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Note. The lines are to show the portion of coast supplied by each entrepot
SMUGGLING MAP.
SMUGGLING DAYS
AND
SMUGGLING WAYS;
The Story of a Lost Art.
CONTAINING SOME CHAPTERS FROM
The Unwritten History of Cornwall and other Counties,
TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
The Rise and Devclopment of the Coastguard.
BY
LIEUT. THE HON. HENRY N. SHORE, R.N.,
AUTHOR OF "THE FLIGHT OF THE LAPWING; OR, JOTTINGS IN
CHINA AND JAPAN,” ETC.
Twith numerous Plans and Drawings by the Author.
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE.
1892.
[ ALL RIGHTS reserved.]

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PRE FACE.
In view of the already overcrowded state of the
book-market, the author of this little work feels
that some apology is due to a much-enduring public
for his temerity in adding yet another drop to the
stream.
He deems it therefore necessary to explain that,
while there are handbooks, guides, and manuals
treating of almost every subject under the sun-
from pie-making to governing empires—the student
of sociology may search in vain for any reliable or
authoritative work on a branch of industry which,
if it contributed but little to the Exchequer, added
largely, in the opinion of many people, to "the
greatest happiness of the greatest number” in days
gone by. I
Thus, while of smuggling fiction, evolved chiefly
from the fertile brains of the writers, we have an
ample supply, there is a dearth of facts, and these
are not always easy of access to the seeker after
PREFACE.
truth. If, therefore, this little book--the fruit of
eight years' experience as inspecting officer of Coast-
guard in England and Scotland-should contribute
in any degree to the enlightenment of the public
on a subject which is but little studied or under-
will be realised.
CONTENTS.
PART 1.
PAGE
THE “FREE-TRADE” DAYS.
.
.
.
.
.
.
11
PART II.
. .
THE SCIENTIFIC PERIOD
.
.
.
.
84
PART III.
. . .
THE COASTGUARD .
.
.
.
.
.
131
PART IV.
. . .
BLACK SHEEP .
.
.
.
.
.
. 175
PART V.
. .
THE SMUGGLER
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
189
PART VI.
PAINS AND PENALTIES
214
PART VII.
CURIOSITIES OF SMUGGLING .
.
.
.
.
.
.
227
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SMUGGLING MAP
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Frontispiece
PAGE
RELICS OF THE PAST
. . . . . . . . 18
THE OLD “RED LION” INN AT RAKE . . . . .
POLPERRO. . . . . . . . . . . 58
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE “PIGMY” AND A SMUGGLER : 77
UNIFORM OF RIDING OFFICER, 1829 . . . . .
COASTGUARD UNIFORM, 1829 . . . . . . . 145
APPLIANCES FOR “CREEPING" .
. . . 158
COASTGUARD SENTRY, 1831 . . . . . . .
RUMP-STOOL . . . . . . . . . . 166
CAWSAND SMUGGLING-BOAT RIDING BY HER TUBS IN A GALE 187
MODE OF CARRYING TUBS
.
METHOD OF SLINGING TUBS
METHOD OF SECURING TUBS AND STONES FOR SINKING.
A CROP SUNK . . . . . . . . . .
AN OLD TUB-CARRIER . . . . . . . . 200
SMUGGLING-BOAT WITH TUBS SLUNG FOR SINKING
METHOD OF SMUGGLING TEAM-I. . . . . . . 242
METHOD OF SMUGGLING TEA—II. . . . . . . 243
METHOD OF SMUGGLING TEA—III. . . . . . . 244
METHOD OF SMUGGLING TOBACCO . . . . . 246
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE “RAMBLER" . . . . 249
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE “CHARLES AND HANNAII” . 250
A FRENCH CHASSE-MARÉE . . . . . . . 252
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
PAGE
. 254
.
.
.
.
.
. 255
.
.
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE “ANT” . .
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE “EMULATION”
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE “SPEEDWELL”
PLAN OF THE "TAM-O’-SHANTER” . .
THE “GOOD INTENT” . . . . . .
THE “HOLD ON” . . . . . .
THE “ELIZABETH ” . . . . . .
THE “MARY ANN,” OF RYE . . . .
CARGO CREPT UP IN RAMSGATE HARBOUR
.
.
.
.
.
.
. 257
. 258
. 259
.
.
·
.
·
.
.
.
·
.
·
.
A CIEVER CONTRIVANCE .
.
·
·
.
.
..
.
.
RAFT DISCOVERED IN LANGSTON HARBOUR, 1833.
RAFT DISCOVERED IN LANGSTON HARBOUR, 1835 -
CURIOUS BOAT FOUND AT BOGNOR . . . .
THE “INDUSTRY,” OF COWES . . . . .
THE “RIVAL,” OF CHICHESTER . . . .
·
.
·
.
.
.
. 273
.
·
.
SMUGGLING DAYS
AND
SMUGGLING WAYS.
Part I.
THE “FREE-TRADE" DAYS.
I
CHAPTER I.
'The Good Old Times"-Smuggling, Past and Present—The "Free-
Trade" Period—Smuggling in Kent and Sussex-Fights at Bulverhithe
and Eastbourne–Fortunes made by Smuggling.
EVERYONE has a hazy sort of notion that in the
“good old times” which the fervid imagination is apt
to associate with the closing years of last century—or
a still more remote and barbarous period—French
brandy and claret, imported through other chan-
nels than those recognised by H.M. Customs, were
favourite commodities with our“ forebears," and, to-
gether with tea, lace, silk, and tobacco, figured largely
in the staple of the contraband trader. But it is sur-
prising how few people nowadays have any clear or
accurate conception of the extent to which this traffic
was carried on—the utter lawlessness which character-
ised it, or the support extended to it by the “masses
and the classes” of the period during which it
flourished. Still less acquaintance have they with
the manners and customs of those who conducted
2
tla
12
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
the trade-the practical methods employed, or the
measures initiated from time to time by the authorities
for suppressing it.
In the following pages it has been the writer's aim
to gather up the most interesting facts connected with
the history of what might now be called a lost "art,”
and to place them before the reader in a more com-
plete and connected form than has been attempted
hitherto.
It must not, of course, be supposed for a moment
because the "art" has been forgotten, that the smug-
gling instinct has vanished from the breast of the
free and enlightened Briton of modern times-whether
male or female: as witness the oft-repeated attempts.
to evade the vigilance of the Customs' searcher in the
matter of cigars, scent, and other such commodities
as can be secreted conveniently in the recesses of a
trunk or the mysterious depths of a "dress-improver,"
not to mention occasional seizures on a much larger
scale at the commercial ports of tobacco disguised
in various forms, or certain notorious smuggling
transactions in which H.M. ships, and even the
Royal yachts, have played an important though un-
willing part-all of which tend to show that although
the flesh may be weak, the spirit is as willing as ever
to avail itself of opportunities for turning a disre-
putable penny by defrauding the revenue of its dues.
But all these pettifogging attempts of modern
times pale into utter insignificance when compared
with the gigantic scale on which smuggling operations
were conducted in the "good old times” afore-
mentioned, and the modern smuggler can only be
regarded as a contemptible cheat when measured by
the heroic standard of other days.
For convenience of treatment, the history of
SMUGGLING EPOCHS.
13
smuggling may be roughly divided into two distinct
periods :-
First: The “free-trade” period, dating back to
a very remote age, attaining its greatest prosperity
about the middle of last century, and coming to a
close during the early part of the present one, through
the whole of which period the traffic—as implied by
its name-was conducted with a freedom from in-
terruption which must have excited the envy of later
generations.
Second : The “scientific" period, dating from the
conclusion of the great war, or about 1816, when the
Government, being once more at liberty to give its
attention to home affairs, struck the first really effec-
tive blow at the free-trader by the establishment of a
properly organised and really adequate preventive
force round the entire coasts of the United Kingdom.
As regards the first of these periods, it may be
said generally that, so far as payment of duty was
concerned, a quite peculiar elasticity of conscience
universally prevailed throughout the kingdom.
Everyone did what seemed good in his own eyes, with
the result that commodities in general demand were
imported wholesale, and in the most open and defiant
manner, along the entire seaboard of Great Britain,
with consequences to the exchequer which can be
only dimly surmised. Thus, in a report to the Customs,
under date December, 1703, Mr. Henry Baker, the
supervisor for the counties of Kent and Sussex, where
the contraband trade was prosecuted with the utmost
activity, says: "For fine goods, as they call them
(viz., silks, lace, &c.), I am well assured that trade
goes on through both counties, though not in such vast
quantities as have been formerly brought in—I mean
in those days when (as a gentleman of estate in one
LI
14.
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
of the counties has within this twelve months told
me) he had been at once, besides at other times at
the loading of a waggon with silks, lace, &c., till six
oxen could hardly move it out of the place.”
The measures suggested by Mr. Baker for the
suppression of this trade proved utterly inadequate,
for we leari that during the next forty-five years the
daring of the smugglers in this part of England grew
with the impunity which attended their operations.
Large gangs of twenty, forty, fifty, and even one
hundred, rode, armed with guns, bludgeons, and clubs,
throughout the country, setting authority at defiance,
and awing all the quiet inhabitants.
• The Treasury papers contain many particulars of
the daring and desperate acts of these companies, or
gangs of men, in all parts of Kent and Sussex during
the first half of the last century, principally in the
smuggling of tea.*
TOTY
1
* In 1736 a petition was presented to Parliament by the tea dealers,
representing the serious losses they sustained by smuggling. They
asserted that nearly half the tea consumed in England paid no duty,
The duty at this time was 4s. per lb. on all teas alike. As an illustration
of the vast proportions of the smuggling trade in tea, the following is
worthy of note : In December, 1743, a pamphlet was published con-
taining “ A Proposal for Preventing of Running Goods,” and the author
observes, “Since an excise duty of 45. per lb. was laid on tea, it has
brought an average of £130,000 a year into the exchequer, which is
but for 650,000 pounds weight of tea. But that the real consumption
is vastly greater a single fact will prove. Some years ago the treasurer
of our East India Company received a letter from Holland intimating
that one person in the province of Zealand smuggled yearly for Eng-
land no less than half a million pounds. Though this seemed incredible,
the directors, upon inquiry, were convinced of the fact that such a
person there was who, some few years before had been but an English
sailor, was now married to a woman that kept a china shop, and had so
well managed affairs that he had four sloops of his own constantly em-
ployed in smuggling ; that the quantity of tea which he was supposed
to export had not at all been magnified, and that he had more guineas
N
TYT
IT I
LL
FIGHT AT BULVERHITHE... 15
Naturally, conflicts between the smugglers and
officers of the Customs were of frequent occurrence,
and, although in these affrays the officers were
usually worsted, owing to the great numerical superi-
ority and daring of their antagonists, who were thus
enabled to save the whole or chief part of their goods,
there were one or two notable occasions on which the
· free-traders received a severe lesson.
An interesting account of a fatal engagement
which took place in March, 1737, at Bulverhithe, with
one of the numerous gangs of Sussex smugglers, is
given in a letter from a person writing under the
assumed name of Goring to the Commissioners of
Customs.*.
.“ May it please your Honours,—It is not unknown
to your Lordships of the late battle between the
smugglers and officers at Bulverhide ; and in relation
to that business, if your Honours please to advise in
the newspapers that this is accepted off, I will send a
list of the names of the persons that were at that
business, and the places, names, where they are usually
and mostly resident. Cat (Morten's man) fired first;
Morten was the second that fired; the soldiers fired
and killed Collison, wounded Pizon, who is since dead;
William Weston was wounded, but like to recover.
Young Mr. Brown was not there; but his men and
horses were. From your Honours'
Dutiful and most faithfull servant, GORING.”
and English specie in his house than any banker in England." The
remedy proposed by the author was a tax of from 55. to 20s. on all
families that drank tea, which will excite a smile on the part of modern
political economists. The consumption of tea in the whole of Great
Britain was computed at 1,500,000 lbs. a year, the price of which in
bond was from 55. gd. to 6s. Iod. per lb.
* “Sussex Archäological Collection, vol. X., “Smuggling in
Sussex," by Wm. Durrant Cooper, Esq., F.S.A.
16 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
“There was no foreign persons at this business,
but all were Sussex men, and may easily be spoke
with.
“This is the seventh time Morten's people have
workt this winter, and have not lost anything but one
half hundred of tea they gave to a dragoon and one
officer they met with the first of this winter; and the
Hoo company have lost no goods, although they con-
stantly work, and at home, too, since they lost the
seven hundred-weight. When once the smugglers are
drove from home they will soon be all taken. Note,
that some say it was Gurr that fired first. You must
well secure Cat, or else your Honours will soon lose
the man; the best way will be to send him up to
London, for he knows the whole company, and hath
been Morten's servant two years. There were several
young chaps with the smugglers, whom, when taken,
will soon discover the whole company. The number was
twenty-six men. Marks' horse, Morten's and Hoads'
were killed, and they lost not half their goods. They
have sent for more goods, and twenty-nine horses set
out from Groomsbridge this day, about four in the
afternoon, and all the men well armed with long guns.
.... There are some smugglers worth a good sum
of money, and they pay for taking. ... The Hoo
company might have been all ruined when they lost
their goods ; the officers and soldiers knew them all,
but they were not prosecuted...Morten and
Boura sold, last winter, someways 3,000 lb. weight a
week."
And again in June, 1744. The officers of the
Customs at Eastbourne having received intelligence
of a gang of smugglers, went, with five dragoons
mounted, to the sea-shore, near Pevensey; but one
hundred smugglers rode up, and after disarming the
YTTA
FORTUNATE SMUGGLERS.
17
officers, fired about forty shots at them, cut them with
their swords in a dangerous manner, loaded the goods
on above one hundred horses, and made towards
London.*
Having regard to the peculiarly favourable con-
ditions under which the trade was conducted, no sur-
prise will be felt at the statement that large fortunes
were made by it. Warehouses and vaults were estab-
lished in many districts by the smugglers for the
reception of their goods, and large houses were built
at Seacock's Heath, in Etchingham (by the well-
known smuggler Arthur Gray, and called “Gray's
Folly'), at Pix Hall, and the Four Throws, Hawk-
hurst, at Goudhurst, and elsewhere, with the profits of
their trade.
