 8th, torrents of rain descended. The rain did
not affect the guns, which were heated by constant firing, but it
damped the muskets and small arms of the troops. ‘This was the
moment when the pirates thought it a favourable opportunity to
sally forth in another sortie.’ The attack was beaten off, two of
the Liverpool's 24-poundcr’s which had been brought ashore, came
into action, with grape shot and canister, and the troops whose
muskets were usable opened fire. The pirates retired into the
town, again with considerable loss. By the evening, the shore
guns had made a breach in the wall.
During the night of die 8th, there were parleys between the
General and the agent of Shaikh Hassan bin Rahmah, the Chief
of the Joasmi, about the surrender of the town. But it appeared
that the object of the pirates was to gain time, and no agreement
was reached. Loch suggests that the defenders had already de­
cided to evacuate Ras al Khaima and wanted to prevent any more
shelling until the tide was so low that they could leave the town
by crossing the creek, and so gain access to the mainland. The
shelling of the town was continued with renewed vigour.
The end of the operations came suddenly, and was a complete
anti-climax. At dawn on the 9th, ‘a number of black specks
were seen ascending the breach in the citadel*. They were a small
party of marines and troops, under Captain Marriat, one of the
General’s A.D.C.s. They stormed the tower and gained posses­
sion of it, and soon the Union Jack was flying on the top of the
battlements. The pirates had left the tower when ‘the Forlorn
Hope’, as Loch calls them, made their attack, and only one of the
defenders remained. He did some execution by shooting at the
troops with his matchlock through the loopholes, until he, too,
finally escaped into the town.
As soon as signals were visible, the Company’s ship Aurora,
which was anchored off the eastern point of the town, signalled
that the inhabitants of Ras al Khaima were leaving the town from
the inland side, crossing the creek which the British did not know
was fordable on foot. The crossing of the ford put in Loch’s
mind the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. The fall of the
citadel was the signal for a frantic rush by the inhabitants who,
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