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 dhows and bhagalas operating from semi or completely independent harbours in Persia or along the Arabian Peninsula. In 1805, the fleets of Al Qasimi captured two large ships, Shannon and Trimmer; the small boats of the Al Qasimi, swarmed the larger merchant ships and massacred the crews. The Al Qasimi converted Trimmer into a formidable pirate ship. When the HEIC warship Mornington, which carried 24 cannon, attempted to recapture Trimmer a few months later, nearly 40 Al Qasimi vessels attacked Mornington, which only just managed to escape destruction herself.