Not only was smuggling carried on in the most
open and defiant manner on shore, but in those days
there was scarcely a fishing village-along the south
coast, at any rate—which did not own a vessel, often
several,t whose sole and peculiar employment was the
importation of contraband articles for the use of the
* Even the streets of London were not exempt from occurrences of
this nature. Thus, on May 13th, 1733, between 2 and 3 in the morn-
ing, the Watchmen of St Paul's, Covent Garden, and St. Martin's.
in-the-Fields seized 1,100 CWt. of uncustomed tea, together with three
men and a boy, with the horses they rode. Two of the men were sub-
stantial farmers of Rye. There were nine men of the party, but five
made their escape with drawn cutlasses in their hands.
And again on May 17th the Watch stopped two women in White-
cross Street with baskets on their heads containing 117 lbs. tea, which
being taken to the Watch-house, two of the Watchmen went to be
shown the house where the women said there was more, but being
come into Bunhill Row, one of the women cried out, “ Robbers,
robbers !" upon which the smugglers came up, and so beat one of the
Watchmen about his head with the handles of their whips that he died
in a few hours. - See Gentleman's Magazine for 1733.
+ The little Cornish village of Polperro owned at least five such
vessels. See Couch's “History of Polperro."
18
SMUGGLING DAYS AND IV AYS.
adjacent populace. Many of these vessels were,
moreover, heavily arıned, and carried disproportion-
ately large crews for the express purpose of resisting
ill-considered attempts at interference; and in the
- length oft
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RELICS OF THE PAST.
somewhat rare event of a coast officer, exciseman, or
other base tool of a despotic government allowing his
zeal for the interests of the revenue to get the better
of his discretion, these free-and-easy traders would
show their teeth in an unmistakably suggestive way.
Occasionally, it is true, a capture on the high seas was
effected by a king's ship, or by one of the few revenue
cutters that attempted to keep watch and ward over
our coasts, but the trade never languished for want
of patrons or active sympathisers.
In these prosaic days one can hardly realise the
TAXING Good Liquor.
19
extent to which the country had gone wrong on this
question of “free-trade”—which, by the way, we are
taught to associate with the name and times of
Richard Cobden-but now and again, when the local
chronicler chances to lift the curtain a little, we obtain
a glimpse of a state of things which seems almost as
far off as the Druids and their mystic rites, and, so
far as one can judge, as unlikely ever to return.* :
CHAPTER II.
Why should the King tax Good Liquor ?—The Smuggling Parson--A
Long-felt Want, The Kentish Smugglers—The Hawkhurst Gang-
Battle of Goudhurst, Thomas Kingsmill, Smuggler.
THE “misty glimpse of a moral sense,” vouchsafed
to our ancestors anent this free-trade business, is
quaintly exemplified by an anecdote related by that
eccentric genius the late Rev. R. S. Hawker, of
Morwenstowe, aprupos of unavailing attempts on his
part to combat certain lax views current in his Cornish
parish with regard to smuggling. He tells us that all
his suggestions of morality, political economy, and
finance were met by the unanswerable argument:
“But why should the king tax good liquor ? If they
must have taxes, why can't they tax something else?”
Now, we may smile at all this, and even marvel
at the moral obliquity of these simple folk of other
days, but he would be a bold man who ventured the
assertion that sentiments such as these formed no
* In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1735, under date September 3rd,
a correspondent writes that “in several parts of Kent the farmers are
obliged to raise wages, and yet are distressed for want of hands to get
in their harvest, which is attributed to the great numbers who employ
themselves in smuggling along the coast.”
B 2
20
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
part of the moral stock-in-trade of many excellent
Christians at the present day. We are all prepared
to admit the necessity of paying taxes, but directly
our own particular interests are affected, and the shoe
begins to pinch, we cry out, “Why can't they tax
something else," and discover all of a sudden that de-
frauding the exchequer is but a venial offence after all.
Even the clerical conscience is at fault sometimes, .
as witness the case of the Rev. -, of Minnesota,
who, on landing recently at New York, signed the
usual declaration that he had no dutiable articles.
But the Customs Inspector had his doubts, and on
searching the reverend gentleman's trunks found,
amongst other contraband goods, silk umbrellas, ladies'
underclothing, perfumery, and 5,000 cigars. The
reverend smuggler's trunks had false bottoms! It
would be interesting to know what subject this erring
shepherd selected for his next Sunday's discourse!
The truly Arcadian simplicity of manners which
obtained up to within comparatively recent times in
other outlying districts—is thus quaintly sketched in
by the chronicler we have already quoted from. Speak-
ing of a wayward parishioner, Mr. Hawker says: “My
efforts to soften and remove his doctrinal prejudice
as to the unimportance, in a moral point of view, of
putting the officers of His Majesty's revenue to death,
were equally unavailing. “There had been divers
parsons,' he assured me, 'in his time in the parish,
and very larned clargy they were, and some very
strict, and some would preach one doctrine and some
another, and there was one that had very mean notions
about running goods, and said 'twas a wrong thing to
do; but even he and the rest never took no part with
the exciseman.""
A LONG-FELT WANT.
21
With this quaint picture of Cornish men and
manners before us, readers will be less surprised to
hear that almost everyone was concerned in the illicit
trade, while, far from experiencing any shame or re-
morse at practices, the bare mention of which would
make the hair of us moderns stand on end, the upper
classes, landed proprietors, magistrates, members of
parliament, and even in some instances—tell it not
in Convocation—the clergy, were as eager to avail
themselves of the cheap advantages thus brought
within their reach-ay, and in many cases to share
the profits of the trade, as the smugglers themselves.
Free-trade evidently supplied what the modern
advertiser would call “ a long-felt want” in the social
economy of the age, and was prosecuted with a vigour
and determination which baffled all the efforts of the
authorities to cope with it.
One or two extracts from the chronicles of these
old days will place the reader in a better position for
appreciating not only the advantages enjoyed by our
progenitors in the matter of liquor and baccy, but the
enormous difficulties encountered by the authorities
in their subsequent attempts to suppress the trade.
One of the most graphic and faithful pictures of
the particular period when the high calling, or vocation,
of smuggling was in its palmiest days, viz., about the
middle of last century, is that given by the late
G. P. R. James, whose historical romances most people
are familiar with, and, as it bears evidence both of
wide research and profound knowledge of the sub-
ject, the present writer ventures to reproduce it.
“Scarcely any one of the maritime counties was in
those days without its gang of smugglers ; for if France
was not opposite, Holland was not far off; and if
brandy was not the object, nor silk nor wine, yet tea
1
22
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
and cinnamon, and hollands, and various East Indian
goods were things duly estimated by the British pub-
lic, especially when they could be obtained without
the payment of Custom House dues. The system of
prevention also was very inefficient, and a few scat-
tered Custom House officers, aided by a cruiser here
or there upon the coast, had an excellent opportunity
of getting their throats cut or their heads broken, or
of making a decent livelihood by conniving at the
transactions thay were sent down to stop,as the peculiar
temperament of each individual might render such
operations pleasant to him. Thus, to use one of the
smuggler's own expressions, a 'roaring' trade in con-
traband goods was going on along the whole British
coast, with very little let or hindrance.
“ As there are land-sharks and water-sharks,
so there were then (and so there are now) land-
smugglers and water-smugglers. The latter brought
the objects of their commerce either from foreign
countries or from foreign vessels, and landed them on
the coast; and a bold, daring, reckless body of men they
were ; the former, in gangs, consisting frequently of
many hundreds, generally well mounted and armed,
conveyed the commodities so landed into the interior,
and distributed them to others, who retailed them as
occasion required. Nor were these gentry one whit
less fearless enterprising, and lawless than their
brethren of the sea. ... Each public-house was
supported by smugglers, and gave them in return
every facility possible. Scarcely a house but had
its place of concealment, which would accommodate
either kegs, or bales, or human beings, as the case
might be; and many streets in seaport towns had
private passages from one house to another, so that
the gentleman inquired for by the officers at No. I
TI
TA
LLY
ht
SMUGGLING IN Kent.
was often walking quietly out of No. 20, while they
were searching for him in vain. The back of one
street had always excellent means of communication
with the front of another, and the gardens gave exit
to the country with as little delay as possible.
“Of all counties, however, the most favoured by
nature and by art for the very pleasant and exciting
sport of smuggling was the county of Kent....
The interior of the country was not less favourable
to the traffic than the coast, and offered the land-
smugglers opportunities of carrying on their trans-
actions with the degree of secrecy and safety which
no other county afforded.... Not a park, not a
wood, not a barn, but did not at some period afford
them a refuge when pursued, or become a depository
for their commodities, and many a man on visiting
his stable or his cart-shed early in the morning found
it tenanted by anything but horses and waggons.
The churchyards were frequently crowded at night
by other spirits than those of the dead, and not even
the church was exempted from such visitations.
.“None of the people of the county took notice of or
opposed these proceedings; the peasantry laughed at,
or aided, and very often got a good day's work, or, at
all events, a jug of genuine hollands from the friendly
smugglers; the clerk and the sexton willingly aided
and abetted, and opened the door of vault, or vestry,
or church, for the reception of the passing goods; the
clergyman shut his eyes if he saw tubs or stone jars
in his way; and it is remarkable what good brandy
punch was generally to be found at the house of the
village pastor. The magistrates and officers of sea-
port towns were in general so deeply implicated in
the trade themselves that smuggling had a fairer
chance than the law in any case that came before
24
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
them, and never was a more hopeless enterprise
undertaken in ordinary circumstances than that of
convicting a smuggler, unless captured in flagrant
delict."
Of the numerous smuggling companies roaming
at will through the counties of Kent and Sussex
at this period, the most notorious was that which
earned for itself the sobriquet of the “Hawkhurst
Gang."* Composed for the most part of a set of
brutal ruffians, who indulged in every sort of atrocity
in furtherance of their objects, and regarded the
murder of Customs officers as a perfectly legitimate
exercise of power, this gang exercised a species of
terrorism over a wide extent of country ; but their
daring and repeated attacks on the persons and
properties of the inhabitants, and the cruelties exer-
cised on some who had opposed their extravagances,
brought matters at length to a climax. Driven to
desperation, and exasperated beyond measure, the
people of Goudhurst and neighbourhood determined
to submit no longer to a species of domination which
had become intolerable. At the instigation of a
young man of the name of Sturt, a native of the
place, who had recently been discharged from a foot
regiment, a paper expressive of their abhorrence of
the conduct of the smugglers and their determination
to oppose them was drawn up and signed by a con-
* In December, 1744, a reward of £50 was offered for appre-
hending and bringing to justice the persons concerned in assaulting
and wounding an officer and his three assistants belonging to the
Customs at Shoreham, in Kent, on 18th inst., and forcibly taking
from them their arms and horses, and carrying them away to Hawk.
hurst, in Kent. There the smugglers carried two of these four, who
had been formerly of their gang, to a wood, tied them to trees,
whipped them almost to death, and then clapped them on board a
vessel, and sent them to France.
BATTLE OF GOUDHURST.
25
siderable number of persons, who assumed the ap-
pellation of “The Goudhurst Militia," under the
leadership of young Sturt. These proceedings coming
to the knowledge of the “gang," who had captured a
member of the Militia, and had tortured him into a
full confession of the intentions of his fellows, the
smugglers sent him back with a message that on
a certain day they intended to attack the village,
murder all the inhabitants, and burn it to the ground.
On receipt of this news Sturt at once assembled his
men, and made every preparation, with the somewhat
limited resources at command, for the impending
attack. The surrounding country was scoured in
search of firearms; all the available lead was con-
verted into balls for the muskets, while the members
of the Militia were so disposed as to make the best
use of their means of resistance. True to their word,
at the appointed hour the smugglers, under the
leadership of a determined character called Thomas
Kingsmill, made their appearance before the hastily
constructed defences, and after threatening the Goud-
hurst men with the consequences of holding out,
and hurling curses against them, fire was opened by
the smugglers, and as promptly returned by the
Militia, by which one of the “gang” was killed, and
after the loss of two more, besides several disabled
with wounds, the smugglers retreated, pursued by
the militia-men, who succeeded in making several
prisoners. *
* The following brief reference to this extraordinary affair occurs
in the Gentleman's Magazine, April, 1747 :—“Two smugglers,
George Kingsman and Barnet Wollit, both outlaws, the first of
which formerly killed a man on Hurst Green, were killed in a
skirmish with the townsmen of Goudhurst, in Kent, who found it
necessary to arm against these desperadoes, who rob and plunder,
and live upon the spoil wherever they come.” The writer is indebted
26
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Those who have read “ The Smuggler” will
remember that the author lays the scene of this.
attack at Goudhurst Church ; and the accuracy of
this has been confirmed by another writer,* who
states that his great-grandfather, who was residing in
the place at the time, gave a similar version of the
affair.
Apropos of this extraordinary conflict, Mr. James
-who wrote in 1840m-observes :-“The reader will
probably ask, with a look of surprise, 'Is this a scene
in North America, where settlers were daily exposed
to the incursions of savages ?' And he may add,
* This could not have happened in England. But I
beg to say this happened in the county of Kent, less
than a century ago ; and persons are still living who
remember being sent with the women and children
out of the village that the men might not be impeded
by fear for those they loved while defending the spot
on which they were born."
The maxim that "he who fights and runs away
lives to fight another day," held true in the case of
the leader of this attack on the Goudhurst men-
Thomas Kingsmill, who, however, was no coward, for
we are told that he was a native of Goudhurst, and
had been a husbandman; but, having joined the
smugglers, was distinguished and daring enough to
become captain of the gang—an honour of which he
was so proud that he sought every opportunity of ex-
hibiting specimens of his courage, and putting himself
foremost in every service of danger.”
to the courtesy of the Rev. James Clarke, Vicar of Goudhurst, for
the following extract from the parish register :-"1747, Ap. 20,
George Kingsmill, Dux sclerum glaude plumbeo emisso, cecidit."
* William Durrant Cooper, Esq., F.S.A.
CHAPTER III.
Attack on Poole Custom House—The Centre-tree in Charlton Forest - The
Hawkhurst Men again—Breakfast at Fordingbridge-Widow Payne-
How the Smugglers treated the King's Officers--The “Red Lion”
at Rake–Galley's Grave.
