Page 171 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

ill, was dragged from his palanquin and butchered, and within a
few minutes, 7 officers and 249 men lay dead or dying on the
field. The remnant of the force fell back with the Sultan’s troops
to a small fort some distance from the Abu Ali stronghold, where
they were able to defend themselves. Meanwhile, some of the
Sultan’s Arabs, having no stomach for more fighting, began to
desert. The Sultan had displayed bravery and gallantry through­
out, and had been wounded while saving an English soldier; when
he found his own people deserting, lie called on them, saying; ‘let
those who arc desirous to do so, leave me to my fate’. His men
rallied, and the survivors of the ill-fated expedition started on
their march to Muscat, bringing with them a number of wounded.
They reached Muscat five days later.
Thompson was left at Kishm for some time, and then, in May
1821, he was taken to Bombay, under arrest, and tried by court
martial. The President of the court was General Lionel Smith
who had commanded the expedition against the pirates in 1809.
Thompson was charged with rashly undertaking the expedition,
contrary to the orders which had been given to him, and ‘dis­
graceful conduct’. He appears to have tried to put the blame
for the disaster on to the conduct of the officers and men under his
command. He was found guilty of undertaking the expedition
contrary to orders, and of making untrue statements about the
conduct of his officers and men, but lie was acquitted 011 the
charge of‘disgraceful conduct*! He was sentenced to be publicly
reprimanded.
The defeat of a British force by Bedouins ‘in which British arms
sustained a disgrace which they never before experienced in Asia’
created a furore both in India and at home. Most people blamed
Thompson for the affair. Wcllstcd, who visited the scene of the
fighting some years later, found it impossible to believe that the
Abu Ali had ever been engaged in piracy, for at that time they
had no boats, they were not sea-faring people and lived inland,
engaged in agriculture, and in looking after their flocks. They
told Wellsted that they had always wished to be at peace with the
English, though not with the Sultan, with whom they were
engaged in a religious war.
In January 1821, a large expedition proceeded from Bombay
against the Abu Ali; this time there were over 1,200 Europeans,
and 1,700 Indian troops, with six guns. Once again Sir Lionel
147