 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 . 
