Hassan bin Rahma Al Qasimi was the Sheikh (ruler) of Ras Al Khaimah from 1814–1820. He was accused by the British of presiding over a number of acts of maritime piracy, an assertion he denied. Despite signing a treaty of peace with the British in October 1814, a punitive expeditionary force was mounted against Ras Al Khaimah in December 1819 and Hassan bin Rahma was removed as Sheikh of Ras Al Khaimah, which he ceded to the British in a preliminary agreement to the General Maritime Treaty of 1820. Rule The nephew of the Ruler of Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Hassan bin Rahma emerged as the de facto Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah in 1814, although it is likely his rule started before this time. He was a dependent of the ruler of the first Saudi state, Abdulla Ibn Saud (and his father Saud bin Abdulaziz before him). During a visit to Abdulla in Riyadh in August 1814, Hassan bin Rahma received a letter from the British Resident at Bushire accusing him of responsibility for the theft of two boats from Bombay laden with grain. The boats were apparently appropriated by six Al Qasimi boats off Karachi on 14 January 1814, although the British agent's letter asserts that Al Qasimi vessels had captured six or eight boats off the coasts of Karachi and Sind. Hassan denied the charges, pointing out that the Al Qasimi's boats did, indeed, travel to Sind where they traded. However, he also made a careful distinction between British subjects and native craft of Indian origin and denied capturing any boat with British passes and colours. This was accepted by the Bushire Resident, William Bruce. On 6 October 1814, an agreement was drawn up between Bruce and a representative of Hassan bin Rahma's, in which the Al Qasimi acquiesced to respecting vessels flying the British flag and assuring both British and Al Qasimi ships safe passage to the ports of Ras Al Khaimah and India. Al Qasimi ships would be distinguished by flying a red flag carrying the text 'There is but one God and Mohammed is his Prophet' in the middle. Accusations of piracy However, soon after the signature of the agreement, a British boat was seized as it visited Ras Al Khaimah with letters for Hassan bin Rahma from Bruce and the envoy had suffered 'the most degrading treatment.'