The Blood-Red Arab Flag: An Investigation Into Qasimi Piracy 1797-1820

491 Pages·1997·16.112 MB·English

by  Charles E. Davies

THE
B -R
lood ed
A F
rab lag

THE
B -R
lood ed
A R
rab ag
An Investigation into
Qasimi Piracy 1797-1820
CHARLES E. DAVIES
UNIVERSITY
*/
EXETER
PRESS
First published in 1997 by
University of Exeter Press
Reed Hall, Streatham Drive
Exeter, Devon EX4 4QR
UK
© Charles E. Davies 1997
The right of Charles E. Davies
to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with
the Copyright Designs Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 0 85989 509 2
Typeset in Goudy Old Style
by Colin Bakké Typesetting, Exeter
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Short Run Press Ltd, Exeter
People are troubled not by things,
but by their beliefs about things.
EPICTETUS

CONTENTS
Illustrations.........................................................................................................ix
Acknowledgements.............................................................................................x
Preface..................................................................................................................xi
A Brief Chronology of Events.......................................................................xvii
Dramatis Personae.................................................................................... xix
PART ONE: INTRODUCTORY..........................................................1
Prologue...........................................................................................................3
1 Outline......................................................................................................5
2 The Setting.................................................................................... 12
3 The Playets.................................................................................... 24
PART TWO: OF THE EVIDENCE............................................ 61
4 The Question of Piracy.................................................................. 63
A. TABLEAUX
5 Incidents at Sea, in the Years 1797-1819, Which are
Attested by Virtue of Admissions or Possession...................... 71
6 The Most Important Cases of Alleged Piracy by the
Qawasim Against British Vessels................................................. 91
B. PERSPECTIVES
7 Local O pinion.....................................................................................129
8 Cruiser Commanders’ Blunders..........................................................139
9 Off the Indian Coast............................................................................151
vii
THE BLOOD'RED ARAB FLAG
PART THREE: INTERPRETATION.............................................165
10 Preliminary Sketch............................................................................167
11 Political History.................................................................................171
12 The Port of Ras al'Khaima, Her Society and Economy . . 216
13 Some More Piquant Ingredients in Qasimi
Maritime Plunder............................................................................235
Conclusion......................................................................................................271
Afterword: The Motivation behind Britain’s Two Expeditions
Against Ras al'Khaima in 1809/10 and 1819/20 ........................... 277
Appendix A The Qawasim’s Seizures off the Coast of India . . 297
Appendix B Qasimi Voyages to South Arabia....................................315
Appendix C Ras al'Khaima’s War with Muscat, and the
Political Fortunes of the Za’ab and the Tanaij,
1808-1809 ....................................................................... 320
Appendix D Hostilities Between Muscat and the Wahhabis
in the Aftermath of the First Ras al'Khaima
Expedition of 1809/10 ................................................. 326
N otes...............................................................................................................331
Bibliography..................................................................................................420
Index...............................................................................................................429
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
Plates
BETWEEN PAGES 58 & 59
1. Engagement between a down or mote Qasimi vessels and the Honourable Com'
pany’s ship Aurora, which was escorting a baghla laden with treasure for Muscat, near
the Tunbs about early January 1816. Oil painting by Thomas Buttersworth (1768-1842)
2. Arms of the Pirates in the Persian Gulf. Wood engraving of weapons carried aboard
an Arab veswl in the lower Gulf in 1811: 1. Spears 2. Matchlock gun 3. Shields
for the hand 4. Swords 5. Belt for cartridges 6. Khanjar or dagger. (Morier, A
Second Journey)
3. Top: Model of a dow proper. Bottom left: A baghla (c. 300 tons). Bottom right:
A battil (c. 70 tons). All three models exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851,
probably constructed in the Bombay dockyard
4. Cape Atubah (Ormara) in Makran, 1808: depiction of a dow proper. (Morier,
A Journey through Persia ... in 1806 and 1809)
BETWEEN PAOES 122 & 123
5. Island of Ashtola (Astola) in Makran, 1808: depiction of a battil. (Morier, A
Journey through Persia ...in 1806 and 1809)
6. Baghlas in the port of Muscat in the 1830s. (Paris, Essai)
7. Top: Battil under foil sail, Muscat 1830s. Bottom: Fishing badans, a baghla (left)
and a dungiyah (background), Muscat 1830s. (Paris, Essai)
8. Ras al'Khaima, chief port of the Wahhabi pirates. (Watercolour, Lt Col. Charles
Hamilton Smith 1776-1859)
BETWEEN PAGES 218 & 219
9. Ras al'Khaima, with the attack of the HC cruisers, on the evening of the Uth
November 1809. (R. Temple, HM 65th Regt, Sixteen Views)
10. The storming of a large storehouse near Ras al'Khaima, where Captain Dancey,
of HM 65th Regt, was killed, November 13th 1809. (R. Temple, HM 65th Regt,
Sixteen Views)
11. Ras al'Khaima, (tom the south-west, and the situation of the troops at half past
two p.m. November 13th 1809. (R. Temple, HM 65th Regt, Sixteen Views)
12. Top: A view of Linga, from the sea, during the destruction of the dows on
November |17thl 1809. Bottom: A view of Laft, 26th November 1809. (R. Temple,
HM 65th Regt, Sixteen Views)
ix
THE BLOOD-RED ARAB FLAG
BETWEEN PAOES 282 & 283
13. Plan of the attack of Ras al-Khaima by the forces under Sir Wm G. Keir between
the 3rd and 9th of December 1819. (Keir)
14. View of Muscat towns and forts. Undated, delivered to East India Company
Library Oct. 1811. (Watercolour, anon)
15. Three watercolours of Muscat. 1. Jaiali Castle 1822 2. Castle of jaira 1822
3. Town of Muscat 1822. (Lt Col. Charles Hamilton Smith)
16. Bushire. (Watercolour, Lt Col. Charles Hamilton Smith)
Figures
1. Qasimi Seizures off the Coast of India According to Contemporary Records . 157
2. Recorded Captures by the Qawasim in the Gulf, and off the Coasts of
Oman and South A rabia.........................................................................................166
3. The Qasimi Ruling Family of Ras al'Khaim a.....................................................223
4. The Marriages of Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr bin Rashid al'Qasimi......................224
5. The Qasimi Rulers of Linga....................................................................................224
6. The Banu Mu*in Ruling Family of Qishm 225
Tables
1. The Affiliation of Vessels Recorded Captured by the Qawasim in the Gulf
and off O m an...................................................................................................... 169
2. The Affiliation of Vessels Recorded Captured by the Qawasim off
South Arabia . .................................................................................... 170
Maps
1. The Arabian Peninsula and the Region . . xvi
2. The Persian G u lf...................... 14 & 15
3. The North-West Coast of India . . . . 153
4. The Qasimi Ports and the Lower Gulf . 176 & 177
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following illustrations are reproduced by kind permission: Plates 1 (BHC 1085),
6-7. 8 (PAF6142), 9-12 and 15-16 (PAF6143, PAF6154), the National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich. Plates 2 and 4-5 the British Library, London. Plates 13-14
(Oriental and India Office Collections X/3213, X/3211), the British Library, London.
Plate 3 (1926-575. 1926-573. 1880-75), the Science Museum, London.
x