Page 199 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

The Exercise oj Power: British Representatives I (if)

Khalid did not take ihc warning seriously, and a few weeks
later Humayd managed to return. Afraid, his father escaped to
Umm al-Qaiwain. The Senior Naval OfTiccr, Captain Brandon,
at first tried to settle the matter peacefully, going in HMS Cyclamen
to Umm al-Qaiwain, where he hoped to obtain the co-operation
of its ruler. But the shamal winds started, and the Cyclamen was
forced to leave, since its anchorage had become dangerous. The
Residency Agent, however, was successful in negotiating a tentative
agreement with Humayd, who promised to leave Hamriyyah and live
in Sharjah provided he were given an annuity; the final clauses
of the agreement awaited the return of the Cyclamen, which was
urgently diverted to Abadan at the last moment, and instead
appeared at Dubai on 10 April. Brandon found that Humayd
was in Dubai trying to persuade Sa‘id bin Maktum to help him.
Sa‘id told Brandon that he would be willing to go to Hamriyyah
to mediate provided he could have the support of Cyclamen.
Sa'id’s negotiations bore little fruit, so on 12 April, after he had
obtained the requisite permission, Brandon bombed Hamriyyah.
Humayd, intimidated by the second attack in a few weeks, surrendered,
and his father was again reinstated.5 The double bombardment
provides a striking example of the disregard that could be shown for
the official policy of non-interference; aside from its threat to the
economic welfare of the Indian merchants, Humayd’s behaviour had
little relevance to British interests. Of course, he had openly
disregarded the orders of British officers, and for that he had to be
punished.
Another case of gunboat diplomacy occurred in 1925, when Hamad
bin ‘Abdallah of Fujairah, by buying the daughter of a Baluchi
woman living in Muscat, flouted British regulations about partici­
pation in the slave trade. The Political Agent in Muscat, in keeping
with British recognition of Fujairah as part of Sharjah, asked
the ruler of Sharjah for the release of the slave girl. Shaykh Sultan
bin Saqr called on Hamad bin ‘Abdallah to release the slave,
and this brought two replies from Hamad: in the first, he denied
any knowledge of the existence of the girl, and added that the
only superior he recognised was God; in the second, after he could
no longer deny that the slave was with him, he announced that
the girl had died. Pridcaux, the Political Resident, would not allow
the matter to rest there. He was not concerned with Hamad’s
insubordination to the ruler of Sharjah, but rather with the fact
that the regulations about the slave trade had been disre­
garded.
Accordingly, Prideaux arranged to visit Fujairah in April 1925.
He travelled in RIMS Lawrence, which anchored ofF Gharayfah;
the Resident’s flag was then hoisted, and ‘Isa bin ‘Abd-al-Latif,