"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٢٨٧)

Difficulties
between the
Persian
Vakil and
tlie Imam of
'Oman,
1769-74.
144
Kangun had been repressed in 1 767 ; but the Ka'ab were still practi
cally independent.
In April 1775, on account of an epidemic of plague which had broken
out at Basrah, ]\J r. Moore and his staff left that place for Bombay; but
on the way down the Shatt-al-'Arab the Tyger ^ one of their vessels,
was boarded and captured by Rig pirates, and Messrs, Beaumont and
Green of the Basrah Factory, who were on board of her, were taken
prisoners. This outrage cannot, from the accidental nature of the
circumstances, have been designed by Karim K.banj but he allowed
himsef to profit by it to the extent of incorporating the " Tyger with
one of the Persian fleets in the Gulf, and of detaining Messrs. Beaumont
and Green at Shirilz as hostages for the behaviour of the British, or to
compel the East India Company to come to an understanding with him.
Eventually in the spring of 17 71, some time after the Agent had returned
from Bombay to Basrah, the two English gentlemen were allowed to
leave Shiraz for Bushehr in charge of the Shaikh of the latter place ; but
there they remained until the September following, when Mr. Beaumont
was allowed to visit Basrah as bearer of a proposal that, in return
for his own and his companion's liberation and the restoration of the
fyger", the East India Company should re-establish their settlement at
Bushehr.
A ^ent and Council however, under instructions which they had
received from Bombay not to treat with the \ akil at all until both
Messrs. Beaumont and Green should have been released, declined to
entertain the suggestion ; and Mr. Beaumont remained a prisoner.
While the relations of Karim Khan with the British followed the
course above described, difficulties of an acute kind had occurred between
him and the Imam of 'Oman, the chief cause being a demand by Kariin
Khan in 1769 for the renewal of the tribute which had been paid by
'Oman to Persia in the time of Nadir Shah. To this demand the Imam
Ahmad, himself the deliverer of ■'Oman from Persian rule, would by no
means accede ; and the result was chronic hostility at sea between th
two powers, from which the British, though their own relations with
Karim Khan were unfriendly, held strictly aloof. In 1770 the Imam
threatened Bushehr with a fleet; and in 1773, helped by his usual
enemies the Qasimi Shaikh and the Shaikh of Hormuz, he did some
damage upon the Persian coast. At the end of 1773 a Persian fleet,
including the captured British vessel (( Tyger/' were got together a
Kangun for service against the Imam ; but the Ka'ab, who had been
summoned, neglected to appear, and other tribal contingents which had