The Issue of Raising the French Flag on the Ships of Sur's People

4- The number of Omani ships in the era of Sayyid Faisal bin Turki exceeded forty ships, owned by 29 merchants of the people of Sur. Most of these Sur ships flew the French flag from the time France occupied Mayotte and Mahajanga in 1841, by virtue of the relationship with the French colonies, and since the trade of Sur's merchants extended to the areas of French influence. The people of Sur saw in raising the French flag on their ships a means that provided them with protection and guaranteed that they would not face difficulties such as searches and the like from the colonial powers in the Indian Ocean, the Netherlands and Britain in particular. It is, however, clear to us from the letter sent by Mubarak bin Hamad bin Rashid Al Razeeqi to Sayyid Faisal bin Turki that the Sur ships had enjoyed French protection before this, in 1841 ("We said to him: these flags we took from the French state, as protections, for a period of forty, forty-five, thirty-five years, since the time of your fathers and forefathers, and none of them objected to us; and today you want them from us, when we took them by rules and laws, and we have in the land of Bukin properties, children and houses").

The reasons that drove the people of Sur to raise the French flag, according to what is stated in Al Razeeqi's letter, are ("We said to him: the injustice that befell us from the English, which you could not ward off from us, so we took protections from the French with the consent of your fathers and forefathers, and the French protected us and we found from them consideration, courtesy and protection, and no one could oppose us, neither at sea nor on land"). There are several factors that contributed to the penetration of French influence in the city of Sur, including the neglect of the city of Sur by Oman's sultans in that period. J. G. Lorimer mentions that the people of Sur came to a halt regarding their being considered subjects of Sultan Faisal, to the point that if the Sultan wished to deal with them, it would be through the French consul. There is another reason, namely the arrival of Hilal bin Amir Al Harthi at the city of Sur coming from Zanzibar, who began to spread anti-British propaganda among the men of Sur in particular and the Al Sharqiyah region in general. It is mentioned that Hilal had a special relationship with the French consul Monsieur Ottavi, in addition to the role of Monsieur Goguyer, a French merchant fiercely hostile to the British presence, a representative of the Russian trade and shipping company, who played a prominent role in exposing British intentions in Oman internally and externally, and worked to launch press campaigns, with articles appearing in French and Arabic newspapers such as Al Ahram and Fath Al Basair, issued from France by an Arab man from Zanzibar, Salim Qamari. Finally, the British missions aimed at investigating the possibility of the presence of coal in the area behind the coast of Sur (Al Falaij, the home of the Al Mashareefa tribe). The foregoing factors helped alienate the shipowners and increased their fears of British intentions in Oman, so the best of the options was to resort to France as a supporting element for them and their trade, and a guarantor of their security at sea and on land. To be continued.

Sources: The Historical Record: the Historical Section
Franco-Omani Relations, by Dr Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi
The Omani-French Documents, by Dr Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi
The Al Uruba Club Maritime Museum