Page 47 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

the lady shortly before young Claudius Rich, with his eighteen-
year-old wife arrived in Basra in 1808. Rich, aged twenty-one,
was on his way to Baghdad to assume the post of Resident. When
Manesty suggested that Mrs. Rich should call on ‘Mrs. Mancsty’,
young Rich was most indignant, describing the lady in a letter
to his father-in-law as a ‘dirty Armenian drab’. When Mancsty
retired a few years later, lie proceeded home by the overland route
with a cavalcade like that of an Oriental monarch. But a few
years after lie retired to England as a Nabob, lie lost his fortune
and committed suicide, leaving the unfortunate Armenian lady
and a large family to fend for themselves.
Shortly afterwards, the Company’s ship Fury was attacked, but
the pirates were driven off. On reaching Bombay, the Captain
was severely reprimanded for having fired on the pirates. Cap­
tains had been ordered not to open fire until fired on, consequently
by the time a British ship was surrounded by pirate dhows, she
had little chance of defending herself. Two more ships, the Morn-
ington of 24 guns, and the Tcignmouth of 18 guns, were attacked
but they managed to get away. There was a feeling of intense
frustration among the officers and men of the Company’s ships.
In 1806, the Bombay Government made a long overdue attempt
to deal with the pirates, partly in response to appeals from the
Sultan of Muscat, who had never ceased campaigning against
them. When the news of the expedition was known to the
Shaikhs of Bahrain and Kuwait, they asked the British to guaran­
tee them protection against the Wahabis who had so much control
in these places that the Shaikhs were afraid of being forced to take
part with the pirates. Their requests were refused. It is inter­
esting to consider what might have been the ultimate outcome in
the Gulf if these two states had become British protectorates.
Reluctantly, the Government despatched a naval force to combine
with the Sultan’s forces against the Joasmi pirates. Kishm Island
was blockaded, and Sultan bin Seggar, Chief of the Joasmi, sued
for peace. In February 1806, a treaty was concluded at Bundar
Abbas, which laid down that the Joasmi Chief and his people
‘would respect the British flag and the property of the Honorable
East India Company’, and it was also agreed that the pirates would
restore the property which they had taken and would assist any
British vessels which might be driven on to the Pirate Coast.
This treaty was made without reference to the Wahabis. For
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