Sherard Osborn was a junior naval officer in one of the British warships blockading Kedah in support of Siamese efforts in 1838 to re-conquer the State and capture the last Malay stronghold at Kuala Kedah fort. This narrative is based on accounts from his book ' The Blockade of Kedah in 1838: A Midshipman's Exploits in Malayan Waters' . Published in 1857, it not only provided an eyewitness account of the events surrounding the conflict but also revealed his growing admiration not only for his Malay crewmen but also the Kedah Malays he was supposedly at war with.

The Malays had prepared their attack on the Siamese with great care, timing and secrecy. They had over months gathered over 2,000 fighting men and over forty war boats at Batu Putih, near Acheh on the Sumatran coast. Arms, ammunition and other stores were smuggled to them by British merchants in Penang sympathetic to the Kedah Sultan's cause. When British warships blockading the Kedah coast were diverted to engage Lanun ships reported off Trengganu in July 1838, the Malays swept across the unguarded Straits and rejoined other smaller fleets secretly gathering in the dozens of mangrove-shrouded river estuaries they had stockaded along the Kedah coast. By the time, British warships had arrived on the scene, the Malays had concentrated their forces in the Merbok estuary and swooped on the fort at the mouth of the Kedah river. The small Siamese garrison there was massacred. Once again, the old red flag of Kedah flew over its homeland.

The Malays fortified their position in Kuala Kedah while the main force drove the Siamese out of Kedah and rapidly captured Perlis, Setul (Satun)a nd Trang. Osborn noted that the Malay fleet gathered at Trang consisted of over 50 boats, each carrying light artillery and swivel guns.

The Malays were now flushed with victory and marched north to take the war to Siam continue to Sabri Zain's page for the complete history.....

Osborn reflected on the conflict he had seen over the year and questioned which side he had to fight for. "Nothing but a sense of duty could prevent one from sympathizing in the efforts made by these gallant sea-rovers to regain their own."

"Like spaniels, the natives of the whole sea-board of the Indian peninsula lick the hand that chastises them: not so the Orang Melayu; and we Englishmen should be the first to honour a race who will not basely submit to abuse or tyranny."

Sources:

'The Blockade of Kedah in 1838: A Midshipman's Exploits in Malayan Waters' by Sherard Osborn (1857), reprinted by Oxford University Press (1987) (ISBN 0 19 588860 X). Price RM 52.80 (well, when I bought it in 1990 anyway!)