Arrrr!.. & there be more!
Watch Ye The Waters…
How a Bombay merchant’s letter set off the British military campaign to dominate the Persian Gulf.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the signing of the General Maritime Treaty of 1820. Though little-known today, this agreement between Britain and ten tribal rulers of the eastern Arabian coast was a decisive moment in the modern history of the Persian Gulf, marking the beginning of 150 years of British hegemony over the region.
Since 2014, the Qatar Digital Library has provided online access to a growing number of records from British Library collections that document this fascinating history. This anniversary year provides an opportune moment to consider the treaty that sits at the heart of this history and has left a legacy that endures to the present day.
The General Maritime Treaty was the culmination of several decades of conflict between Britain and the Qawasim (singular Qasimi), an Arab tribe based around the port of Ra’s al-Khaymah. The Qawasim were at the head of a large network of tribes with an expanding influence on both shores of the Gulf. However, their rise brought them into conflict with other local powers, particularly Oman.
This was of serious concern to Britain, which had formed an alliance in 1798 with Oman’s ruler, the Imam of Muscat, Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmad Al Bu Sa‘id (1792-1804). The purpose of this alliance for Britain was to guarantee access to the Gulf.
This was sought partly for its commercial potential, but primarily because the Gulf lay on the main line of communication between Britain and its expanding Indian empire. Official communications from India were regularly taken by ship up the Gulf to Basra, from where they were transported to Europe. Secure access to the Gulf was therefore vital for the British administration in India.
The rise of the Qawasim threatened to upset this arrangement, a fear articulated by British officials in the Gulf. For example, in July 1816 William Bruce, the British Resident at Bushire, reported on the Imam of Muscat’s efforts to challenge Qawasim power in Bahrain. Bruce observed that “if his highness fails in reducing this island to obedience the acquisition of force to the piratical states [the Qawasim and their allies] will be such as to enable them to reduce Muscat if they please, and effectually to cut off all intercourse with the Gulf till such time as we are compelled to destroy them by fitting out an expedition to this quarter”. To officials like Bruce, it was vital for Britain to maintain access to the Gulf, and he advocated the use of force to stop the further expansion of Qawasim power.
British expansion in India brought them into conflict with the Qawasim in other ways. The India Office Records contain many reports from this period of raids carried out by the Qawasim on shipping in the Indian Ocean.
There was a long history of tensions between Arab and Indian trading communities, and it is far from clear that the attacks being attributed to the Qawasim were all carried out by them. Nevertheless, many Indian merchants began to appeal to the British authorities for assistance.
In one petition, received on February 5, 1817, Siv-ji Govind-ji, a merchant writing from Bombay, claimed that his ship had been captured by four vessels owned by the Qawasim (spelt ‘Joasmee’ in the document, below) near its intended destination at Lakhpat in Gujarat, with the loss of most of the crew and cargo. Describing himself as “a subject dwelling under the British protection and colours” he appealed to the British authorities in India for aid.
MORE HERE:
https://scroll.in/article/982029/how-a-bombay-merchants-letter-set-off-the-british-military-campaign-to-dominate-the-persian-gulf
We Be On A Ship….