Attack on Dammam

The Attack on Dammam was an 1866 military action by the British ship to destroy the fort in Dammam held by the Saudis; the attack, however, failed.

Background
In late 1865, the Saudis invaded Oman and headed towards the city of Saham. At that time, Oman was allied with the British, and a British Indian was escaping and drowning. This prompted the British to send an ultimatum to Faisal, who died in December. The message was sent to Abdullah bin Faisal. The British demanded an apology for the deaths of the British Indian and ten other Indians who were plundered from their possession, to pay 27,000 dollars in reparations, and to promise that no attack in the future would happen again. If he failed to reply in 17 days, the British would attack their forts on the coast. The British ship H.M.S. Highflyer, which had been sent to Abdullah, returned to Qatif on January 30. Finding no response from the Saudis, the British launched their attack.

Attack
On February 2, the H.M.S. Highflyer was sent to attack the Saudi forts of Qatif and Dammam. At Qatif, the British entered the harbor and destroyed a small fort called Burj abul Lif alongside a vessel, and then on the next day, the ship arrived in Dammam, led by Lieutenant Long. To destroy, if possible, the fort there, a party was landed, which had to walk through water some considerable distance from the fort, and attacked the place there, but finding the fort garrison much stronger than expected and unable to create an entrance, they were repulsed with a loss of three killed and five wounded (two officers and three men). On February 4, the attack was renewed. Taking advantage of rising water, the fort was bombarded with shots, shells, and rockets; however, the walls could not be breached, and the fort remained in the hands of the Saudis.

The failure of the attack was due to ignorance of local knowledge of the territory and experience, with only one native representative accompanying the expedition.

Aftermath
When Highflyer got back to Muscat on February 9, Captain Lewis Pelly learned of the defeat at Dammam and was determined to reassert British authority by punishing the Janabah tribe of Sur who had already refused to pay compensation to the British.