A FRIENDSHIP TWO CENTURIES OLD : THE UNITED STATES AND THE SULTANATE OF OMAN £183,8 SULTAN Q A BOOS CENTER °45 THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, D.C E36 _ 1990 1990 A FRIENDSHIP TWO CEN TURIES OLD : THE UNITED STATES AND THE SULTANATE OF OMAN Printed in Honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Arrival in New York in 1840 of the Omani ship SULTANA FRONT COVER: "Omani ship Sultana under full sail" (Painting by Dr. Kaman) A FRIENDSHIP TWO CENTURIES OLD: THE UNITED STATES AND THE SULTANATE OF OMAN by Hermann Frederick Eilts Boston University Introduction The year 1990 commemorates two significant events in the annals of Omani-United States relations. Taken in order of historical sequence, on an indeterminate date in early September, we celebrate the bicen­ tennial of the arrival in Muscat of the first American vessel, the Boston brig, Rambler, Captain Folger, ship's master. Similarly, April 30 of this year marks the sesquicentennial of the arrival in New York harbor of the Omani vessel, Sultana, sent by Sayyid Sa'id bin Sultan, ruler of Oman and much of the East African littoral, with an official rep­ resentative aboard, on a goodwill and commercial mission to the United States. Regrettably, whatever records Rambler's master left of his inaugu­ ral visit to Muscat are lost. In happy contrast, Sultana's three-month long visit to New York, which elicited widespread American public interest, remains indelibly engraved in the historical lore of New York City. Indeed, a portrait of the Omani envoy, Ahmad bin Na'aman, painted by the celebrated contemporary American artist, Edward Mooney, still graces New York's City Hall. 2 Oman-U.S. First Contacts Despite the thousands of miles that Arabian tribesmen were harsh. As they physically separate Oman and the United entered regions under the control of the States, the two countries soon discov­ Sultan of Muscat, however, notably in ered they had common interests. Both the great Wadi Halfain, they were better Oman and the fledgling American re­ treated by villagers and townsmen and public, at least in their coastal areas, had finally reached Muscat. There they were seafaring traditions. Each was a mari­ welcomed by the Sultan's representative time trading society. Omani vessels out and other local officials and able to re­ of Sur, Sohar and Muscat had for cen­ cover from their ordeal. All but one turies plied the Indian Ocean, visiting proceeded by English ship to Bombay the ports of East Africa, India, the East and on to the United States. He who Indies and even China in search of trade. remained was Valentine Bagley of With the advent of American independ­ Amesbury, Massachusetts, who worked ence in 1783, after its war with Great for two years as a carpenter's mate aboard Britain, American merchant vessels an Omani-owned vessel before he, too, quickly followed into these eastern seas returned home. for the same purpose. The voyage of For the next quarter century, Ameri­ Rambler to the Indian Ocean in 1790, can merchant vessels occasionally including her visit to Muscat, was touched at Muscat. As a rule, their car­ undertaken during the presidency of goes were not of American origin, but George Washington, a scant seven years consisted of sugar, tea, spices, and other after American independence had been products of the East Indies. American attained. shipmasters, engaging in the so-called Two years later, in 1792, under less "coastal trade," transported cargoes to propitious circumstances, another group Muscat because of its importance as an of Americans made their way to Muscat entrepot for Arabian Gulf commerce, a — this time afoot, over the grueling position it had enjoyed for many years. mountains and deserts of south and Political turbulence in the Gulf, and central Oman. They were the survivors the constant threat of piracy at the hands of the ill-fated Boston ship, Commerce, of Qawasim freebooters in the first two bound for Bombay, whose master had decades of the 19th century disrupted erred in his navigation and wrecked her Muscat's entrepot position. These devel­ on the as yet uncharted south Arabian opments, coupled with President Tho­ coast near Cape Chancely (Arabic: Ras mas Jefferson's embargo on all American Sharbithat), notorious for its hidden shipping from 1807 to 1809, a war with shoals, monsoonal winds, and treacher­ Great Britain from 1812 to 1814, and clo­ ous currents. sure of Isle de France (Mauritius) to Of the ship's complement of 16 Ameri­ American ships after British seizure of cans, only eight survived the harrowing that island in 1819, reduced the number 805-kilometer overland trek to Muscat. of such ship visits to ports in the northern Their experiences at the hands of south Indian Ocean area, including Muscat. to Dhofar in south Arabia and along the East African littoral