Page 74 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

sailed from the turtle island on Christmas Eve, ‘feasting on turtles,
and enjoying the good messes which we made of them*.
Loch’s first encounter with pirates was early on Christmas
morning. Three strange sails were sighted, one of them in tow,
which was, in itself, a suspicious circumstance. Two of them
were ‘batils’, big, graceful ships, famous for their speed, with
enormous lug or shoulder-of-mutton sails. In the last thirty
years, the batil has become extinct in the Persian Gulf, although
one could occasionally see a batil laid up on shore, falling to
pieces. Arab boat builders have no explanation as to why batils
arc no longer popular, possibly they arc less easily adapted to oil
engines which today arc being used in many of the sailing ships.
‘The superior manner in which the sails were cut and set, as
well as the rig of the masts and the form of the hulls, bespoke
them at once to be pirate vessels. All was now crowded in chase,
they using every exertion to run across our bow, and get before
the wind.’ To increase her speed, the pirate vessel which had a
dhow in tow, abandoned her prize by cutting the dhow adrift.
Loch sent the cutter to take possession of the drifting dhow, a
manoeuvre which was carried out without shortening sail. By
ten o’clock the Eden was within gun range of the pirate ships, when
she opened fire with her starboard guns, but without effect. Then
the wind died down. The sails flapped uselessly against the rig­
ging with every movement of the ship and the Eden could make
no way. The pirates, with their great, light sails made of locally
woven cotton, drew rapidly out of gunshot.
The pirate vessels had many advantages over the heavier, slower
European built men-of-war and merchant ships. They were
faster and more easily handled, and there was nothing about the
weather or the sea which the men who sailed them did not know.
The Arab-built ships were shallower, drawing less water, and
their captains were familiar with all the uncharted islands and in­
numerable shoals and reefs which made navigation on both coasts
of the Gulf so difficult and dangerous. Even when she was
several miles from the shore, the Eden could only proceed slowly,
constantly swinging the lead, and sometimes sending a boat ahead
to take soundings.
Finding it impossible to overtake the pirates under sail, Loch
ordered the boats to be lowered and manned by every available
officer and man, with the object of chasing and boarding the
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