THOMAS KINGSMILL'S next escapade, for which he
ultimately forfeited his life, was a daring attack on the
Custom House at Poole, and the rescue of thirty-seven
hundredweight of tea, valued at over £500, a pro-
ceeding which the Crown counsel at his trial spoke of
as “the most unheard-of act of villany and impu-
dence ever known.” This tea was intended to have
been run on the coast of Sussex, but, acting on infor-
mation, the commander of the revenue cutter stationed
at Poole intercepted the vessel which was bringing
over the cargo, and, after a long chase, captured her,
took her into Poole, and handed the cargo over to the
collector of Customs; the tea and other goods being
placed for safety in the King's warehouse or Custom
House.
The smugglers, to whom the cargo belonged,
being much exasperated at this unlooked-for di-
version of their goods, resolved not to sit down
contented with their loss, but, after consultation,
agreed to go and forcibly remove the tea from
the warehouse where it was lodged. Accordingly,
a body of them, to the number of sixty, well armed,
assembled in Charlton Forest, and from thence pro-
ceeded on their enterprise, to accomplish which they
agreed that only thirty of them should proceed to the
attack, the remaining thirty being placed as scouts
upon the different roads leading to Poole to watch
ouse.
28
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
the motions of the officers and soldiers, and to be
ready to assist or alarm the main body.
In the night-time, between the 6th and 7th of
October, 1747, they went to Poole, broke open the
Custom House, secured their tea, which was placed
on the horses which they rode, and next morning
returned with their booty through Fordingbridge, in
Hampshire, where some hundreds of people were
assembled to view the cavalcade.
More than eighteen months elapsed before the
men concerned in this outrage were brought to jus-
tice, and the evidence of one of the witnesses for the
Crown on the occasion of their trial supplies such a
curious picture of the times that it is well worth
quoting. On being told by the Court to give an
account of what he knew of the business, he said :-
“ The first time I was with them (the smugglers)
about it was in Charlton Forest, belonging to the
Duke of Richmond. There was only one of the
prisoners at the bar there then. We set our hands to
a piece of paper to go and broke open Poole Custom
House, and take out the goods. Some of them met
there a Sunday, but I was not then with them; when
we met of the Monday, at Rowland's Castle, the
prisoners were all there, except Kingsmill and Fairall,
and were all armed, when they met, with blunder-
busses, carbines, and pistols; some lived thereabouts,
and some towards Chichester; so we met there to set
out altogether. When we came to the Forest of
Bere, joining to Horndean, the Hawkhurst gang met
us, the prisoners Kingsmill and Fairall being with
them, besides the horses they rode on, a little horse,
which carried their arms; we went in company after
we were joined till we came to Lindhurst; there we
lay all day on Tuesday ; then all the prisoners were
yt
The HAU KHURST GANG.
29
there, and we set out for Poole in the glimpse of the
evening, and came to Poole about eleven at night." .
In reply to a question by the Court as to whether
the prisoners were all armed, the witness continued-
“To the best of my knowledge all the prisoners
were armed, both at Horndean, in the Forest of Bere,
and at Lindhurst, and when we came to the town of
Poole we sent two men forward to see if all things
were clear for us to go to work in breaking the ware-
house. One of them came back to us and said there
was a large sloop lay up against the quay; she will
plant her guns to the Custom House door, and tear
us in pieces, so it cannot be done. We were turning
our horses to go back, when Kingsmill and Fairall
and the rest of their countrymen said, 'If you will not
do it, we will go and do it ourselves.' This was the
Hawkhurst gang. We call them the east-country
people; they were fetched to break open the Custom
House. Some time after this, while we were con-
sulting what we should do, the other man we had
sent on returned and said the tide was low, and that
the vessel could not bring her guns to bear to fire
upon us. Then we all went forward to Poole. We
rode down a little back lane on the left side the town,
and came to the sea-side. Just by this place we left
our horses."
From another smuggler who had turned king's
evidence the following curious facts were elicited :-
That the meeting in Charlton Forest took place at “a
noted tree that stood there called the 'centre-tree,'”
and that on setting out for Poole "all the Hawkhurst
men had long arms slung round their shoulders, and
Fairall, alias the Shepherd, had a hanger. ... We
all looked at our firearms to see if they were primed.”
The little horse that accompanied the Hawkhurst
30
SMUGGLING DAI'S AND WAYS.
A
men for the purpose of carrying their arms “would
follow a grey horse one of them rode on." On
arriving at Fordingbridge next morning with their
booty, the smugglers breakfasted, fed their horses,
and then “went for a place called Sandy Hill, but at
a place called Brooke we got a pair of steelyards and
weighed the tea, and equally divided to each man his
share; it made five bags a man, about twenty-seven
pounds in a bag."
A large reward was offered for the apprehen-
sion of any of the men who had taken part in this
daring outrage ; but some months elapsed before the
slightest clue could be obtained by the king's officers,
and then only through a chance word let fall in a
spirit of bravado by one of the throng of spectators
who had witnessed the cavalcade passing through
Fordingbridge the morning after the attack.
A striking commentary, surely, on the state of
merry England in the year of grace 1747! Here
was a body of thirty armed men riding into a seaport
town, storming the "king's warehouse," and passing
openly and undisguised the following morning with
their booty through a portion of the most civilised
and thickly-populated part of England, and yet not
a single individual of the many who witnessed the
passage of the strange cavalcade, and were acquainted
with many of those composing it, could be induced
to come forward and assist the authorities in bringing
the offenders to justice.
Some clue to this extraordinary state of things will
be found in the following narrative.
Having once embarked on a career of crime, the
down-grade is usually a rapid one, and the present
case proved no exception to this rule. With a view
to preventing evidence being brought against them,
WIDOW Paynė.
31
as well as to intimidate intending witnesses from
coming forward on behalf of the Crown, the
smugglers perpetrated a series of the most barbarous
and revolting murders that ever disgraced the annals
of a civilised country,
One Sunday morning in the February following
the attack on the Poole Custom House, an aged tide-
waiter in the service of the Customs at Southampton,
who was travelling in company with a shvemaker of
Fordingbridge named Chater, arrived at the little
village of Rowland's Castle near the borders of
Sussex, and after inquiring the way to Stanstead,
drew up their horses at the “White Hart” Inn for the
purpose of getting refreshments. The fact of these
men travelling with a letter for Major Batten, a
justice of the peace for the county of Sussex, at
once raised the suspicions of widow Payne, who kept
the inn, and she lost no time in sending for her two
sons of smuggling repute and telling them her belief
that the strangers were intent on doing harm to the
smugglers, who at that time formed no inconsiderable
part of the inhabitants of the place.
Bad news flies apace, and in a very short time the
chief smugglers of the neighbourhood flocked in to
ascertain the truth. After drinking and chatting
in a friendly way with the strangers for a short time
one of the men induced Chater to come outside, and
elicited from him that he was on his way to swear
against one of those concerned in the outrage at
Poole. Galley, the tide-waiter, fearing that the
witness was being tampered with, came out to bring
him back, but was promptly knocked down by one of
the smugglers. On remonstrating and informing his
assailant that he was a king's officer, the man replied
with an oath, “You a king's officer ? I'll make a
32
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
king's officer of you, and for a quartern of gin I'll
serve you so again." Some of the others interposing,
the quarrel was patched up, and they all turned in
again to drink; the two men Galley and Chater being
made drunk and put to bed, from whence they were
taken when darkness set in, and tied on to one horse
with their legs fastened together under the belly, and
in company with a party of the smugglers on horse-
back set off on a journey from which they were
never destined to return. .
The first intention of the smugglers appears to
have been simply to keep the two men secreted till
after the noise of the affair had blown over, and then
to send them across to France, a practice, it seems,
which was very often resorted to at this particular
time as a means of removing over-zealous officers out
of harm's way. But this, it seems, was far too mild a
way of disposing of them to suit the wives of some of
the smugglers who had come in to see the fun, and
who cried out “Hang the dogs! for they came here
to hang us.” So it was eventually decided to carry
the men to some place of safe keeping till it was
known what was to be the fate of one of their own
number who had been arrested on suspicion; and
against whom Chater was going to give evidence,
and in the meanwhile a contribution of threepence a
week was to be levied all round for the maintenance
of the two men.
The party had no sooner started than the real
character of the men, into whose hands these two
unfortunates had fallen, discovered itself, for with a
coarse oath Jackson, the leader, began to “lay on "
to them with his heavy whip, calling out “Whip
them, cut them, slash them, d- n them !” an in-
junction which was instantly acted on by the whole
y
A GHASTLY CAVALCADE.
33
body of smugglers, who continued thus to ill-use the
two unhappy men, until, no longer able to endure
the agony, they rolled over with their heads under the
horse's belly, in which position they were driven some
distance, the horse striking their heads with his feet
every step he took. They were then set upright
again, and the brutal usage was commenced afresh,
the smugglers applying their long whips with brutal
ferocity, over the head, face, eyes, and shoulders indis-
criminately, until, worn out and from sheer exhaus-
tion, the poor creatures once more rolled over with
their heads downwards; when, finding them too
weak to keep upright, the smugglers cast adrift their
lashings and laid them separately across the horses
behind two of the party.
All through this dark February night did the
ghastly cavalcade continue its course through the
narrow lanes and rough tracks which at that time
intersected the country along the border of Hamp-
shire and Sussex, for ten weary miles, poor Galley's
sufferings being increased by a system of torture
which cannot here be described, the wretched man
murmuring the while “barbarous usage, barbarous
usage ; for God's sake shoot me through the head.”
Becoming at last unconscious, the two men were
secured with lashings, and in this condition arrived at
an early hour the following morning at the village of
Rake, near Liss, where, after some difficulty, the land-
lord of the “Red Lion” was persuaded to admit the
party. After drinking for some time, Galley's body
was taken out to the wood near by and buried in a
sandpit, though whether he was actually dead or not
seems uncertain, for on the corpse being exhumed
some months later his hands were found held over
the face as if to protect it.

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GALLEY'S GRAVE.
35
The particular spot in the beautiful valley of Hart-
ingcombe, where the closing scene in the first act of this
ghastly tragedy was enacted, is still pointed out by
the old people of the neighbourhood as “ Galley's
grave.” The whole aspect of this country has under-
gone many.changes since the period in question, but the
old “Red Lion” Inn at Rake may still be discovered
by the curious, very much as it was on the morning
when its landlord was disturbed out of his sleep and
forced to admit the gang of murderous ruffians with
their ghastly freight. Though no longer an inn-has
never, indecd, been used as such within the memory
of the oldest inhabitant—there it still stands, pro-
bably the sole connecting link between the present
day and the events herein described.
CHAPTER IV.
The Turf-house at Trotton-Smugglers' Revenge-Harris' Well— Last Act
of a Bloody Tragedy—“He'd Whipped many a Rogue"—How poor
Hawkins was done to Death-A Garment rolled in Blood-Merry
* England—Terrorism-William Fairall and the Sussex Magistrate.
WHILE Galley's body was being disposed of in the
manner described, poor Chater, with blood pouring
down him from the brutal treatment he had ex-
perienced during his ten miles journey, was taken
by some of the party to the house of a well-known
smuggler, whose services could be depended on,
residing some four miles off, at the village of Trotton,
where the poor wretch was chained by the leg like
a wild beast, to a post, in a "turf house,” two of
the smugglers remaining by him as a guard. In
this condition, with just sufficient nourishment ad-
ministered to keep body and soul together, he was
C 2
36
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TY
kept for two entire days and nights, while his in-
liuman captors were arranging how to dispose of
him.
After Galley's body had been put under ground,
the smugglers reassembled at the “Red Lion," where
they spent the greater part of the day carousing and
discussing their future plans, agreeing to disperse to
their homes at nightfall, and after rallying up some
more of their gang, to meet again at the same house on
Wednesday night. They had already tried to drown
suspicions concerning their doings by telling the
landlord a plausible story about having had a fight
with the king's officers, in course of which some of their
number had been killed and their goods taken, while
still further to avoid giving cause of alarm it was
agreed that they should drop in at the next meet-
ing one after another, as if by accident; so that it
was late on Wednesday night before they were all
assembled.
And 110w commenced the second act of the
tragedy. The smugglers had already agreed on the
necessity of destroying Chater, and the question that
remained to be settled was the choice of methods that
were least liable to discovery. First it was proposed
to shoot him by tying a string to the trigger of a
gun, and then by all taking hold of it and pulling
together equalise the share of guilt in his murder.
But this was objected to as being far too expedi-
tious a method of dispatching him, the aim of these
ruffians being to prolong the poor man's sufferings as
long as life would last, “as a terror to all such
informing rogues (as they termed them) for the
future.”
Ultimately, they decided on carrying him to Lady
Holt Park and throwing him into “Harris' Well,"
MURDER OF CHATER.
37
where at one time they intended dispatching poor
Galley. The whole body of smugglers accordingly
repaired to the house at Trotton, where the miserable
Chater had been chained up since an early hour on
Monday, and proceeded to put their plans into execu-
tion. But here a fresh scene of barbarity was opened,
for some of the party going into the "skilling” where
Chater lay in chains upon some turfs, one of them,
named Tapner, immediately pulled out a large clasp
knife, and with horrible oaths addressed him in the
following manner : “Down on your knees and go to
prayers, for with this knife I will be your butcher.”
The poor man being terrified at this dreadful
menace, and expecting every moment would be his
last, knelt down upon a turf as he was ordered, and
while in the act of repeating the Lord's Prayer,
another ruffian got behind him and kicked him, and
with the most bitter taunts upbraided him for being
an informing villain. On venturing to ask what had
become of his friend Galley, Tapner replied, “D—n
you, we have killed him, and we will do so by you ;"
and then, without the slightest provocation, “ drew his
knife aslant over the wretched man's eyes and nose
with such violence that he almost cut buth his eyes
out, and the gristle of his nose quite through. Not
satisfied, however, with this wanton act of cruelty, in
another sudden fit of frenzy Tapner aimed another
stroke at his face, designing to cut him again in the
same wound, but happening to strike a little higher,
made a terrible gash across his forehead, from which
the blood flowed in abundance."
