Piracy in the Persian Gulf describes the naval warfare that was prevalent until the 19th century and occurred between seafaring Arabs in Eastern Arabia and the British Empire in the Persian Gulf. It was perceived as one of the primary threats to global maritime trade routes, particularly those with significance to British India and Iraq. Many of the most notable historical instances of these raids were conducted by the Al Qasimi tribe. This led to the British mounting the Persian Gulf campaign of 1809, a major maritime action launched by the Royal Navy to bombard Ras Al Khaimah, Lingeh and other Al Qasimi ports. Some critics of the historical narrative, such as Sharjah ruler Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi in his book The Myth of Piracy in the Gulf, argue that the allegations of piracy were exaggerated by the East India Company to cut off untaxed trade routes between the Middle East and India.
Piratical activities were common in the Persian Gulf from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, particularly in the area known as the Pirate Coast which spanned from modern-day Qatar to Oman. Piracy was alleviated from 1820 with the signing of the General Maritime Treaty, cemented in 1853 by the Perpetual Maritime Truce, after which the Pirate Coast began to be known by the British as the Trucial Coast (present-day United Arab Emirates).
Early history Piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf during the commercial decline of the Dilmun Civilization (centered in present-day Bahrain) around 1800 BC.
As early as 694 BC, Assyrian pirates attacked traders traversing to and from India via the Persian Gulf. King Sennacherib attempted to wipe out the piracy but his efforts were unsuccessful.
It is suggested in the historical literature of the Chronicle of Seert that piracy interfered with the trade network of the Sasanians around the 5th century. The works mention ships en route from India being targeted in attacks along the coast of Fars during the reign of Yazdegerd II.
Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century history chronicler, alludes to piracy in the Persian Gulf in his book The Renaissance of Islam. He describes it as such:
In Richard Hodges' commentary on the increase of trade in the Persian Gulf around 825, he makes references to Bahraini pirate attacks on ships from China, India and Iran. He believes the pirates were attacking ships travelling from Siraf to Basra.
Marco Polo made observations of piracy in the Persian Gulf. He states that in the seventh century, the islands of Bahrain were held by the piratical tribe of Abd-ul-Kais, and in the ninth century, the seas were so disturbed that the Chinese ships navigating the Persian Gulf carried 400 to 500 armed men and supplies to beat off the pirates. Towards the end of the 13th century, Socotra was still frequented by pirates who encamped there and offered their plunder for sale.
17th century
The British became drawn into Persian Gulf affairs after 1622, when, in alliance with Persia, they helped oust the Portuguese from Hormuz. The East India Company then shifted its base to Bandar Abbas, operating under Persian authority. Throughout the remainder of the century their role was limited to commerce, but their vessels and trading posts occasionally brought them into conflict with local powers, marking the beginning of British involvement in the region's maritime disputes.
European piracy in the Persian Gulf was frequent in the 16th and 17th century, targeting mainly Indian vessels en route to Mecca.
Edward Balfour asserts that the Muscat Arabs were "highly predatory" from 1694 to 1736, but it was not until 1787 that the Bombay records made mention to the systemic recurrence of piracy in the Persian Gulf.
The Pirate Coast
The designation Pirate Coast was first used by the British around the 17th century and acquired its name from the raiding activities that the local Arab inhabitants pursued. Encyclopedist Edward Balfour stated that the Pirate Coast was comprehended to have encompassed the area between Khasab and Bahrain, an area circumscribing 350 miles. It was also claimed that the principal stronghold was in Ras Al Khaimah.
Hermann Burchardt, a 19th-century German explorer and photographer, surmised that the Pirate Coast deserved its designation, and claimed that piracy was the main occupation of the inhabitants who were infamous for their fanatacism and bloodthirstiness. A British customs official named John Malcolm who served in the Persian Gulf area from the 18th century to the 19th century wrote that when he questioned an Arab servant, Khudádád, about the Qawasim (the main pirate tribe in the Persian Gulf), he claimed that "their occupation is piracy, and their delight murder; and to make it worse, they give you the most pious reasons for every villainy they commit".
One British officer who had participated in the British campaigns against the Qawasim in the 19th century described the Pirate Coast as "an ideal place for sea robbers. [It was] studded with little islands, indented with narrow, twisting creeks, protected by treacherous sand banks, and jagged coral reefs… often only a few feet below the water level." He argued that these natural features made the Persian Gulf coastline particularly well-suited for piracy.
18th century
One of the earliest mentions of piracy by the British comes from a letter written by William Bowyear dated in 1767. It describes a Persian pirate named Mīr Muhannā. The letter states "In his day, he was a major source of concern for all those who traded along the Persian Gulf and his exploits were an early factor, beyond purely commercial concerns, that led the East India Company to first become entangled in the politics of the region".
