"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٢] (١٧٨٢/٢٨٥)

vH. '
Unauthorised
British
expedition
against
Horumz
and loss of
the " Defi
ance,"
1767.
Ineffectual
British
attack on
Kharag,
1768.
Withdrawal
of the
British
Reaidenoy
U2
them the island of Kharag, if it were taken in the operations. Mir
Mahanna, it should be explained, had wrested Kharag from the Dutch
at the beginning of 1766, and the island was now his place of residence
instead of Rig. The agreement with Karim Khan contained other
clauses advantageous to the British besides those specified; hut it did not
remove certain difficulties in regard to trade of which the Company's
servants complained.
While these matters were under discussion it occurred to the Agent
and Council at Basrah that the services of the reiuforced, but still idle,
British armament in the Gulf might be turned to profitable account;
and a part of it was accordingly sent against the Shaikh of Hormuz in
connection with a piracy, accompanied by murder, which had been
committed on the British ship "Islamabad'' in 17G5, and in the
proceeds of which the Shaikh was said to have shared. This expedi
tion, notwithstanding the pretext alleged for it, little better than
a filibustering raid ; but it was stopped, before it reached its destination,
bj an accidental explosion on board the " Defiance/' the princ lal vessel
sent, by A\hich she was destroyed and almost all her crew, including
about 170 Europeans, were lost. The Agent and Council professed to
ha\e acted in this case in accordance with the wishes of Karim Khan,
but Mr. £>kipp denied that these had ever been ascertained ; and the
\akil, when the circumstances came to his knowledge, expressed his
displeasure at the attempted interference of the British with a Persian
vassal.
This contretemps did not prevent the British from making an attack,
under their agreement with Karim Khan, upon the island of Kharag;
but the operations, which lasted from the 20th to the 29th of May 1768,
were indifferently conducted ; and, after a serious accident to a watering
party, they were ignominiously abandoned. In August following,
Karim Khan ^as prepared to make an effort in conjunction with the
British against Mir Mahanna ; but the Agent and Council at Basrah
at this point, summarily broke off' negotiations with him, and recalled
Mr Skipp fiom Shiraz. Meanwhile Mir Mahanna, who— though a noted
pirate had hitherto respected British vessels, withdrew the exception
that he had been accustomed to make in their favour, and the Speed-
^ ell, a trading ^ essel, was captured by some of his subjects.
A. the beginning of 1/69 a revolution took place on Kharag, by
which Mil Mahanna was deprived of his chiefship and driven into exile;
and the Agent and Council at Basrah, who were anxious to prevent thfl