Elphinstone Inlet

[2] Historically, the territory was considered Qawasim but the independently minded Shihuh were difficult to govern and their principal northern villages were often secessionist, depending on the inaccessibility of the terrain they inhabited.

[5] Following a long diplomatic career, in 1819, Elphinstone was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bombay, and remained in this post until 1827, when he retired to England.

[5] While British chroniclers at the time frequently referred to these raids as acts of maritime piracy (and used the phrase 'Pirate Coast' to describe the area), contemporary historians point to these raids forming an element of the state of war existing between the Qawasim and the Sultan of Muscat, Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi.

[8] Although stories told locally of sailors diving into the sea to collect fresh water in leather bags have been ascribed to the unique geology of the area,[9] undersea springs are common throughout the coast, fed by aquifers from the mountains.

The entrance to the Inlet is under one kilometre wide and difficult to detect from seaward, making it an ideal hiding place for local sailors in the early C19th, evading their British pursuers who "saw with amazement the enemy suddenly disappearing from the scene as if by magic".