In the latter part of the 18th century the Qawasim (in the singular, Al Qasimi, the Qawasim were called by the British at the time Joasmee or Jawasmi1) were increasingly active along the Persian littoral, contesting Persian authority at Qeshm, Laft, Bandar Lengeh, and Bandar Abbas, and attempting in 1761 to seize Hormuz. While such actions under Rashid bin Matar Al Qasimi were described as warfare, not piracy, British diplomat J.G. Lorimer dates the first reports of Qawasim piracy to 1778–1780, when their fleet began attacking merchant shipping more amid a general breakdown of authority in the Persian Gulf.
Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah was the most notorious pirate to have exploited the Persian Gulf during this era. He was described by the English traveller and author, James Silk Buckingham, as "the most successful and the most generally tolerated pirate, perhaps, that ever infest any sea." He moved to Khor Hassan in Qatar around 1785. In 1810, the Wahhabis attempted to strengthen their position in the Persian Gulf region by aligning themselves with him as he was the most influential personage in Qatar at the time. He ruled Qatar for a short period and the British considered him to be the leading pirate of the Pirate Coast.
In his book Blood-Red Arab Flag, Charles E. Davies alleges that the issue of piracy in the Persian Gulf appeared to have escalated in 1797. This date corresponds with some of the most prominent acts of piracy committed against the British by the Qawasim, eventually giving rise to the Persian Gulf campaign of 1809. The first recorded instances, however, under the rule of Saqr bin Rashid Al Qasimi are disputed as constituting acts of piracy by Emirati historians.
19th century Organized piracy under the Qawasim
After Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi became the ruler of the Ras al-Khaimah in 1803, the Qawasim raids against British naval vessels became more frequent. In 1805, the Wahhabi ruler Saud ruler captured Saqar after a diplomatic meeting with him in Diriyah and appointed his cousin Husain bin Ali as the Saudi representative in Ras al-Khaimah to gain influence over the Qawasim chiefs, who were launching organized raids on foreign shipping. Husain bin Ali compelled the Qawasim chiefs to send their vessels to plunder all the trade ships of the Persian Gulf without exception. He kept one-fifth of the loot for himself. Arnold Wilson claimed that the Qawasim tribe acted against their will so as not to incur the vengeance of the Wahhabis. However, upon remarking on the rampant increase in Qasimi attacks, J. G. Lorimer, a British chronicler, perceives this view as extreme, and remarked that the Qawasim acted within their volition and attacked British shipping in contravention to the arrangements made by the Wahhabis with British officials. The strategic port-city of Ras Al Khaimah, the capital of the Qawasim, offered ample opportunity for Qawasim vessels to conduct quick, decisive attacks on British vessels from India and in the Gulf.
1809 Persian Gulf campaign
In the aftermath of a series of attacks in 1808 off the coast Sindh involving 50 Qawasim raiders and following the 1809 monsoon season, the British authorities in India decided to make a significant show of force against the Qawasim, in an effort not only to destroy their larger bases and as many ships as could be found, but also to counteract French encouragement of them from their embassies in Persia and Oman. By the morning of 14 November, the military expedition was over and the British forces returned to their ships, having suffered light casualties of five killed and 34 wounded. Arab losses are unknown, but were probably significant, while the damage done to the Qawasim fleet was severe: a significant portion of their vessels had been destroyed at Ras Al Khaimah.
While the British authorities claimed that acts of piracy disrupted maritime trade in the Persian Gulf, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, author of The Myth of Piracy in the Gulf, dismisses this as an excuse used by the East India Company to further their agendas in the Persian Gulf. Indian historian Sugata Bose maintains that while he believes the British allegations of piracy were self-serving, he disagrees with Al Qasimi's thesis that piracy was not widespread in the Persian Gulf region. Charles E. Davies argues that the motives of the Qawasim in particular may have been misunderstood and that it cannot be definitively stated that they were pirates due to issues of semantics. J.B. Kelly comments in his treatise on Britain and the Persian Gulf that the Qawasim are undeserving of their reputation as pirates, and goes on to state that it was largely earned as a result of successive naval incidents with the rulers of Muscat.
Renewed tensions
There were numerous outrages expressed by the British, who were dismayed with the acts of piracy committed against them after an arrangement between them and the Qawasim broke down in 1815. J.G. Lorimer contends that after the dissolution of the arrangement, the Qawasim "now indulged in a carnival of maritime lawlessness, to which even their own previous record presented no parallel". Select instances are given: This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain."In 1815 a British Indian vessel was captured by the Jawasmi near Muscat, the majority of the crew being put to death and the rest being held for ransom."
"On the 6th of January 1816, the H.E.I. Company's armed pattamar "Deriah Dowlut," manned entirely by natives of India, was attacked by Jawasmi off Dwarka, and eventually taken by boarding. Out of 38 individuals on board, 17 were killed or murdered, 8 were carried prisoners to Ras-al-Khaimah, and the remainder, being wounded, were landed on the Indian coast. The entire armament of the Deriah Dowlut consisted of two 12-pounder and three 2-pounder iron guns; whereas each of the pirate vessels, three in number, carried six 9-pounders and was manned by 100 to 200 Arabs, fully armed."