'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎26] (45/622)

26
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Campbell ■ took the 4 Hugh Lindsay/ which drew only eleven
feet of water, close in to the beach at Ras-ul-Khyinah, to the
amazement and dismay of the inhabitants who had never before
seen a steamer, while no ship of war had ever been able to lie
within the sand banks off that place. Thence she proceeded to
the other piratical ports and the small khors, or inlets, in
Amalgavine, Sharjah, and other places, where the moral effect
produced by her appearance had a most salutary influence.*
The twelve months' truce was extended from year to year, and
only on one occasion did the old spirit manifest itself. This
was in April, 1840, when Sultan bin Suggur, immediately
on the expiry of the term, attacked the Amalgavine chief by
sea as w 7 ell as by land, and was on the point of capturing the
place when the timely appearance of a sloop-of-war with the
Commodore and Eesident on board, forced him to withdraw
his naval force.f
At length, with the consent of all parties, on the 1st of June,
1843, the annual maritime truce was superseded by one for ten
years, and finally, through the mediation of Captain Kemball, a
few days before the expiration of this truce, a " Perpetual
Maritime Treaty of Peace,'^ dated the 4th of May, 1853, was
agreed to, and since that date, piracies in the Gulf have been
of rare occurrence, though naturally with such truculent and
combustible material as is inherent in the Arab character, slight
cases of aggression, occasionally accompanied by bloodshed,
have almost annually occurred upon the pearl banks, which it
was customary for one of the smaller cruisers of the Indian Naval
Squadron to visit during the season of the fisheries, A close
system of surveillance has always been maintained, and annually
the chiefs were visited, and if no depredations had been com-
# The 4 Hugh Lindsay,' having landed Captain Hennell at Bushire, conveyed
the Indian mails to Bussorah, where her arrival was very opportune in enabling
her to vindicate the honour of the British flag at Mohamrah, where the Persian
Governor had refused to allow the shipment of coal from the Company's depot;
however, he was quickly brought to his senses by Lieutenant Campbell laying the
' Hugh Lindsay' alongside the walls of the fort up the Karoon, being the first
steam war-vessel to go up that river. For his prompt action on this occasion,
Lieutenant Campbell received the thanks of the Bombay Government, under
date the 5th of September, 1839.
t " Observations on the Past Policy of the British Government towards the
Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ." By Lieutenant A. B. Kemball, Assistant
Besident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . (Submitted to Government on the 18th of
November, 1844).
J This Treaty of Peace was signed by Sultan bin Suggur of Bas-ul-Khymah,
Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of the Beni Yas, Saeed bin Butye, Chief of Debaye,
Abdoolla bin Kashid, Chief of Amalgavine, and Humaid bin Basliid, Chief of
Ejman ; it was also approved by the Governor-General of India in Council on
the 24th of August, 1853. The first Article provides for " a complete cesssation
of hostilities at sea for evermore the second promises immediate punishment
to the assailant and full redress to the party aggrieved ; and the third, that the
signatories should abstain from retaliation, with an appeal " to the British Eesi
dent or the Commodore at Bassadore."