ME726 - Sketch of the attack on the port of Ras Al Khymar by the British

Captain Forbes

h10" x w13.8"

L

The sketch shows the coastline with some limited hydrography, the position of vessels including the captured Minerva run aground. The town and settlement and the vegetation (fig trees) are all marked along with the position of artillery and batteries. A lettered key and a compass rose is provided. Orientation is to the east. No scale bar is included. A description of the Port of Ras Al Khymar at the time may be found in the annuls of the records of the Bombay Government[1]. The Joasmee (Al Qasimi) dynasty came to prominence in the late 1700s along the Arabian Musandam Coastline with centres in Sharjah to the south west and Ras Al Khaimah to the north east. Increasingly, the first few decades of the 19th centuary the Joasmee tribe had come under the influence of the Wahabee's who were an extremely oppressive and who exhorted much influence over the region. The inhabitants of this little port made their living through harvesting dates, pear diving and maritime trade. This latter 'trade' was at the time, and indeed still is, the subject of conjecture. Where the Joasmee considered it their right to obtain tribute from those who sailed and used the trade routes passing through their territorial waters, the British, as well as the Portuguese, Dutch and French before them, did not. With the increasing significance of the Honorable East India company (with its headquarters in Bombay), in the region along with a growing fleet of rich merchantmen vessels sailing the waters under the Bombay Marine Service flag, tolerance of interference from the Joasmee was, by 1809, unacceptable in the eyes of the British. They used the terms 'extortion' and 'piracy'. Until 1809 the Joamsee had only captured 3 British vessels; Bassein Snow, Viper, Shannon & Trimmer. By 1806 the Joasmee had extended their scavenging campaign as far as India and also briefly captured the Sylph, although she was recovered again quite quickly. It is clear that part of the intentions of the Joasmee tribe was also the bondage of foreign subjects, especially those from India. Indeed, in 1808 the Joasmee captured the British ship Minerva, killing many of the crew and taking in to bondage the remainder including the selling in to slavery of the Abyssinian wife of a British officer. She was, apparently, sold back to the officer later for a small profit. By 1809 the British had had enough. Not least with the Shaikh of Ras Al Khymar who in that year demanded that the British pay tribute to allow British vessels to navigate the waters of the Gulf. In 'Selections from the records of the Bombay Government'[2] it is stated that; 'The British Government, determining to relieve the Imaum from the power of the Wahabees, and to suppress these piracies, an expedition proceeded to the Gulf under the instructions dated the 7th of September 1809. The first operations were directed against Ras-ool-Khyma. The attack commenced by a bombardment during the 12th of November. On the following day, the Joasmees were vigourously attacked by sea and land: after a bloody but ineffectual resitance, they were driven into the interior of their country. The town, with the vessels in port, amounting to upwards of fifty, with the English prize ship the Minerva, were burnt.' Over one hundred Joasmee were killed. Accompanying HMS Chiffon on this mission were Honorable East India Company warships: Arora, Ariel, Fury, Mornington, Ternate, Mercury, Nautalis and Prince of Wales. A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Caroline, was also in attendance. The force was completed by troops from the Bombay garrison, along with engineers and artillery, led by Lt. Colonel Lionel Smith. [1] (No. XXIV New Series, 1856.) Persian Gulf - Extracts from Brief Notes, containing Historicaland other Information connected with the Province of Oman; Muscat and the adjoining country; the Islands of Bahrein, Ormus, Kishm and Karrack; and other Ports and Places in the Persian Gulf – Prepared, in the year 1818, by Captain R Taylor, Assistant Political Agent in Turkish Arabia. Bombay Education Society’s Press. 1856. P15. [2] (No. XXIV New Series, 1856.) Historical sketches of the Joasmee, Uttoobee, Wahabee, Beniyas, Boo Felasa, Eiman and Amulgabine tribes of the Arabs from the Year 1716 to the Year 1853. Bombay Education Society’s Press. 1856. P305.

Sketch of the attack on the port of Ras Al Khymar by the British