"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٦‎٤‎٨] (١٧٨٢/٧٩١)

Pause iu the
operations,
December
1809.
Shinss affair,
January 1810.
Final
operations on
both coasts,
most of whom were Europeans. The Qawaeim, or their Qiehmi allies
occupying the place ; were summoned to surrender; but without result.
About 2 p.m . on the 27th, the garrison being still defiant, 300 men* were
landed to storm the fort; but the work proved to be of unexpected
strength, and the result was a decided reverse for the assailants. A 5^-inch
howitzer, which had been brought up to force the only entrance, was
abandoned in the open under a heavy fire; and the attacking force
were obliged to take cover behind hillocks and sand ridges, in positions
from which they could not even retire until darkness fell. Meanwhile,
however, a heavy fire was maintained by the " Fury" and some
gunboats ; and by sunset the fort had been seriously shattered. The
casualties of the day amounted to 11 killed and 55 wounded, among the
killed being an Irish subaltern of the 47th Regiment, Lieutenant
S Weld, who made a gallant, attpmpt to form a party for the recovery of
the howitzer. At nightfall an ultimatum was sent to Mulla Husain, who
commanded the defence, requiring the evacuation of the fort by 2 a.m. ;
and daybreak revealed a Union Jack waving on the battlements in the
hands ol Lieutenant Hall of the Bombay Marine, a survivor of the " Strom-
boli, who had entered the place single-handed by night, a few of the
garrison who still lingered there taking flight at his approach. Eleven
vessels, captured apparently during the unsuccessful attack on the fort,
were burned; and the town, with miscellaneous property to the value of
Rs. 2,00,fl0ii, was delivered over intact to an agent of the ruler of
Masqat,
On the 7th of December the whole force rendezvoused at the base,
which was the roadstead of Barkah near Masqat ; and the flank com
panies of the 47 th Regiment and 200 sepoys were sent back to Bombay.
In the general destruction of Qasimi shipping small boats not convertible
to piratical uses had been spared to avoid exciting unnecessary bitterness.
Saiyid Sa id, whose confidence had revived with the recovery of
Laft, was now anxious that the programme of the Bombay Government
should bo executed in its entirety by the expulsion of the Qawasim from
the ports of Shinas and Khor Fakkan on his western seaboard, and it was
decided to comply with his wishes. The successful operations
which resulted from this decision are described, together with their for
the Saiyid disastrous sequel, in the history of the Sultanate of 'Oman.
Lea\ ing Shinas, the expedition returned to the Persian Gulf and on the
i5th of January 1810 reached Ranis, where 10 large vessels were given
— -v^, - - — jl\j Y ^— n
anuarj 1810. up to be burned. At Jazirat-at-Hamra, the next place visited, the people
^ j ' iv a oompany of the 47th, half a company of the 65th, a detachment of
c 2ii ative Infantry, and some seamen and marines.
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