To cut short these revolting details, the poor
creature was at length set upon Tapner's horse, and
the cavalcade started off for Lady Holt Park, a
distance of about five miles, Tapner telling him with
38
S1UGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
f
a coarse oath that “if he blooded his saddle he would
destroy him that moment, and send his soul to hell.”
Arrived at the well, an attempt was first of all made
to hang Chater, but the rope being too short to admit
of a sufficient drop, the body hanging half-way over
the edge of the well, the rope was cast adrift from the
railing, and Chater pitched in head first. But even
then life lingered on in this poor mangled body, and
so, by way of completing their fiendish job, the
smugglers threw down large stones and pieces of
timber, until every sign of life was hushed, and then,
mounting their horses, dispersed to their homes ere
break of day.
It may be observed that before the smugglers and
their prisoners set out from Rowland's Castle on the
Sunday night, one of the leaders of the gang took the
precaution to pull out his pistol in the presence of
the whole company, and swore that “whoever should
discover anything that passed at that house he would
blow his brains out," and the whole business from
beginning to end had been managed with so much
secrecy and care, that the smugglers believed them-
selves to be entirely free from all risk of discovery.
There were, however, two witnesses still living
who, though dumb, might prove extremely incon-
venient, namely, the horses which the unfortunate
men had ridden. It was therefore decided to make
away with them, and accordingly Galley's horse was
knocked on the head, flayed, and his skin cut up into
small pieces and effectually disposed of; but the
horse which Chater rode managed to get away, and
was eventually returned to its owner.*
C
* For a full account of these brutal murders see a curious and
little known pamphlet originally published in 1749, now long out of
print, entitled “A ſull and genuine history of the inhuman and un-
HAWKINS DONE TO DEATH.
39
Having thus, as they believed, effectually dis-
posed of the only evidence which the authorities had
been able to secure in connection with the attack on
Poole Custom House, the smugglers felt themselves
perfectly secure, especially as the fate that had
befallen Galley and Chater, though screened from the
knowledge of the authorities, would be sure to act as
a deterrent in the rare event of any of their own party
being tempted to act the traitor.
Before going on to describe the way in which the
authorities at last got a clue to the fate of the un-
happy men, it may be as well, perhaps, by way of
giving a still more realistic picture of the state of the
country at this time, to relate the circumstances of
another atrocious murder perpetrated by the same
gang of smugglers within a very few miles of the
place where the other victims met their doom.
Some bags of “run” tea, deposited in a barn at
Yapton, near Chichester, having disappeared, sus-
picion fell on a labourer called Hawkins; accordingly,
one afternoon in January-a few weeks before the
events above described—two of the smugglers, namely
Mills, son of the man in whose turf-house at Trotton
poor Chater had been chained up, and Curtis, a
butcher belonging to Hawkhurst, went over to
Yapton, where they found Hawkins at work with his
master threshing corn, called him out, placed him on
a horse without further explanation, and carried him
away to the “Dog and Partridge," an ale-house on
Slindon Common, threatening to shoot him through
the head if he offered the least resistance.
paralleled murders of Mr. William Galley, a Custom House officer, and
Mr. Daniel Chater, a shoemaker, by fourteen notorious smugglers, with
the trials and execution of seven of the bloody criminals at Chichester,"
by a “gentleman of Chichester,"containing many quaint illustrations.
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
On arrival here he was taken into a back parlour,
Mills coolly observing that he “had got a prisoner."
They then began questioning Hawkins about the tea,
the whereabouts of which he professed complete
ignorance, upon which Curtis said, “D--n him, he
did know, and if he would not confess, he would whip
him till he did, for, d--n him, he had whipped
many a rogue, and washed his hands in his blood.”
But nothing would move the man from his declara-
tion of innocence ; so the ruffians, after striking him in
the face, made him strip to his shirt, and then, with their
heavy riding-whips, belaboured him furiously over the
face, arms, and body, until out of breath with the exer-
tion. Then, stripping to their shirts, they began again,
continuing the ill-treatment till the unfortunate man fell
down, crying out that he was innocent, and begging
them to spare his life for the sake of his wife and
children. But appeals of this nature were thrown
away on these inhuman monsters, who only redoubled
their efforts, taking advantage of his position to inflict
a species of torture which cannot now be described,
besides kicking him violently in the belly. In his
agcny the poor man let fall some words about his
father and brother, which his tormentors, interpreting
into a declaration of their guilt, at once proceeded to
act on. Calling for their horses Mills and Curtis set off
once more for Yapton, where they found the two men
they were in quest of, and making them immediately
mount behind them on the horses they rode, started
back for the “Dog and Partridge,” with the full inten-
tion of treating them in the same way as they had
already done by poor Hawkins.
In the meantimne poor Hawkins rapidly sank
under the injuries he had received, and as soon as
it was seen that life was extinct, those who had
A CLUE TO THE MURDER.
remained with him mounted their horses and set off
to meet Mills and Curtis, who, on being informed of
Hawkins' death, were persuaded with difficulty to let
their prisoners go. They then all returned to Slindon,
and after threatening the landlord to burn his house
down if he told anything, they consulted together and
decided on carrying Hawkins' body to a pond in
Parham Park several miles away, where, after tying
stones to it in order to sink it, they threw it in. And
thus was consummated another of those brutal out-
rages by which the smugglers sought to terrorise the
country side.*
“The only reason these villains had to commit
this murder on the poor wretch, who left behind him a
wife and many children,” says a contemporary writer,
"was on a supposition only, that he had concealed a
small bag of tea from them; though the villains on a
second search, after they had murdered the man,
found the tea where they had hid it."
The non-return of Galley and Chater after a
reasonable lapse of time led the authorities to suspect
some misfortune had befallen them; and when it was
reported that the great-coat worn by the former had
been picked up on the road near Rowland's Castle in
a bloody condition, the day after they had set out on
their journey, there was no further room for doubt that
either been sent across to France, as was their custom,
or brutally murdered. A proclamation was therefore
issued offering a reward and free pardon to anyone
* One more instance of the brutalities practised by these men may
gang of then entered a house, pulled a man out of bed, whipped him
most barbarously, forced him out of doors, and tied him naked upon a
horse, and then rode off with him. The man was not afterwards
heard of.
42 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
who should discover what had become of them. Six
or seven months, however, elapsed before the Govern-
ment could obtain the least clue to the affair ; and
cain the beast role to the attain; and
then a full discovery was gradually made, and the
whole gang of murdering ruffians brought to the bar
of justice.
The remarks of a contemporary writer, styling
himself a “gentleman of Chichester,” help to explain
the long immunity enjoyed by the smugglers, and
are on that account worthy of reproduction.
“The terrible executions committed by the
smugglers on these poor men, and the dreadful
menaces which they uttered against any person that
should presume to interrupt them, so terrified the
people everywhere, that scarce anybody durst look at
them as they passed in large bodies in open daylight.
And the Custom officers were so intimidated that
hardly any of them had courage enough to go on their
duty. Some of them they knew they had already
sent to France, others had been killed or wounded in
opposing them, and Galley, in particular, had been
inhumanly murdered by them.
“The smugglers had reigned a long time uncon-
trolled; they rode in troops to fetch their goods,
and carried thein off in triumph by daylight; nay, so
audacious were they grown, that they were not afraid
of regular troops that were sent into the country to
keep them in awe, of which we have had several
instances. If any one of them happened to be taken,
and the proof ever so clear against him, no magistrate
in the county durst commit him to gaol ; if he did,
he was sure to have his house or barns set on fire, or
some other mischief done him if he was so happy to
escape with his life.”*
* As a further illustration of the terrorism exercised by these
WILLIAM FAIRALL.
43
As an example of the species of terrorism exer-
cised by these ruffians over the magistracy take the
following case :-
About a year previous to the events above
described, William Fairall, a member of the Hawk-
hurst gang, and one of the principals, as will be
remembered, in the attack .on the Poole Custom
House, a native of Horsendown Green, in Kent, of no
occupation, but"a man of brutal courage, and inured
to smuggling from his infancy," was apprehended in
Sussex on account of some smuggling transactions,
and brought before Mr. James Butler, who sent him
under a strong guard up to London to be tried. He
was taken to an inn in the Borough, from whence,
during the night, he managed to give his guards the
slip-quite possibly by arrangementand seeing a
horse standing in the street, mounted it and rode off
in the presence of several people to join his gang in
Sussex; who, knowing of his committal, were sur-
prised to see him back again so soon. After explain-
ing the fortunate circumstances of his escape, he
at once vowed vengeance against Mr. Butler, and
various proposals were submitted and discussed. It
was agreed first to destroy all the deer in his park,
and all his trees, but Fairall and the more reckless of
the gang declared that this was far too mild a punish-
ment for daring to interfere with them, and vowed
their intention of setting fire to his seat, one of the
finest in Sussex, and burning it to the ground with
YV
ruffians over peaceſul citizens, the following may be mentioned :-
Under date August 14th, 1747, a correspondent writes : “ About twenty
smugglers, well-armed and laden with prohibited goods, rode through
Rye, Sussex, and stopping at the “Red Lion” to refresh, fired several
times to intimidate the inhabitants, and observing James Marshall, a
young man, too curious of their behaviour, carried him off, and he has
not been heard of since.”
44 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
him in it. But at this point a disagreement arose,
some of the party objecting to the taking of life or
the destruction of the house, and they parted without
coming to any definite arrangement. But Fairali,
Kingsmill, and some others, determined not to be
baulked of their revenge, agreed to shoot Mr. Butler,
and to this end laid in waiting for him one night
when he was returning home from Horsham. By a
fortunate chance their intended victim was detained,
and they were thus foiled in their ruffianly designs,
but were overhead swearing that they would have his
life if they had to watch for a month together, which
being told to Mr. Butler, steps were taken to have the
men apprehended if they came into those parts again,
and the conspiracy thus happily fell through.
CHAPTER V.
A Clue to the Murderers-The Special Assize-. Retribution at Last—"A
Popish Relique "-Confessions of a Smuggler, Busy Times for the
Hangman-A Couple of Desperadoes—Last Moments of Fairall, the
“Shepherd "--Break up of the Hawkhurst Gang.
The way in which a clue was at length obtained to
the fate of poor Galley and Chater was by some
person who was cognisant of the whole affair sending
an anonymous letter to the authorities, in which a
hint was dropped as to Galley's probable resting-
place. Acting on this, a search was instituted with
the result of finding the body in the spot indicated.
Another letter was then received from the same
source, giving the name of a man who was concerned in
the murder, and stating where he was to be found.
The accused was arrested, and he immediately
offered himself king's evidence, to make a full dis-
OFFER OF A REWARD.
covery and disclosure of the whole transaction, as
well as of the persons concerned therein.
To quote once more from the “Gentleman of
Chichester's " narrative, “ The body of smugglers was
now increased to a prodigious number, and the mis-
chiefs they did wherever they came were so enormous
that the whole country were afraid of them, and even
the Government itself began to be alarmed, and to
apprehend consequences that might be fatal to the
public peace, in case a speedy check was not put to
their audacious proceedings.* His Majesty, therefore,
being perfectly informed of their notorious villanies,
and informations being given of many of the names
of the most desperate of their gangs, particularly
those who broke open the Custom House at Poole,
issued a proclamation, with lists of their several
names, declaring that unless they surrendered them-
selves to justice at a day appointed they should
be outlawed ; promising a reward of £500 for the
apprehension of everyone who should be afterwards
convicted."
YY
* That the British Government was not alone in its difficulty with
regard to the suppression of smuggling is shown by the following:-
In the course of the debate in the House of Commons on the Smug.
gling Bill, brought in and passed in 1736, it was stated by one of the
speakers that “ in France, where the punishment of every sort of
smuggling is death or the gallows, where they keep up a particular sort
of army called Les Multotiers for that very purpose, yet smuggling is in
that kingdon almost as frequent as in England, and their smugglers
much more desperate than ours; for they march in little armies, are
well-armed and disciplined, and often engage in battle with the Custom
House officers and their guard of Maltotiers.” And eighteen years
after it was reported from the south of France that a body of 6,000
smugglers were assembled in the neighbourhood of Lyons, and that a
general with a like number of soldiers were to be sent against them,
though it was hoped that such a display of force would be the means
of avoiding a conflict, and that many of the smugglers might be
induced to enlist in the army, being mostly fine, active fellows.
46
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The result of the information furnished by the
anonymous correspondent, as well as the energetic
measures initiated by the Government, was that
within a short time seven of the murderers were
lodged in gaol, and by special request of the gentry
of Sussex, who were, doubtless, thankful to have
these scoundrels safe at last within the law's grip, a
special assize was held at Chichester for their trial on
January 16th, 1749—nearly a year after the perpe-
tration of the murders. The whole were found guilty
and sentenced to execution the following day;
the bodies of five, including Jackson, who, as will
be remembered, commenced the barbarous treat-
ment of poor Galley and Chater, to be hung in
chains.
Accordingly, on the 19th of January they were
taken in a cart, under a strong military escort, to a
place called the Broyle, near Chichester, where, with
the exception of Jackson, who died in gaol shortly
after sentence of death had been pronounced upon
him, they were executed in the presence of a vast
concourse of spectators.
The body of one of the smugglers was hung in
chains close to the scene of poor Galley's resting-
place, on the roadside, near Rake, another on Rook's
Hill, near Chichester, and the other two on the sea-
shore near Selsea Bill, from whence they could be
seen a great distance, and where they had often
landed their goods.
Jackson, who, from being the ringleader in the
barbarities practised on the two men, was the more
worthy of death than any, had, it seems, professed the
Roman Catholic religion a few years previously, and
the local chronicler tells us that a printed paper,
"supposed to be a Popish relique," was found care-
A POPISH RELIQUE.
47
fully sewn on a linen purse in his waistcoat pocket,
containing the following words in Latin :-
“Ye three Holy Kings,
Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,
Pray for us now, and in the hour of death."
“The papers have touched the three heads of the Holy Kings at
Cologne. They are to preserve travellers from accidents on the roads,
headaches, falling sickness, fever, witchcraft, all kinds of mischief and
sudden death."
This man had been very ill all through the trial,
and on being told that he was to be hung in chains
was seized with such horror and confusion that he
died in two hours, and thus escaped the indignities to
which he had been sentenced. He was undoubtedly
the worst ruffian of the gang, and bore a bad char-
acter even amongst the smugglers, who declared
that if he knew them to have run goods he would
contrive to steal them away.
