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the several
expeditions sent against them, and their final submission to the troops
of the English East India Company
.
    The line of coast from Cape Mussenndom to Bahrain, on the Arabian side
of the Persian Gulf, had been from time immemorial occupied by a tribe
of Arabs called Joassamees. These, from local position, were all engaged
in maritime pursuits. Some traded in their own small vessels to
Bussorah, Bushire, Muscat, and even India; others annually fished in
their own boats on the pearl banks of Bahrain; and a still greater
number hired themselves out as sailors to navigate the coasting small
craft of the Persian Gulf.
    The Joassamees at length perceiving that their local position enabled
them to reap a rich harvest by plundering vessels in passing this great
highway of nations, commenced their piratical career. The small coasting
vessels of the gulf, from their defenceless state, were the first object
of their pursuit, and these soon fell an easy prey; until, emboldened by
success, they directed their views to more arduous enterprises, and
having tasted the sweets of plunder in the increase of their wealth, had
determined to attempt more promising victories.
    About the year 1797, one of the East India Company's vessels of war, the
Viper, of ten guns, was lying at anchor in the inner roads of Bushire.
Some dows of the Joassamees were at the same moment anchored in the
harbor; but as their warfare had hitherto been waged only against what
are called native vessels, and they had either feared or respected the
British flag, no hostile measures were ever pursued against them by the
British ships. The commanders of these dows had applied to the Persian
agent of the East India Company there, for a supply of gunpowder and
cannon shot for their cruise: and as this man had no suspicions of their
intentions, he furnished them with an order to the commanding officer on
board for the quantity required. The captain of the Viper was on shore
at the time, in the agent's house, but the order being produced to the
officer on board, the powder and shot were delivered, and the dows
weighed and made sail. The crew of the Viper were at this moment taking
their breakfast on deck, and the officers below; when on a sudden, a
cannonading was opened on them by two of the dows, who attempted also to
board.
    The officers, leaping on deck, called the crew to quarters, and cutting
their cable, got sail upon the ship, so as to have the advantage of
manoeuvring. A regular engagement now took place between this small
cruiser and four dows, all armed with great guns, and full of men. In
the contest Lieut. Carruthers, the commanding officer, was once wounded
by a ball in the loins; but after girding a handkerchief round his
waist, he still kept the deck, till a ball entering his forehead, he
fell. Mr. Salter, the midshipman on whom the command devolved, continued
the fight with determined bravery, and after a stout resistance, beat
them off, chased them some distance out to sea, and subsequently
regained the anchorage in safety.
    Several years elapsed before the wounds of the first defeat were
sufficiently healed to induce a second attempt on vessels under the
British flag, though a constant state of warfare was still kept up
against the small craft of the gulf. In 1804, the East India Company's
cruiser, Fly, was taken by a French privateer, off the Island of Kenn,
in the Persian Gulf; but before the enemy boarded her, she ran into
shoal water, near that island, and sunk the government dispatches, and
some treasure with which they were charged, in about two and a half
fathoms of water, taking marks for the recovery of them, if possible, at
some future period. The passengers and crew were taken to Bushire where
they were set at liberty, and having purchased a country dow by
subscription, they fitted her out and commenced their voyage down the
gulf, bound for Bombay. On their passage down, as they thought it would
be practicable to recover the government