Payment in dollars 1854

[Top-of-the-hill]

   When my great grandfather was a young R.N.sailor, his captain was involved in some official business with the Sultan of Muscat involving the transfer to Britain of the Kuria Muria Islands (a few specks of rock!) The men who were left in charge of the flagpole were paid 9 dollars per annum. I wondered why dollars?

[GrahamSimons]

Q: dollars in which national currency? That might help explain.....

[Top-of-the-hill]

  No idea - that is all the information I have. Did countries other than U.S. use dollars at that date?

[GrahamSimons]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar there were plenty of different dollar currencies!

[Top-of-the-hill]

  Thanks, that is interesting, but most of them are well after 1854. There is mention of "trade dollars", so that might be the answer.

[Kiltpin]

If the local currency was Dollars, it would be of no benefit to pay them in £s - they could buy nothing. 

The RAF has, since its inception, paid in the local currency. 

Regards 

Chas

[heywood]

Is the payment officially recorded or a handed down story?
Who were the men ‘left in charge of the flagpole’?

When I was a child I remember five shillings was referred to as a dollar perhaps that was the payment. Nine dollars = 45 shillings = £2. 5s. 0d

[Top-of-the-hill]

  It was in an official report by the captain who made the transaction.

[Drosybont]

According to the Wikipedia article, the silver Maria Theresa thaler was widely used in world trade from the 18th to the 20th century, including in Muscat and Oman.  References for the article also refer to it as the Maria Theresa dollar.

Drosybont