What hardened villains these men had become
may be gathered from the fact that after sentence
had been passed two of them declared they "thought
it no crime to destroy such informing rogues.”
Two more of the gang implicated in the murders
were arrested soon after, tried at East Grinstead, and
sentenced to be hung. One was executed at Rake
and afterwards hung in chains. The other, who was
concerned also in the murder of poor Hawkins at the
“Dog and Partridge,” was executed on Slindon Com-
mon, and afterwards hung there in chains.
At the same assizes five other smugglers were
tried for highway robbery and housebreaking, and,
with one exception, sentenced to be hung. They
were executed at Horsham. Two of these men
belonged to the Hawkhurst gang, and had previously
been rescued from Newgate by a party of smugglers,
48 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS
who overpowered the turnkey.* Of the latter party
was Thomas Potter, also a member of the Hawkhurst
gang, who, with three others, also smugglers, and
natives of Kent, were tried in the April following at
Rochester for various robberies, and convicted. Their
method was to go to houses at night, disguised and
armed, bind all the occupants, and then rob them.
After sentence was passed Potter admitted that
although he had committed crimes sufficient to have
hanged him by law for many years past, he had never
been guilty of murder, though he did design to
murder the turnkey at Newgate when he effected the
rescue of his fellow-smugglers. One of the men hung
with Potter had been concerned in the murder of
Mr. Castle, an excise officer, who was shot on Sel-
hurst Common while seizing some run goods. Just
before their execution one of the men declared they
had taken to highway and other sorts of robbery
from sheer necessity, as, being outlawed smugglers,
they dare not show themselves at their homes, and he
further declared his conviction that the fear of being
seen and apprehended was the cause of nearly all the
villanies and murders which had been committed by
the smugglers.
When we learn that three other criminals were
hung at the same time and place for various offences,
it must be clear that the public executioner was kept
pretty busy.
And now we come to the closing scenes in this
ghastly chapter of crime. And no doubt it will have
been noticed how, as is so often the case, one outrage
* Arthur Gray, who escaped with another smuggler from Newgate
by knocking down the turnkey, and was retaken and sentenced to
seven years' transportation, was reputed to be worth £10,000 (June,
1748).
END OF THE HAWKHURST GANG. 49
led to another, beginning with the rescue of goods
from the king's warehouse at Poole, and ending
with the barbarous atrocities for the perpetration of
which so many suffered the extreme penalty of the
law.
On April 4th, 1749, five men, apprehended on the
sworn evidence of the two smugglers who had turned
king's evidence, were tried at the Old Bailey for
wliat was spoken of by the Crown counsel as "the
most unheard-of act of villany and impudence ever
known,”* namely, breaking into the king's Custom
House at Poole, and stealing out thence thirty-seven
hundredweight of tea, value £ 500. Of these, Thomas
Kingsmill and William Fairall were “reckoned two
of the most audacious, wicked fellows amongst the
smugglers," and were both equally concerned in the
long list of atrocities with which the notorious
Hawkhurst gang were credited, and in all of which
these two men were the inoving spirits. Though
only twenty-eight and twenty-five years old respec-
tively, they were the most hardened and defiant
criminals of any who had been brought up for trial,
and preserved their dauntless attitude up to the
moment of their death, maintaining that they had
committed no crime in rescuing the goods from the
Custom House, as these were “the property of no one
but of those who had sent their money over to
Guernsey for them.” It was elicited in evidence that
both Fairall and Kingsmill had been instrumental in
ul
* The same offence was committed the following year in the county
of Essex, when thirty smugglers, armed with blunderbusses and pistols,
at 2 A.M. broke open the king's warehouse at Colchester with a large
blacksmith's hammer and crowbar, and carried off sixty oil bags, con-
taining about 1,514 pounds of tea. See Gentleman's Magazine for
the year 1748.
D
50
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
carrying several officers of the Customs and Excise
out of the country, for no other reason than for
having displayed too great zeal in detecting smug-
glers, and seizing their goods.
Of the two, Fairall carried off the palm for utter reck-
lessness and brutal courage, and even his own country-
men were glad when he was removed from amongst
them, because he was known to be a desperate
fellow, and “no man could be safe whom Fairall should
once think had done anything to offend him.” His
behaviour at the trial was quite in keeping with the
character he bore; he stood the greater part of the
time with a smile, or rather a sneer, on his countenance,
laughing at some of the witnesses, and making threat-
ening signs at others. On sentence being passed,
he said, “ Let's have a pipe and some tobacco and
a' bottle of wine, for as I am not to live long I
am determined to live well the short time I have to
be in this world.” The evening before his execution
he smoked his pipe very heartily, and drank freely,
and on being ordered into his, cell for the night, said,
“Why in such a hurry ; cannot you let me stay a
little longer, and drink with my friends, I shall not be
able to drink with them to-morrow night?"
On the morning of their execution neither of the
men showed the least fear of death, and when one of
the others who was to be hung at the same time com-
miserated them on having to be hung in chains after-
wards, Fairall replied, smilingly, “We shall be hanging
in the sweet air while you are rotting in your grave."
All three were conveyed to Tyburn under a strong
guard of soldiers, and then executed, the bodies of
Fairall and Kingsmill being afterwards taken to a
smith's shop in Fetter Lane, where they were fitted
with chains, and afterwards conveyed to the places
CAUSES OF CRIME.
51
where they were to be hung up, viz., Fairall on Hors-
endown Green and Kingsmill at Gowdhurstgore, the
places where they had lived. And thus one of the
most notorious bands of criminals that ever figured in
the annals of crime was “smashed up," and effectually
put an end to, to the relief of all peaceful and law-
abiding citizens.
CHAPTER VI.
Drink the Cause of Crime-The Woman Tempted Me-Master-Smugglers
and their Men-Smuggling Methods—Tub-Carriers-How the Tubs
were Slung–The Reverse of the Medal-Nous sommes trahis, The
Unpardunable Sin-Activity of the Smugglers-Ruxley's Crew.
AFTER an impartial survey of the facts so far recorded,
the reader will probably incline to the opinion--any
previous bias notwithstanding—that in spite of the
modern Briton's tendency to grumble at his surround-
ings, dwellers in England in the nineteenth century-
especially in rural England-enjoy many advantages
which were denied to their predecessors of a century
ago, and that if rates are high, the ratepayers are at
least free from the exactions and persecutions of des-
peradoes such as those of the Hawkhurst ganz
It is not without interest to note that, even at this
somewhat remote period, over-drinking was at the root
of many of the outrages committed by the smugglers,
one of whom, previous to his execution, admitted
-“that all the smugglers, both masters and riders,
drank drams to great excess, and generally kept
themselves half drunk, which was the only thing that
occasioned them to commit such outrages as they did
sometimes." *
T
* The journals of this particular time teem with reports of outrages
D2
52
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
This witness further declared that, to the best of
his belief, there was no intention of hurting either
Galley or Chater until some of the smugglers' wives
proposed hanging them. Amongst other curious facts
elicited in the course of these trials were certain details
connected with the methods and practices of the
smugglers which are worth noting, helping as they
do to a better understanding of the whole system of
smuggling, both then and in more recent days.
A witness, in the course of examination, said that
"the master smugglers contract for the goods either
abroad, or with the master of a cutter that fetches
them, for a quantity of teas (called 'dry goods') and
brandies, and the master of the cutter fixes a time and
place where he designs to land, and seldom or never
fails, being pretty punctual as to the time, if the
weather permits. As the master smugglers cannot
fetch all the goods themselves, so they hire men whom
they call 'riders, and they allow each man half a
guinea a journey, and bear all expenses of eating and
perpetrated by the outlawed smugglers on people who gave them cause
of offence. A correspondent writing from Horsham, under date
August 23rd, 1748, says: “I have frequently conversed with many
gentlemen of fortune about these dangerous men, and they assure me
that the outlawed and other snugglers in this and the neighbouring
counties are so numerous and desperate that the inhabitants are in con-
tinual fear of the mischiefs which these horrid wretches not only threaten,
but actually perpetrate all round the country. The outrageous pro-
ceedings which you see in the public papers are not a tithe of what they
really commit, and, to be quite familiar with you, I cannot better de- .
scribe the terror which they strike than by quoting Milton :-
Oh, what are these?
Death's ministers, not men, who thus deal death,
Inhumanity to men, and multiply
Ten thousand fold the sin of him who slew
His brother : for of whom such massacre
Make they, but of their brethren, men of inen.""
PROFITS OF SMUGGLING.
53
drinking, and horse, and allowance of a dollop of tea,
which is forty pound weight, being the half of a bag,
the profit of which dollop, even of the most ordinary
sort, is worth more than a guinea, and some 25s., and
some more ; and they always make one journey,
sometimes two, and sometimes three in a week, which
is indeed such a temptation that very few people in
the country can withstand, and which has been the
cause of so many turning."
The medal has its reverse, the witness adding
that it was very hard work going down to the seaside
to fetch the goods—and taking into consideration the
risks, not only of capture, but to their own persons, as
they were obliged to ride at night, and through all
the byways, avoiding the public roads as much as
possible—people would not be so ready to take up
with the smuggling were it not for the great profits
that arose..
As regards the profits on a successful “run," it was
a common tenet amongst smugglers, so late as even
the first half of the present century, that if they
could save one cargo out of three the business paid
them.
One other point remains to be noticed. It was given
in evidence by the captain of the “privateer"* who
captured the goods, afterwards rescued from Poole, that
the casks of brandy were slung with ropes, ready to
sling over the horses, “as smuggling brandy com-
monly is.” Now this practice of “ slinging" the casks
before shipping them continued up to the final sup-
pression of the trade, or well into the present century,
for, though in later times horses were no longer used
* The fact of a "privateer” being engaged in looking after the
interests of the revenue shows the heterogeneous nature of the force
entrusted with this particular duty at the time.
· 54
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TT
for carrying the casks, which were conveyed by
“porters,” or “ tub-carriers," as the men were called-
the size of the cask being greatly reduced to meet
the change—it was still of the utmost importance to
get the goods away from the coast with the least
possible delay, and this was greatly facilitated by
having the casks ready slung for throwing over the
men's shoulders.
These matters have been gone into at some length
for the reason that to arrive at a proper understanding
of the subsequent history of smuggling-in the south-
ern counties, at any rate—it is essential that the
peculiar state of things prevailing during the halcyon
days of the free-trader should be clearly realised.
It must be confessed, moreover, that the condition
of England, or a considerable portion of it, at this
particular time was somewhat different to the picture
not infrequently presented to our gaze by erudite
ladies and gentlemen, who lay themselves out to de-
scribe it for us, but who carefully avoid all reference
to this dark chapter in the annals of our land. That
the informer should be held in the utmost abhorrence
by the smugglers one can easily understand, and
we have seen something of the sort of treatment ex-
fall into the grasp of their foe. Many old smugglers,
indeed, have assured the writer that the informer had
more to do with the suppression of the trade than any
other agency; a pardonable exaggeration, when the
very natural antipathy of the free-trader to the pre-
ventive man, and his disinclination to recognise any
good or useful qualities in his old enemy, are con-
sidered. "Nous soinmnes trahis” has been often pleaded
by the beaten side in extenuation of defeat, and that
the smuggler should resort to the same excuses rather
THE UNPARDONABLE Sin.
55
than admit having been beaten by fair and open means
need excite no surprise.
The obliquity of vision sometimes manifested by
the rustic conscience in matters affecting the informer
has been quaintly illustrated by a writer already
quoted. Speaking of one of his predecessors in the
parish of Morwenstowe, the Rev. R. S. Hawker tells
us how on one occasion, when “he presided, as the
custom was, at a parish feast, in cassock and bands,
and presented with his white hairs and venerable
countenance quite an apostolic aspect and mien, on a
sudden a busy whisper among the farmers at the
lower end of the table attracted his notice, interspersed
as it was by sundry nods and glances towards himself.
At last, one bolder than the rest addressed him, and
said that they had a great wish to ask his reverence a
question, if he would kindly grant them a reply ; it
was on a religious subject that they had dispute,
he said. The bland old man assured them of his
readiness to yield them any information or answer in :
his power. “But what was the point in dispute ?'
'Why, sir, we wish to be informed if there were not
sins which God Almighty would never forgive ?' Sur-
prised and somewhat shocked, he told them that he
trusted there were no transgressions, common to them-
selves, but if repented of and abjured they might
clearly hope to be forgiven. But with a natural
curiosity, he inquired what kind of iniquities they had
discussed as too vile to look for pardon. Why, sir,'
replied their spokesman, 'we thought that if a man
should find out where run goods was deposited, and
should inform the gauger, that such a villain was too
bad for mercy!”
Although the infamous Hawkhurst gang had been
broken up, and its power for evil destroyed by the
56
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
death of its moving spirits, it must not be supposed.
that the practice of smuggling had received any serious
check throughout the counties of Kent and Sussex.
With profits of a hundred per cent. within the reach
of the enterprising merchant, and a guinea or more
to be earned by unskilled labour over a night's outing,
the temptations were far too strong for average human
nature to resist, and through the remainder of the
century, and well into the present one, the free-trade
was prosecuted with amazing activity and success.
But, while the land smugglers had to content them-
selves with the profits arising from their own par-
ticular line of illicit trading, the sea smugglers varied
their business by indulging in occasional acts of piracy
on the high seas, which made the honest seafarer's
vocation almost as risky and exciting as that of the
fair-trader on shore during the Kingsmill and Fairall
régime. A gang of these sea ruffians, known as
“Ruxley's crew," belonging chiefly to Hastings, are
- said to have continued their depredations afloat for
seven years or more before they were brought to
justice, and the particular act which brought the
myrmidons of the law on to their track, and resulted
in the capture of the greater part of them, was com-
mitted in 1768, when they boarded a Dutch vessel,
and chopped the master down the back with an axe.
But even in this case the perpetrators of this dastardly
outrage would probably never have been discovered
had they not openly bragged to one another how the
Dutchman wriggled when they cut him down the
backbone.
CHAPTER VII.
