Persian Gulf Campaign of 1809 - Background

Background

In the early nineteenth century, the Indian Ocean was an important link in the trade routes from British India to the United Kingdom, and Honourable East India Company (HEIC) merchant ships, known as East Indiamen, regularly crossed the ocean carrying millions of pounds worth of goods. One of the most important ports for the Indian trade was Bombay, on the western coast of the Indian subcontinent, a significant hub for regional trade with its links to the Persian and Arab ports of the Persian Gulf. The ships that traded in the Persian Gulf were named "country ships" and were much smaller and weaker than the big East Indiamen. The British had long maintained a naval presence in the region, but the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 diverted much of the British strength in the Indian Ocean to the Dutch colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Java and the French bases on Île Bonaparte and Île de France, leaving the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea largely undefended. In addition, convoy guardships were needed to escort the East Indiamen through hostile waters and the Navy presence in the Gulf was replaced by warships owned by the HEIC, part of their private fleet nicknamed the "Bombay Marine".

Like the Royal Navy, the Bombay Marine were spread across many thousands of miles of ocean, often leaving the country ships in the Persian Gulf undefended. As French raiders were rare in the Gulf, few country ships operated in convoys and so they became targets for pirate dhows and bhagalas operating from semi or completely independent harbours in Persia or along the Arabian Peninsula. In 1805, two large ships Shannon and Trimmer were captured by fleets of pirates, who gathered together to overwhelm the larger merchant ships. The crews were massacred and Trimmer taken over and converted into a formidable pirate ship. When the HEIC warship Mornington, which carried 24 cannon, attempted to recapture Trimmer a few months later she was attacked by nearly 40 pirate ships and only just managed to escape destruction herself.