[Oman-L] Ahmed Bin Na'umann's Voyage to US in "Al Sultanah" in 1840

[Oum Abdul-Aziz]

Greetings to you!

I don't know if this is of any help to you, but I have
a little booklet which I picked up at the American
Embassy in Muscat 4 or 5 years ago. It is called "A
Friendship Two Centuries Old: The United States and
the Sultanate of Oman." It was put together by the
Sultan Qaboos Center, The Middle East Institute,
Washington, D.C. 1990. The text is authored by Hermann
Eilts. 

The cover of the booklet shows a painting of the
Sultana. All it says about that is "'Omani ship
Sultana under full sail' (painting by Dr. Kamari)".
The introduction mentions that the portrait of Ahmad
bin Na'aman painted by Edward Mooney "still graces New
York's City Hall."

I would suggest that you contact the library/Public
Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Muscat to see if
they have copies of that booklet and the other books
you seek. You might also contact the Sultan Qaboos
Center of The Middle East Institute in Washington,
D.C.

Wishing you the best!

Sincerely,
Oum Abdul-Aziz


--- Christopher Southcombe <sou29 at emirates.net.ae>
wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> I  would like to make a general request for
> information about Ahmed 
> Bin Na'umann's voyage to New York in "Al Sultanah"
> in 1840.
> 
> I am a marine artist-historian.  I have been
> commissioned to paint a 
> large mural for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Al Said. 
> This mural will 
> be an atlas of the world and is to depict the major
> voyages of 
> historical importance and interest in Oman's
> maritime past, including 
> detailed images of the ships.   One voyage in
> particular is of 
> special importance and interest. In 1840 the then
> ruler of Oman, 
> Sultan Sa'id bin Sultan Al Bu-Sa'id, sent his envoy,
> His Excellency 
> Ahmed bin Na'uman, on a state visit to New York to
> meet President Van 
> Buren.   This was the first state visit of any
> ambassador from Oman 
> to the United States.    The voyage was made in the
> sailing ship "Al 
> Sultanah" and was an event of particular importance
> in Omani maritime 
> history.
> 
> I have discovered very little information here in
> Oman about this 
> voyage and the ship, except that there is now a
> model of the ship, 
> "Al Sultanah", on display in the new Museum of the
> Land of 
> Frankincence in Salalah.  Although of European
> design she was built 
> in the Mazagon Dockyard in Bombay in 1833.   She
> arrived in New York 
> in 1840, having taken only 87 days on passage from
> Zanzibar - 
> particularly fast passage.
> 
> The model shows her square-rigged on the main and
> foremasts only, 
> with only a gaff rigged "spanker" on the mizzen and
> no square-rig 
> yards.   It is thought that "Al Sultanah" was later
> converted to a 
> barque, as the model shows, with the yards stripped
> from the mizzen, 
> but she was originally built as a 3-masted sailing
> ship and I'm 
> fairly sure that she was still square-rigged on the
> mizzen when she 
> arrived in New York.   That would appear to be so
> from Edward 
> Mooney's portrait of Ahmed Bin Na'umann, painted
> during that visit, 
> which appears on p.182 in the book "Oman - a Searing
> Nation".   He 
> has painted "Al Sultanah" in the background in his
> portrait of Ahmed 
> Bin Na'uman, and although there is little
> discernible detail there 
> are clearly three square-rig yards on the mizzen.
> 
> I must depict the ship as she was during her voyage
> to the United 
> States in 1840.   I have discovered that the
> American diplomat
> Hermann Frederik Eilts, who served many years in the
> Middle East, 
> wrote a book, published in 1962, about this voyage. 
> The book and 
> subsequent reprints are out of print and I haven't
> been able to 
> locate a copy.   Mr Eilts died last year, so I
> cannot contact him.
> 
> The American pictorial-historian E.Harper Johnson
> wrote and 
> illustrated a book entitled "Oman A Pictorial
> Resuscitation" which 
> was published by the Ministry of Information in
> 1997.  Unfortunately 
> I believe that Harper Johnson is also no longer with
> us.
> 
> I would like to ask if any "OMAN-L" subscribers
> might have any 
> information about this voyage, the ship, or any
> reference sources, or 
> have old copies of either of these books they are
> prepared to 
> sell.   I believe that somewhere there is a record
> of a photograph of 
> the ship having been published in a New York
> newspaper, but I cannot 
> track it down.  Photography was certainly in its
> infancy in those 
> days, barely out its 'teens', but it is quite likely
> that a 
> photograph of such a visit would exist.   Any help
> please?
> 
> Christopher Southcombe
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> Oman-L mailing list
> Oman-L at oman.org
> http://oman.org/mailman/listinfo/oman-l
> 



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