Ilow the Polperro Men Cheated the Excise--Far Cornwall—" The Light
of Other Days”—The Wigtonshire Smugglers -Squiring the King's
Officers—Drumtrodden Farm-Politics and Smugglers-How Maggie
McConnell sat on the Exciseman-Yawkins and the Black Prince-
The' Burning and Starving Act."
For the purpose of completing our survey of the free-
trade period, we must now turn our attention to what
was going on in other parts of the United Kingdom,
not only in the most distant portions, such as Scotland
and Ireland, but in what was then, though not so far
removed from the seat of Government, almost equally
remote and difficult of access, namely, Cornwall. For
it would be casting an unwarrantable reflection on
the smuggling fraternity generally to suggest, even by
inference, that the smugglers in the more remote parts
of the kingdom were any less daring or active than
their fellow-traders of the southern counties.
As regards Cornwall, the learned Dr. Couch, in
his interesting, though little-known, history of his
native village of Polperro-lying in a cleft of rock
about sixteen miles west of Plymouth-gives us a very
graphic sketch of the state of things existing there
towards the close of last century :-
“On one occasion intelligence had been received
at Fowey that a run of goods had been effected at
Polperro during the previous night, and several men
of a cutter's crew were accordingly sent as scouts to
get all the information they could. Meeting with a
farm labourer, who, it was suspected, had been engaged
in this particular transaction, they tried to extract
information from him by stratagem, but finding that
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POLPERRO.
59
1
he was not to be entrapped, they tried the opposite
plan, and thrcatened him with immediate impressment
into the king's service if he did not tell them where
the goods were hidden. They succeeded in frightening
him, and he informed them that a large number of
kegs were stowed in a certain cellar, which he promised
to point out by placing a chalk-mark on the door.
Having from the opposite hill seen this done, a por-
tion of the crew returned to Fowey to get a reinforce-
ment. Headed by the Custom House officers they
soon returned, and proceeded in the direction of the
cellar. The arrival of the force and their object were
discovered ; and a band of desperate smugglers, armed
with cutlasses and pistols, assembled on Newquay
Head, which place commanded an open view of the
cellars which contained the kegs. A large gun was
drawn down, and loaded and pointed, while a man
with a match stood by, waiting the command of the
skipper to fire. The revenue men were then defied
and threatened in a loud and determined voice. They
consulted their prudence, and resolved to send for a
still stronger force. In a few hours a well-armed
band arrived and rushed into the cellar, but found to
their great disappointment that, although the place
had been watched from the outside, the kegs, which
had really been there, had been removed they knew
not whither."
Of the Polperro smuggling fleet our author re- ;
marks, that “in these vessels were perpetrated so
many overt acts of defiance against the law, and so
much contempt of authority was shown as to lead one
to doubt that the circumstances could have occurred
within so recent a date."
One more sketch of Cornish free-trade times,
and our survey of the English coasts must be con-
60
SJUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
sidered sufficiently complete for the purpose of this
history.
“It was full six in the evening of an autumn day,"
writes Mr. Hawker, “when a traveller arrived where
the road ran along by a sandy beach just above high-
water mark. The stranger, who was a native of some
inland town, and utterly unacquainted with Cornwall
and its ways, had reached the brink of the tide just as
a 'landing' was coming off. It was a scene not only
to instruct a townsman, but to dazzle: and surprise.
At sea, just beyond the billows, lay the vessel, well
moored with anchors at stem and stern. Between the
ship and the shore boats, laden to the gunwale, passed
to and fro. Crowds assembled on the beach to help
the cargo ashore. On the one hand a boisterous group
surrounded a keg with the head knocked in, for sim-
plicity of access to the good cognac, into which they
dipped whatsoever vessel came first to hand ; one man
had filled his shoe. On the other side they fought
and wrestled, cursed and swore. Horrified at what
he saw, the stranger lost all self-command, and,
oblivious of personal danger, he began to shout,
• What a horrible sight! Have you no shame? Is
there no magistrate at hand? Cannot any justice of
the peace be found in this fearful country?'
“No; thanks be to God,' answered a hoarse, gruff
voice. “None within eight miles.'
“Well, then,' screamed the stranger, 'is there no
clergyman hereabout? Does no minister of the parish
live among you on this coast ?'
“Aye! to be sure there is,' said the same deep
voice.
“. Well, how far off does he live? Where is he?'
“« That's he, sir, yonder, with the lanthorn.'
“And sure enough there he stood on a rock, and
THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS.
61
poured, with pastoral diligence, the light of other
days'on a busy congregation.”
Weil might Mr. Hawker observe, apropos of this
and other scenes, that “the life and adventures of the
Cornish clergy during the eighteenth century would
form a graphic volume of ecclesiastical lore. Afar off
from the din of the noisy world they dwelt in their
quaint gray vicarages by the churchyard wall, the
saddened and unsympathising witnesses of those wild,
fierce usages of the west, which they were utterly
powerless to control.”
Turning now to Scotland, where, by reason of the
sparseness of population over a great part of the
country the demand for“run "goods was not so great
as in the southern portion of the kingdom, we find a
pretty brisk trade carried on, nevertheless, along the
shores of the Solway Firth and neighbouring counties.*
Thus, speaking of Port William, on the Wigtonshire
coast-a noted smuggling rendezvous in free-trade
days—a writer observes :-
"My friend, Mr. James McWilliam, formerly
officer of excise at Wigtown, in a letter which I re-
ceived, dated Wigtown, September 28th, 1840, says,
in answer to some queries which I had put to him on
the subject of smuggling : 'I remember in the year
1777, being then a boy of about twelve years of age,
* To the credit of the Scots let it be recorded that the annual com-
mittee of the Convention of Royal Burghs of Scotland (October, 1736),
having in a circular letter represented to each burgh the pernicious
consequences of smuggling in its clearest light, and earnestly exhorted
their countrymen to desist from so infamous a trade, several of the
burghs, in their corporate capacity, came to the strongest resolutions to
discourage it for the future, viz., they would not be directly or indirectly
concerned in running foreign goods, or in purchasing or in vending
any goods knowing them to be run, but will lay themselves out to get
intelligence, and assist the officers in seizing and condemning the same.
62
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
counting 210 horses, laden with tea, spirits, and
tobacco, accompanied by about half that number of
“ Lingtowmen," passing within a mile of the town of
Wigtown, in open defiance of the supervisor, two
excise officers, and about thirty soldiers, stationed at
Wigtown, to assist the revenue officers in the sup-
pression of smuggling. I recollect this circumstance
particularly from four of the smugglers' horses falling
down dead in the road, as was supposed from the
heat of the day and the strong smell of the tobacco.
“I recollect that about the same time I accom-
panied my father, who was then excise officer in Wig-
town, and the supervisor, with about twenty-five
soldiers, to Port William, where two luggers were lying
ready to discharge their cargoes of contraband goods.
One of these luggers mounted twenty-two guns, the
other fourteen, and each had a crew of about fifty
men. Upon our arrival at the beach the commander
of one of these vessels came on shore, and said if the
party did not instantly retire he would cause a broad-
side to be discharged from the ships, and would land
a hundred armed men to clear the beach of us; but
if the party would retire quietly to a distance of three
or four miles, so as not to disturb the landing of their
goods, he would leave thirty or forty ankers of spirits
for us on the beach. Our party retired, and the
captain of the lugger fulfilled his promise by leaving
thirty-six casks of spirits for us at the place appointed.
“The smugglers evinced great ingenuity in the
construction of cellars for concealing the contraband
property. I remember my father going several times
with a party of soldiers to the farm of Drumtroddan,
in consequence of having received information of there
being a cellar for the reception of smuggled goods,
either below the barn floor or about the kiln ; but
THE WIGTONSHIRE SMUGGLERS. 63
though he caused the floor and every place about the
house to be trenched, he could not find the entrance
to this cellar. It was, however, discovered afterwards
1
kiln, which fire had always been kindled as soon as
my father and his party made their appearance.
There were generally two cellars at the same place,
one over the other, for the sole purpose of deceiving
the officers, who, when they found one, never thought
of searching for another, till the plan was discovered
by Mr. Reid, the Inspector-General of Customs, who
brought out from Edinburgh with him, in December,
1777, two men who understood draining so well that
they discovered so many of these under-cellars, both
at the Clone and at the Mull of Galloway, that in the
course of a few days his party seized about eighty
chests of tea and one hundred and forty ankers of gin
and brandy, with nearly as many bales of tobacco.?”
Mr. Samuel Robinson, in his “Reminiscences of
Wigtonshire," tells the story of the suppression of the
illicit traffic in the following words :-
" It had its rise in a struggle which took place for
the representation of the Wigtonshire Burghs in the
House of Commons between Sir William Maxwell,
of Monreith, and Commodore Stewart, of Glasserton.
At that time it seems to have been the practice for
candidates to parade the streets at certain times, at-
tended with large bodies of their adherents by way
of display and bravado. Sir William's followers were
chiefly his Clone tenants—who were all smugglers--
and on meeting the Commodore on the street of
Whithorn, the old sailor, who could not let slip the
chance of having a hit at the Baronet, exclaimed,
'You are very active to-day, Sir William, with your
smugglers at your back!'Yes,replied the Baronet,
TA
i
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
‘if you had been as active when you allowed the
Dutch fleet to pass you off the Dogger Bank, it would
have been telling the Crown of Britain many thousand
pounds.' 'I'll suppress the smuggling,' was the retort
of the Admiral. He laid the case before the Govern-
ment, and a barracks was built at Port William, a
party of soldiers quartered there, and the trade and
those who conducted it were ruined."
Sometimes there was a humorous side to these
transactions, as the following story shows :
“ A few miles from Lochnaw is the little harbour
of Dallybay. Here, one day in last century, some
smugglers had landed a cargo of their usual wares,
such as brandy, wines, and tobacco, and these were
carried up the hill of South Cairn, waiting till a band
of volunteers arrived with a string of pack-horses to
transport them inwards for distribution. The Custom
House officer in charge of the district received infor-
mation of their doings, and hurrying to the spot with
the only coastguardsman* disengaged, he promptly
effected a seizure of the whole of the goods. The
smugglers skulked off, and the one coastguardsman
was sent back to press men and horses in the king's
name to convey the precious treasure to Stranraer.
The officer, pluming himself not a little on his
alacrity, sauntered sentry-fashion round and round
his prize, which lay heaped before him in rich pro-
fusion, his sword and a brace of formidable pi-tols by
his side. Presently Maggie McConnell approached
the great man, wishing him a good morning, to which
he affably replied, and accepted Maggie's proferred
hand. He had unwittingly sealed his own fate. His
arm was thrust upwards, and at the same instant he
* This is a common mistake. There was no such service as the
coastguard till after the peace in the early part of this century.
DIRK HATTERICK.
65
1
was encircled by the siren's arms, and with a heavy
fall was thrown helplessly upon his back. Maggie
then sat coolly down upon her victim, and having
placed her apron over his eyes, she held him firmly
down as if bound in a vice. In vain he struggled ;
he coaxed and threatened her by turns; he shouted
for help in the king's name, and for a moment his
hopes ran high; footsteps approached; he roared
louder and louder, but no friendly voice replied. At
last, but only when it suited her pleasure, Maggie
released him from her grasp. But oh, the vanity of
human hopes! When he looked up not one of the
articles lay in its old place, as he had himself seen
them just before upon the ground. By-and-by his
companion reappeared, but only to find the head
officer tête-à-tête with this Galloway matron, who,
bidding them adieu, disappeared without further loss
of time, wishing them both a pleasant ride into
Stranraer." *
The mention of Scotch smuggling will, of course
recall to the mind of the reader Sir Walter Scott's
novel,“ Guy Mannering,” in which, with an unerring
eye for incident, the great writer has seized on
some of the most daring escapades of the free-traders
as a foundation on which to build a very graphic
picture of this particular period; and if, in some
parts, colour has been applied with a degree of license
only permissible to a great artist, the picture, as a
whole, may be accepted as a pretty accurate reflex of
the time.
With reference to the character of Dirk Hat-
terick, Sir Walter Scott informs us that his prototype
“ is considered as having been a Dutch skipper called
Yawkins, well known on the coast of Galloway and
* “History of Wigtownshire.”
66
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Dumfriesshire as sole proprietor and master of a buck-
lar or smuggling lugger called the Black Prince, often
employed by French, Dutch, Manx, and Scottish
smuggling companies. Sure of active assistance on
shore, Yawkins deneaned himself so boldly that his
mere name was a terror to the officers of the revenue.
He availed himself of the fears which his presence
inspired on one particular night, when, happening to
be ashore with a considerable quantity of goods in his
sole custody, a strong party of excisemen came down
on him. Far from shunning the attack, Yawkins
sprang forward shouting, ‘Come on my lads ! Yaw-
kins is before you !' The revenue officers were
intimidated, and relinquished their prize, though
defended only by the courage and address of a single
man. In his proper element Yawkins was equally
successful. On one occasion he was landing his cargo
at the Manxman's Lake, near Kirkcudbright, when
two revenue cruisers, the Pigmy and the Devarf,
hove in sight at once, on different tacks, the one
coming round by the Isles of Fleet, the other between
the Point of Rueberry and the Muckle Row. The
dauntless free-trader instantly weighed anchor, and
bore down right between the luggers, so that he
tossed his hat on the deck of the one and his wig on
that of the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop to
show his occupation, and bore away under an extra-
ordinary pressure of canvas, without receiving injury.*
To account for these and other hairbreadth escapes
popular superstition alleged that Yawkins insured
his celebrated bucklar by compounding with the devil
for one-tenth of his crew every voyage. The Black
Prince used to discharge her cargo at Ince, Balcarry,
* The reader is advised to take a pinch or two of salt with this
astonishing narrative.
" THE BURNING AND STARVING ACT.”
67
IN
and elsewhere on the coast, but her owner's favourite
landing-places were at the entrance to the Dee and
the Cree, near the old castle of Rueberry. A large
cave near here, often used by Yawkins, is now called
Dirk Hatterick's cave.”
Sir Walter Scott further observes that "the trade
was entirely destroyed by Mr. Pitt's celebrated com-
mutation law, which, by reducing the duties, enabled
lawful dealers to compete with the smuggler. The
statute was called in Galloway and Dumfriesshire by
those who had thriven upon the contraband trade,
“the burning and starving act.'”.
