Page 98 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

name of the Lacly and of the ship from which she was taken by
pirates arc not mentioned in Loch’s diary - perhaps such details as
these were not known to the authorities. Loch was extremely
distressed at hearing this news, as lie says: ‘I cannot describe the
feelings I laboured under from the moment I received the intelli­
gence from Bruce of the unfortunate females having fallen into
the hands of those merciless savages. I pictured to myself the
unfortunate wife of one of the officers of the army in Cutcli to be
the person, knowing that several of the vessels which had on
board the baggage and wives had fallen into their hands previous
to me meeting with the first pirates.’ It was decided that the
European Lady and her niece should be rescued from Bahrain.
By chance, there were several ships at Bushirc, forming ‘a very
respectable force’. They consisted of H.M.S. Conway and three
Company’s cruisers, the Benares, Mercury and Antelope. On Feb­
ruary 8 th, Loch in command of the squadron, sailed from Bushirc
bound for Bahrain. The squadron met with dirty weather after
leaving Bushirc, and it was not until the evening of the i ith that
the Eden reached the outer anchorage of Bahrain, after groping
her way through the shoals and coral banks which protect the sea
approaches to the islands.
At daylight on the morning after their arrival, Loch sent
Moffath and the interpreter ashore in the gig, to explain why the
squadron had come to Bahrain, and to ask that someone in
authority should come on board to discuss the matter. Soon
after Moffath’s return, Shaikh Abdulla arrived in his dhow from
Muharraq, leaning against the hard stuffed cushions on the carpet-
strewn deck in the bows of his boat. Loch received him on board
and told him that ‘he had received intelligence which he could not
doubt’, about the European Lady and her niece, and their atten­
dants, having been exposed for sale in the slave market. He gave
the Shaikh eight hours in which to produce the ladies, failing
which ‘unless a satisfactory excuse was produced for not doing
so’ he threatened to destroy all the ships in the harbour. The
Shaikh vehemently protested that there were no Europeans in
Bahrain, and swore that he knew nothing about any European
Ladies and their nieces. He said that he would go back and
‘institute an enquiry’, and if any Europeans were found, they
would be sent on board immediately - in any case, he would
return within the given time. Loch then ordered the Antelope to
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