Keepers of the Golden Shore by Michael Quentin Morton

Author:Michael Quentin Morton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

View across the creek at Sharjah.

With hindsight, although we might view Sheikh Mani’s exploits as little more than a skirmish and a war of nerves, his threat to Sheikh Saeed’s rule was a real one, and there was always a risk that, in the turmoil of tribal politics, he might gain an irresistible momentum. In the event, it never happened. The danger of war breaking out lay elsewhere, in the strained relations between Sharjah and Dubai. In this instance, even Sheikh Shakhbut was powerless to stop the two rulers from reaching their own fateful conclusion.

Despite a truce, Sheikh Sultan of Sharjah decided to send his men to occupy a sangar on the Dubai side of Khan creek, a provocative act that had predictable consequences. Sheikh Saeed declared war. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed placed men across the Dubai to Sharjah road some 6.5 kilometres (4 miles) miles from Sharjah, and Sheikh Sultan established quarter-mile posts from the creek towards the airfield. Hostilities broke out and bullets flew, but none with any great accuracy – as was customary – and there were a few men wounded on both sides, with one Sharjah man killed and two Dubai men taken prisoner. Also in the customary manner, the Trucial sheikhs offered their services as mediators. Ammunition was running low in both camps with the bullet belts of the Sharjah men only half full, while in Dubai they were using old nails in gunny bags as cannon balls. In the absence of a ready supply of fresh stock, the shooting came to a halt and, on 9 March, Sheikh Sultan of Ras al-Khaimah duly arranged a three-month truce.

There was still time for a little intrigue. Sheikh Sultan of Sharjah arranged for his secretary to meet Sheikh Saeed on the evening of 22 March. When the secretary arrived, he said he had no important message to deliver to Sheikh Saeed, but wished to collect a tin of nails from a house in Dubai. The sheikh, somewhat suspicious of his intentions, issued a permit allowing him to return to Sharjah with the tin of nails, but then secretly instructed his men to disregard the permit and search the secretary on the outskirts of Deira. When the unfortunate secretary was apprehended and searched, the tin was found to contain a few nails on top of 400 rounds of ammunition. The plot had failed, leaving Sheikh Sultan to consider the whys and wherefores of the situation.

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