Doubtless the “trade" was hard hit, but with all
respect to so high an authority, the writer would sub-
mit that the word “destroy” is hardly applicable to
the situation, for, in spite of the statute, smuggling,
as is well known, went on merrily for many years
after. *
i
* Let it be recorded to the credit of all concerned, and as a set-off to
the above, that, in the month of July, 1744, a smuggling vessel having
landed a quantity of French brandy on the coast of Angus, it was
discovered by some gentlemen and farmers, who immediately informed
the officer of the revenue, and assisted in the seizure, and upon the
ships still hovering near the shore, they went armed in boats to search
her; and though they were fired upon with small arms by the crew,
they returned the fire, overpowered the smugglers, and brought the
vessel into port. It was also stated at the time that several seizures of
a like nature were made in other parts of the country, and that three
or four smugglers were killed in their obstinate attempts.
E
2
68
LYTTAT
ILII
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
CHAPTER VIII.
An Armed Smuggler-Shot by Mistake—The "Smugglers Act"_Advice
were Employed-Napoleon's Opinion of Smugglers--Cheap Liquor
and Starvation—The Archbishop Exercises Self-Denial.
In the sister isle, as elsewhere, the free-traders drove
a roaring trade and, if there was less of armed resist-
ance in connection with it, and, consequently, less
bloodshed, the absence of these disagreeable accom-
paniments must be attributed in great measure to
the immunity from interference with which the trade
was conducted along the greater part of the Irish
coast. There were exceptions, of course. Thus, in
the biography of a recently deceased officer of dis-
tinction, we read that in the year 1790, when General
Chesney's father was “coast officer” at Mourne, co.
Down, a famous armed smuggling craft, called the
Morgan Rattler anchored in Glass Drummond
Bay for the purpose of landing contraband goods.
The vessel being recognised, and her intention
divined, the revenue men were at once called out to
prevent a landing, and their boat manned and sent
afloat, upon which the vessel landed sixteen of her
crew for the double purpose of driving the revenue
men off and capturing their boat. But the revenue men
at once opened fire, and beat the smugglers off,
Twelve more men were then landed at a point about
half a mile away, with the object of taking the king's
men in the rear, and these had now to retreat, while
the smugglers, being in the proportion of three to
one, succeeded in landing their cargo.
None of the revenue men were hurt in this affair, but
whileit was in progress the smugglers were heard calling
to each other to“ fire at the man on the white horse,"
meaning Captain Chesney, the officer in command.
69
A HERO OF ROMANCE.
It seems that, in consequence of this officer's
activity in suppressing the free-trade along this part
of the coast, the smugglers and boatmen conceived a
grudge against him, and determined to waylay him
with a view to taking his life. In the darkness of a
winter's night, however, they mistook their victim,
and killed the chief boatman instead.
TIT
Storics such as these of the old free-trade days
might, of course, be multiplied indefinitely, for there
is scarcely a village round our coast but has its tra-
ditions of the good old times, when the smuggler
bold was elevated into the hero of romance, clothed
with all the manly virtues, and regarded as a noble
benefactor of his race, while the excise man, poor
fellow, though doing his duty—sometimes, strictly
enough, according to his lights—was invariably made
to play the part--well, if not exactly of the villain,
certainly the fool of the piece. Such a curious
inversion of the moral order of things supplies a
quaint commentary on the times.
Enough however has been advanced to establish
the fact that not only were the times sadly out of joint,
but, moreover, that if the arm of the law reached to
the uttermost parts of the realm, it was extended in a
very attenuated form, and its action in many parts
completely paralysed by the attitude of the inhabi-
tants. The popular cry of “Where is the policeman?”
must have gone up from many hearts in those days
with far more reason than exists at the present time,
and with less chance of a satisfactory reply, for the
representative of law and order was a very different
being to the stalwart blue-coated and helmeted indi-
vidual of our own day, and over wide tracts of country
he was conspicuous simply by his entire absence, with
70
S.MUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
results which stand out so plainly that all who run
may read.
If, after all that has been stated, anyone is still so
blind as to cherish a belief in the harmlessness of
smuggling, in so far as concerns its effect on the morals
of a nation, the writer would commend to his earnest
study, with an open mind, the words of a contem-
porarý observer of men and manners. In opening
the case against the prisoners indicted for murder
at the memorable assizes held at Chichester in
January, 1749, Mr. Banks, the Crown counsel, made
use of the following words :-
"I cannot here omit taking notice of the unhappy
cause of this fatal effect now under your consider-
ation. Everyone here present will, in his own
thoughts, anticipate my words, and know I mean
smuggling. Smuggling is not only highly injurious
to trade, a violation of the laws, and the disturber of
the peace and quiet of all the maritime counties in
the kingdom, but it is a nursery for all sorts of vice
and wickedness; a temptation to commit offences at
first unthought of; an encouragement to perpetrate
the blackest of crimes without provocation or remorse;
and is, in general, productive of cruelty, robbery, and
murder.*
" It is greatly to be wished, both for the sake of the
* The fact is not generally known, and therefore worthy of
remark, that the famous Porteous riot in Edinburgh had its origin in
the execution of a smuggler "who had, heedless of his own fate, saved
the life of a brother criminal by springing upon the soldiers around
them, and by main force keeping them back while his companion fied,
who never afterwards was heard of” (1736). The violent deaths of no
less than nine persons, including Captain Porteous, were the far-
reaching consequences of this act. The following particulars con-
cerning the smuggler aforesaid are worthy of note:-" Every
gentleman has heard of the execution of that noted smuggler, Andrew
Wilson, whence all this mischief has flowed. That deluded man main,
71
THE “SMUGGLERS ACT.”
smugglers themselves, and for the peace of this
county, that the dangerous and armed manner now
used of running uncustomed goods was less known
and less practised here.
"It is a melancholy consideration to observe that
the best and wisest measures of the Government cal-
culated to put a stop to this growing mischief have
been perverted and abused to the worst of purposes.
And what was intended to be a cure to this disorder
has been the means to increase and heighten the
disease.
“Every expedient of lenity and mercy was at first
made use of to reclaim this abandoned set of men.
His Majesty, by repeated proclamations of pardon,
invited them to their duty and their own safety. But
instead of laying hold of so gracious an offer, they
have set the laws at defiance, have made the execution
of justice dangerous in the hands of the magistracy,
and have become almost a terror to Government
itself.”
It may be as well to state here for the information
of those who are not au courant with smuggling
matters, that the famous “Smugglers Act” was
passed in 1736, modified in 1779 and 1784, and a
tained to the hour of his death that he was most unjustly condemned,
and died with great tranquillity, so firm, so fixed was he in the belief of
his own innocence. When a minister was endeavouring to undeceive
him and bring him to a sense of his guilt, he admitted having taken
money from a collector of the revenue by violence ; that he did it
because he knew no other way of coming at it ; that the officers of the
revenue had, by their practice, taught him this was lawſul, for they
had often seized and carried off his goods by violence, and so long as
they had goods of his of greater value in their hands than all the
money he took from them, they were still in his debt, and he had done
no wrong." (See speech in the House of Commons on the Scotch Riot
Act, May 16, 1737).
72
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
review of all the statutes relating to the subject made
in 1826.
Some idea of the extent of the trade in 1779—the
date of the passing of the second Act-may be
gathered from a pamphlet entitled, “Advice to the
Unwary," published with a view to making the new
law known, wherein it is stated that the practice of
smuggling had made such rapid strides from the
sea-coasts into the very heart of the country, per-
vading every city, town, and village, as to have brought
universal distress on the fair dealer ; that the greater
part of the 3,867,500 gallons distilled annually at
Schiedam was to be smuggled into England; that a
distillery had lately been set up for making geneva,
for the same purpose, at Dunkirk; that the French
imported five or six millions of pounds of tea, the
greatest part of which was to be smuggled here ; that
the trade of Dunkirk (where, and at Flushing, the
Sussex and other smugglers had regular resident
agents) was mostly carried on by smugglers, in vessels
not only large, but so well constructed for sailing that
seldom one of them was captured ; that in many
places near the sea the farmer was unable to find
hands to do his work, whilst great numbers were
employed in smuggling goods from one part of the
country to another. Even the war with France in
1793 caused no appreciable diminution in the import
trade, which was carried on all through the war, even
from the French ports, the smugglers betaking them-
selves to the still more discreditable practice of con-
veying letters and correspondence to the enemy, con-
cerning which there will be more to be said in its
proper place.
Of the enterprise and activity with which these
· vocations were conducted we have curious evidence
11
THE DARK SIDE.
73
from so unexpected a quarter as the Emperor
Napoleon, who, in course of conversation with Dr.
O'Meara, concerning which there will be more to say
later on, said, “They (the smugglers) have courage
and ability to do anything for money. They took
from France annually forty or fifty millions' worth
of silks and brandy."
A writer describing the closing years of last cen-
tury tells us that “smuggling was carried on to an
astounding extent, and it was calculated that one
half of the spirits as well as a great quantity of
tobacco and other articles consumed in Kent and
Sussex had never paid duty.” But as there is no rose
without a thorn, so this enticing picture of free-trade
days has a dark side, for the writer goes on to inform
us that "there was a terrible scarcity of bread, and
numerous measures were suggested to mitigate the
deficiency ; while the royal family abstained from the
use of pastry—a course which the Archbishop of
Canterbury urged for general adoption.” The times
were sadly out of joint! History, indeed, affords no
more touching picture of Christian resignation and
self-sacrifice than this of his Grace of Canterbury
eating his humble pie without any crust. So much
for the good old days of free-trade!
CHAPTER IX.
Why the “Free-Trader” Prospered——"They Won't be Happy till They
Get It"-Corrupt Officers — The Country's Extremity the Free-Trader's
Opportunity-The “Scientific Period" of Smuggling-Forty Years of
Coercion--Plot and Counter-plot-A Lost Art—"They Haven't the
Heart for It."
It will naturally be asked at this point why no steps
vrere taken by the authorities ere the evil had assumed
74
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
the gigantic proportions we have seen, to put an end
to a state of things so detrimental to the national
interests. That the Government was fully alive to the
existence of the evil has been already shown. The
very losses sustained by the revenue, to say nothing
of the risk to life and limb continually incurred by
the servants of the Crown in their efforts to guard its
interests, must have kept the matter en évidence, and
the reader may well wonder why the authorities
allowed things to drift on in the way they did.
The explanation is not altogether so simple as
might be supposed. Various circumstances combined
to favour the free-trader, and, indeed, we have only to
bear in mind the popular feeling on the subject of
smuggling, and the violent opposition to repressive
measures invariably displayed by that large section
of the public interested in the maintenance of it,
to recognise the almost hopeless task which the
Government had undertaken in endeavouring to
suppress it.
The very instruments by which it was sought to
combat the evil were too often corrupted and per-
verted to the furtherance of the very ends they were
intended to suppress,* and we all know that when the
* That there was some excuse for the little weaknesses displayed at
times by these excellent public servants will be clear from the fol-
lowing :-In the course of a debate in the House of Commons on the
Smuggling Bill (1736) it was given in evidence that " in some parts of
the maritime counties the whole people are so generally engaged in
smuggling that it is impossible to find a jury that will, upon trial, do
justice to an officer of the revenue in any case whatever. In those
counties where smuggling is become general, the majority of the
coroner's inquests always consists of smugglers, so that it has been
found by experience that these inquests always bring the officer and his
assistants in guilty of murder, even though it be made clearly appear,
by the most undoubted testimonies, that the killing happened de
defendendo."
WHY SMUGGLING PROSPERED.
1
bulk of a nation make it evident by their action with
reference to the object of their heart's desire, that
“ they won't be happy till they get it”—no matter
whether to their own or to the national advantage, the
struggle will be a bitter one.
As a matter of fact there was no really adequate
force available for the suppression of the trade, and
certainly during the later free-trade period—from the
commencement of the war with France till the return
of peace, in 1816, the Government had no means of
raising such a force. The reader need scarcely be
reminded that the country just at this time was
passing through one of the most momentous crises of
her history. She was engaged in a desperate struggle,
on the issue of which not only her independence,
but her very existence as a nation depended. The
greatest general of modern times was carrying on a
game of political skittles, in which dynasty after
dynasty had succumbed to his unerring strokes.
Britain alone, amongst the powers of Europe, had
survived this wreck of empires, and continued to
present an undaunted front. Blow after blow had
been parried and returned with interest; but the
strain was intense, for the population of these islands
was then but small, while, in the absence of con-
scription, the difficulty of keeping the fighting line
intact was, of course, almost insurmountable ; for no
matter how brave and patriotic a nation may be, there
is no disguising the fact that the mass of the popu-
lace are far more intent on minding their own affairs
at home than in going abroad to fight the enemy.
Happily for most countries, great crises usually pro-
duce the men capable of meeting them, and though the
means by which England's difficulty was met and
overcome may seem harsh and tyrannical to what we
76
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
VI
modern times, they were admirably adapted to the
end, and, what is of more importance, proved entirely
successful. Briefly, every able-bodied man that
could be got hold of, whether in the service of the
Crown or of private individuals, was packed off to
fight the king's enemies, and thus, while the utmost
efforts of a press-gang only just sufficed to keep the
fleet manned-batches of convicts, actually, in some
instances, being drafted to fill up vacancies in his
Majesty's ships—the most desperate expedients had
to be resorted to for the purpose of swelling the ranks
of the army. When we read of bounties of from
thirty to forty pounds being paid for the enlistment
of boys of fifteen, in the thick of the Peninsular
war, and of actual gaol deliveries to make good
deficiencies that no other means could supply, some
faint conception may be formed of the difficulties
which a harassed executive had to contend with at
this particular juncture of our history.
Obviously, under such conditions, there was little
chance of a properly organised preventive force being
called into existence, and the reader will now under-
stand why, so far, at any rate, as concerns the later
period of its existence, the hydra-headed monster of
free-trade was never fairly grappled with. The
country's extremity was the free-trader's opportunity,
and we have seen how eagerly this enterprising indi-
vidual availed himself of it.
