Persian Gulf Campaign Of 1809
The Persian Gulf Campaign, in 1809, was an operation by a British Royal Navy to force Arab pirates to cease their raids on British ships in the Persian Gulf, particularly on the Persian and Arabian coasts of the Straits of Hormuz. The operation's success was limited as the Royal Navy forces, already heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars, were unable to permanently suppress pirate activity in the region. The expedition did achieve its short term goals by destroying three pirate bases and over 80 pirate vessels, including the largest pirate ship in the region, the converted merchant ship Minerva. Although operations continued into 1810, the British were unable to destroy every pirate vessel and by 1811 the pirate attacks had resumed, although at a lower intensity than previously.
The operation was a joint campaign by the Royal Navy and the fleet of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), with soldiers drawn from the garrison of Bombay. The expeditionary force, led by Captain John Wainwright in the Navy frigate HMS Chiffone, was despatched to the region, following an escalation in pirate attacks on British shipping in the Persian Gulf after the French established diplomatic missions in Muscat and Tehran in 1807, and encouraged pirate activity. These attacks not only threatened British trade links in the region, but also placed British relations with Oman and Persia in jeopardy at a time when French aspirations against British India were a cause for concern to the British government.
Because the available charts of the Persian Gulf were inaccurate or incomplete at the time, pirate ships could hide from Wainwright's squadron in the uncharted inlets, a problem Wainwright reported upon his return that resulted in improved British cartography of the area.
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