from Cape Guardafui on the Horn of Africa to Cape Delgado, on the northern border of Portuguese- held Mozambique, and included the clove island of Zanzibar. In a period when Americans were ill- informed about Arabs, and when their sparse contacts with Arabic-speaking peoples of North Africa were often con­ tentious, Sayyid Sa'id enjoyed an unri­ valed reputation for forceful leadership, decisiveness, friendship, and commer­ cial probity. For the better part of a quarter-century, he maintained close personal and commercial relationships not only with American consuls, ship­ masters, and supercargoes who resided H. M. Sultan Sayyid Sa 'id (Peabody Musetn of Salem) in or visited his domains, but also with American merchants who had never left Sayyid Sa'id the United States and knew him only through correspondence. Many an American shipmaster benefited from his Nevertheless, American shipmasters personal benevolence. Whether to re­ recognized that they were in maritime place lost anchors, to advance funds, or competition with the substantial Omani to provide other services, he sought to fleet of Sayyid Sa'id bin Sultan A1 Bu be of help. Rarely has an Arab leader, Sa'id, the great- great- great grandfather anywhere, made so positive an impres­ of H is Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Sa'id. sion upon Americans. When not engaged in naval operations against Qawasmi pirates or rebellious East African subjects, many of his ves­ sels regularly were sent on trading mis­ Edmund Roberts sions to East African and Indian ports. It is eloquent testimony to the vision On the American side, it was Edmund of Sayyid Sa'id that, despite the element Roberts, a native of Portsmouth, New of seaborne competition between Omani Hampshire, to whom credit is due for and American merchants, especially in reviving trade between the United States the "coastal trade," he still encouraged and the domains of Sayyid Sa'id, and greater American commercial interest in who negotiated and signed the 1833 his realm. Few Arab rulers of a ny time treaty. Born in 1794, hence only six years period were as well-known to and re­ younger than Sayyid Sa'id, Roberts was spected by Americansas wasSayyid Said orphaned at an early age. His adoles­ during his long reign (1804-1856). Popu­ cent years were spent in the home of an larly styled "The Imam" by Americans uncle, a prominent American merchant and Europeans who knew him—al­ who lived in Buenos Aires and later in though he himself eschewed the title— London and Paris. On reaching ma­ his domains ranged from Oman proper turity, Roberts found that his share of his 4 uncle's business had shrunk considera­ either the British or the French, the United bly, due to Anglo-French trade restric­ States had no territorial ambitions abroad tions imposed during Napoleonic wars and was solely interested in mutually and by the depredations of French and beneficial commerce. Roberts proposed Spanish privateers. Hearsay reports, that Sayyid Sa'id entrust him with dis­ rather than direct information, stirred patches to the government of the United his interest in Sayyid Sa id's domains. In States, setting forth the terms under an effort to recoup his fortunes, he which American merchant vessels might chartered a ship in 1827 to explore their be received in ports under the Sultan's commercial possibilities. In the ensuing control. Might it not also be useful, he eight years, Roberts engaged in three suggested, if a commercial treaty were separate rounds of talks with Sayyid concluded between the two govern­ Said: the first ina purely privatecapacity, ments? Should this be agreeable to His (although Roberts let it be known that Highness, as Sayyid Sa id was called, he he had once been named American consul promised to have a warship, with an to Demerara, Guyana); the other two in American envoy aboard, visit the ruler's the capacity of official representative of domains in the very next year to nego­ the government of the United States. tiate such a treaty. Crowningshield's Wharf, Salem, Massachusetts IPeabody Museum of Salem) Trade Talks Sayyid Sa'id was interested. Not only did Roberts' proposal offer promising trade opportunities, but—as Roberts later His initial discussions with Sayyid recounted—His Highness saw in it po­ Sa id took place in early 1828, in Zanzibar, tential opportunity to obtain needed where the ruler of Oman had arrived military equipment that might enable shortly after Roberts' vessel. Believing him to drive the colonialist Portuguese that American commercial ties with the out of Mozambique. Before Roberts' de­ Sultan's realm suffered disadvantages, parture, Sayyid Sa id affirmed his desire Roberts urged that American traders to place official and commercial rela­ receive the same treatment extended to tions with the United States on a firm Englishmen.