"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٢‎٩] (١٧٨٢/٢٧٢)

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m.
itt^ :
expectations, it not his advice, for on the 10th of November 1752 a
Mynheer Scondeiwo.rt arrived from Batavia with a large European
vessel, several assistants and a military guard, and re -established the
Factory on its former footing. On the 23rd of April the grab
"Nancy," belonging to Dutch merchants at Surat, was totally wrecked
near Old Laft between Qishm Island and the main; and most of her
cargo was seized by 'Abdul Shaikh, the native ruler of Qishm.
At this juncture, under the advice of Baron Kniphausen,* a Prussian Occupation
gentleman who had served in the army of his own country and in that of
France and who was now in the employment of the Dutch East India th ^Dutch
Company, the policy of the Dutch in the Persian Gulf suddenly took a Kntpla^Ten"
new departure. The Baron, on his virtual expulsionf from Basrah, 1 - 753 -
where he was Resident, paid a visit to Kharag; finding the place suitable
for a commercial settlement he induced Mir Nasir, chief of Rig, to give
him a letter offering the island to the Dutch East India Company;
and, armed with this document, he proceeded on his way to Batavia,
where he succeeded in persuading the Dutch authorities that the
opportunity of occupying Kharag was one that ought to be embraced.
These events probably took place in 1752. On the 21st of
September 1753 a Dutch vessel, the "Fortune," anchored at Bandar
'Abbas to await B.iron Kniphausen, who was now expected from
Batavia ; another Dutch ship had passed up the Gulf in the preceding
month of June and hid not returned. On the 6th of October the Baron
himself arrived at Bandar 'Abbas in the " Getrouwt," a very large ship,
and remained there taiing in provisions unti Hhe 11th, when he sailed
* The chief authoritus in regard to Baron Kniphausen's life and character, to Lis
expulsion from Basrah ind to the Dutch settlement on Kharag are the following : a
letter from Mr. Wood, tie British Resident at Big, to the Agent and Council at
Bandar 'Abbas, dated 3rd May 1756 (No, LXXYI in Mr. J. A. Saldanha's Selections
from State Papers, Bcmlay) ; Ives's Journey from Persia to England, 1773,
pages 207-25 ; Niebuhr's de VArahie, 1774, pages 278-9. and Voyage en
Arabie, 1776, Vol. II, pages 149-66 ; Five Letters from a Free Merchant in Bengal,
1777, pages 146-52 j andThe Island of Khar ale or Charrack in the Asiatic Journal
for September 1838, pages 23-4. The anonymous writer of the last named article
seems to have confounded Kharag Island with the port of Charak in Shibkuh. Of
Kniphausen it may safely be said that he was able, versatile and energetic ; on the
other points of his chancter no decided opinion can be expressed, but it seems probabU
that he was a liar and a loose liver. The Free Merchant's estimate of the Baron is
vindictively depreciatory; that of Ives is friendly and favourable; the judicious
Niebuhr reserves his opinion, but is apparently not free from suspicions ; and the other
authorities are silent on the personal question.
1" The circumstances of his leaving Basrah are described in the History of Turkish
Iraq, see page 1^7,post,
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