With the termination of the struggle with France
we come to the second, or, as it has been called, the
"scientific period ” in the history of smuggling-a
period which in many ways is by far the most inter-
esting, if somewhat less sensational in its develop-
ments, from the fact that being nearer to the present
THE SCIENTIFIC PERIOD.
77
day, and therefore within the recollection of people now
living, we have more precise and detailed information
in regard to it, while a far higher degree of in-
telligence and ingenuity, not to say science, was
brought to the business than was ever displayed, or
indeed required, in the pre-scientific or free-trade
days.
The Government being at liberty to turn its at-
tention once more to home affairs, lost no time in

....
...........
Creme
.
Y
VW
IN
DIEREN
Y
2
.
_
1
-
SSP
REPRESENTATION OF AN ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE “PIGMY"
REVENUE CRUISER AND A SMUGGLING VESSEL IN 1822, CARVED
ON THE HEADSTONE OF A SMUGGLER WHO WAS SHOT ON THIS
OCCASION, IN WYKE CHURCHYARI), NEAR WEYMOUTH,
initiating active measures for the suppression of a trade
which had proved so inimical to the best interests of the
country. But the very immunity which the smugglers
had enjoyed so long not only made them extremely
loth to give up so profitable a business, but had utterly
demoralised the coast population along the entire sea-
board of the United Kingdom. Defrauding the
revenue had come to be looked on as a perfectly
justifiable means of asserting a Briton's indefeasible
right to buy his goods in the cheapest market, rather
78
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TIT
than as a practice to be eschewed by honest citizens
and loyal subjects, while the enforcement of the law
against smugglers was regarded as a piece of un-
justifiable tyranny. And no doubt when a smuggler
shot a brutal king's officer in defence of his goods,
and was called on to pay the penalty, his friends and
admirers would charge the authorities with having
provoked a breach of the peace by their unwarrant-
able interference with an old-established industry-
a nice, simple way of looking at things which never
struck these jolly free-traders as in any way repre-
hensible.
The evil was far too deeply rooted, however, to be
eradicated by a mere Government enactment; and it
required the sustained efforts of the executive en-
forcing its measures by means of a numerous and
zealous body of officers and men through a period of
nearly forty years—forty years of coercion! to cffec-
tually suppress it. And old smugglers will tell you
that the trade would never have been put down even
then had it not been for the informer, together with
great reductions in the duty on foreign spirits.
That the free-traders and their allies should bitterly
resent Government interference was, of course, only
natural, and although open defiance of the authorities
was no longer practised--the risk of armed resistance
being far too serious to be lightly incurred, except in
very special cases, several desperate conflicts took
place along the south coast, and many lives were lost
on both sides ere the spirit of resistance was finally
quelled.
The smugglers now found themselves treated to
an amount of attention which they certainly never
courted, and would fain, it is believed, have dispensed
with ; while the altered circumstances of the trade
SMUGGLING A SCIENCE.
79
necessitated a complete revolution in its methods, for,
whereas formerly the smugglers were content simply
to overawe the officers of the revenue by a display of
superior force, their efforts were now chiefly directed
to circumventing them. Each move of the executive
was met by a corresponding move on the part of the
smugglers, and in the game of plot and counterplot
which ensued a marvellous amount of ingenuity was
displayed on both sides, though certainly the palm
must in all fairness be awarded to the illicit traders,
whose fertility of resource, daring, and enterprise-
worthy, it must be confessed, of a nobler cause-can-
not but command our admiration and even respect.
The contraband trade was no longer a question of
mere brute force; it had become a science, a handi-
craft, which called into play the highest faculties, and
gradually deve'oped a species of craftsmanship which
stands unrivalled in the annals of trade. It had its
own nomenclature, its own peculiar lore, and “ trade
secrets,” which are already more than half forgotten,
and must ere long, in the very nature of things, pass
away, never to be recovered. Nearly half a century
has elapsed since a “run” of goods in the old style
has been attempted on any part of our coasts, and
sniuggling with most of us is a mere tradition, while
nearly all who took a prominent part in the business
have vanished from the stage. Here and there along
the southern seaboard, in out-of-the-way nooks, one
may still come across some old “sheer hulk," tottering
along with feeble steps, or sunning himself on a bench
by the sea, gazing with dimmed eye at the restless
play of the element associated with some of the
most stirring scenes of his life, and which even now,
in old age, exercises over him an indescribable power,
conjuring up before his mental vision, with almost
TX,
80
SIIUGGLING DAYS AND I'AY'S.
realistic force, events and days which have long gone
by. And yet it is quite likely that this old man in
his day was one of the most famous smugglers on the
coast, whose strength of limb, activity, keenness of .
vision, nerve, and fertility of resource, was unequalled
by any of the craft. Occasionally, it is true, you may
mect with an old smuggler who would fain bury his
past under a veneer of affected respectability ; but the
most of them delight in nothing better than a good
“crack" about the old smuggling days and the part
they played in them; and if you catch one of these
old fellows on the right “lay” his yarn is sure to be
worth listening to, and, as he warms to the subject,
his eyes sparkle, he fidgets on his seat, and the old
fire of youth flickers up fitfully once more. And then
when the tale is done, and the old man shakes your
hand with something of the grip of old, he says re-
gretfully, “Ah, well, neither you or I will ever see those
times again," adding, with a touch of irony, '“ Why,
bless you they haven't the heart for it nowadays!”
CHAPTER X.
Sources of Information-Smuggling Class nearly Extinct-Similarity of
Methods along the Coast–Skill of the Cornish Smugglers-Cornwall,
the Smuggler's " Paradise"Chivalrous Smugglers-Coastguard and
Contrabandists—The Suppression of Smuggling.
It has been the writer's lot, in the course of profes-
sional duties, to be thrown a good deal amongst that
particular class of the populace which in former days
supplied the most numerous and efficient recruits to
the smuggling ranks; and having made it an invariable
practice to follow the well-known and much-to-be
commended “Cuttle-ian : system of notation—“when
found”-he has succeeded, by dint of searching out
81
VT
SCOPE OF INQUIRY.
old smugglers and coastguard pensioners, in rescuing
a mass of curious information from the oblivion to
which modern indifference and respectability would
fain have consigned it. From the interest manifested
in the subject by many people it has occurred to the
writer that some attempt to gather up these scattered
threads of unwritten history, and to weave them into
the form of a connected narrative, might prove not
altogether unacceptable to the general reader.
It may be as well, perhaps, to observe that the
sources from which this particular sort of information
is to be obtained are becoming scarcer year by year;
indeed, many of the writer's old smuggling friends
have passed away since these lines were penned, and
the number of real smugglers still living may soon be
counted on the fingers of one hand, a fact which
renders their reminiscences all the more interesting
and valuable.
It would be easy, of course, to fill volumes with
anecdotes of the old smuggling days; but, interesting
as these would no doubt prove to residents near the
particular localities described, they could scarcely be
other than tedious to the general public. One may
easily have too much of a good thing, and it has there-
fore been deemed better to limit the scope of the fol-
lowing history of nineteenth centurysmuggling as far as
possible to one portion of the kingdom, supplement-
ing it by such references to other localities as may seem
necessary for the elucidation of the subject, and for im-
parting to the reader as comprehensive a view of smug-
gling ways as can be acquired without undue effort.
Confining ourselves, therefore, to the south coast
of England, which from its proximity to the Continent
offered the greatest facilities to the contrabandists, we
find a certain similarity of method distinguishing the
82
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAIS.
smuggling systems all along the seaboard, though
when we come to examine these a little more closely
we shall find many local peculiarities, which give in-
terest to the inquiry, and preserve it from the reproach
of monotony.
As regards the skill and enterprise displayed by
those who conducted the trade, it is difficult to award
the palm to any one county, though on the whole,
perhaps, and after a careful consideration of all the
circumstances of the case, the writer is inclined to
give it to the Cornishmen. Not that the East
countrymen were one whit behind them in point of
courage or activity ; but the very fact of having to
travel a far greater distance for their goods exposed
them to increased risks, and to many dangers from
which the trade elsewhere was tolerably exempt, thus
giving scope to the highcsi faculties, and developing
seamanlike qualities of no mean order. As an instance
of the desperate risks that are sometimes willingly
incurred in the pursuit of high profits, it may be stated
that when smuggling was at its height the Cornishmen
were in the habit of running over to France-a dis-
tance of about a hundred miles—in open boats, in
mid-winter too, for their supplies of spirits.
The adventurous disposition of the inhabitants of
“far Cornwall ” seemed to mark them out as pecu-
liarly suited to the prosecution of a trade fraught with
so many dangers; while the comparative isolation of
this quaint corner of England, with its rugged coast
line, its fine natural harbours with their infinite
ramifications of creeks and “pills," that seemed
to have been ordained by a special providence for
the smugglers' behoof, offered facilities which could
be matched in no other part of England. To these
natural advantages the Cornish smuggler brought
TITA
83
A SMUGGLER'S PARADISE.
in his own person an amount of skill, cunning, and
enterprise which was scarcely equalled, certainly
unsurpassed, elsewhere, and which, combined with
the remoteness of his home, enabled him to pursue
his vocation for many years after the trade had been
suppressed in more accessible parts of the kingdom.
To the credit of Cornishmen let it be recorded
that smuggling was conducted during the present
century, at least-in a far more "chivalrous ” spirit
than characterised the trade further east. There was
none of that reckless disregard for life which produced
so much bloodshed along the coasts of Kent and
Sussex ; while Cornish smugglers never disgraced
their manhood by acts of brutal and ruffianly outrage,
such as those which from earliest times have, alas !
disfigured the annals of certain eastern counties.
No history of smuggling would be complete with-
out some reference to that splendid body of public
servants which performed such yeoman service in the
final suppression of the trade, and concerning whom
the most lamentable ignorance very widely prevails
at the present day. Smuggling history is, in fact, so
closely bound up with the rise and development
of that branch of the public service known now
by the appellation of coastguard, while the spheres
of action of smuggler and preventive man are
so intertwined that the two can hardly be con-
sidered apart. It has, therefore, been deeined ex-
pedient to present the reader with a brief account of
the force which has played so important a part in the
social and economic history of our country during
the last seventy years, and to whose existence at the
present day the nation is indebted to an extent but
little appreciated for the happy immunity from smug-
gling which now very generally prevails.
F 2
84
Part II.
THE SCIENTIFIC PERIOD.
TRADE ROUTES AND SHIPPING.
CHAPTER I.
Chief Entrepôt of the Trade-Peculiar Privileges of the Channel Islands-
Effect of Smuggling on the Revenue-Futile Attempts to Introduce a
Custom House-Diversion of the Trade to French Ports—The Import-
ance of Roscoff–Dependence of Guernsey on the Smuggling Trade.
THE chief entrepôt for the smuggling trade with
England during the greater part of last century and
the early years of the present one was at the Channel
Islands; and of this very lucrative business Guernsey
monopolised by far the larger share. Thus, in de-
scribing the islands at the commencement of the 18th
century, the historian Duncan * tells us that “the
English smuggler resorted to Guernsey for his cargoes
of spirits, tobacco, tea, and other high taxed com-
modities, for which he found a ready and profitable
sale on his own coast." And again it was stated in
evidence before the committee of the House of Com-
mons which sat in 1845 to inquire into the causes of
the “most infamous practice of smuggling," that in
January of that year nine smuggling cutters sailed
from Rye for Guernsey, in order to take in large
quantities of goods to be run on the coast. It was
from here, also, that the smuggling vessel, The Two
*"The History of Guernsey.” Jonathan Duncan. 1841.
1
THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.
85
Brothers, procured her cargo of tea and spirits which
was captured and placed in “The King's Warehouse”
at Poole, and thence afterwards rescued in the manner
described. The means by which the trade became
diverted from the Island of Guernsey into other
channels and the disastrous consequences which
ensued therefrom to the inhabitants forms one of
the most curious if little known chapters in the
history of smuggling; and as some knowledge of the
facts pertaining thereto is necessary to a proper
understanding of the course which the trade took in
subsequent years, the most salient points will be
briefly sketched in for the benefit of those who are
not already cognisant of them.
It must be premised that the Channel Islands,
by reason of certain charters, dating back to a some-
what remote period, were secured the enjoyment
of special and peculiar privileges, comprising, amongst
others, exemption from the excise laws and various
Customs regulations enacted from time to time for
the protection of the revenue of Great Britain. * Con-
sequently, up to the time of the suppression of the
trade by means of certain legislative enactments which
will be presently described, the English smuggling
vessels could lay there and load in perfect security
from interference on the part of British cruisers;
while the inhabitants of the islands were not slow to
avail themselves to the fullest extent of the peculiar
advantages thus conferred on them. “Up to the
period of the first American war, in 1775, the trade of
* Amongst other curious privileges, was that of being looked upon
as a harbour of refuge, and considered neutral in times of war, so that
a prize made by either of the belligerents could be declared to be ille-
gally made. According to a high legal authority this privilege “has
never been formally abolished, but has fallen into disuse."
86
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Y
the island," says Duncan, “was chiefly confined to the
import of spirits and tobacco to supply the wants of
the English smugglers.”*
It was scarcely to be expected that with money tight
allround—theannual loss to the revenue being estimated
by the Commissioners appointed during George III.'s
reign to inquire into the matter, at £350,000—
the British Government would look favourably on the
peculiar manner in which the loyal inhabitants of
Guernsey were using, or as some might consider it,
abusing their privileges. On the contrary, the
Government, through a long course of years, had
been seriously contemplating the suppression of this
njurious trade, and on several occasions, viz., 1709,
1717, 1720, and 1722, attempts were made to impose
Custom House officers on the islands, but without
cffect. In 1767, however, the “Registrar's office," or
Custom House, was actually established in Guernsey,
and one Major appointed to the command of a
schooner of fourteen guns, with a cutter, four or five
boats, and forty men to assist in carrying on the
duties, and with full powers of examination and
seizure within the harbours and ports of Guernsey,
Jersey, etc. The instructions were full and precise,
and amongst other matters they were enjoined “to
see that no brandies or spirits be imported into or
exported from these islands in casks of less than
sixty gallons, or in vessels under fifty tons burden."
The gist of the whole matter lay in these few
words, which aimed a deadly blow at the existing
methods of the trade, conducted as it was then by
means of handy little vessels conveying the spirits in
* It was no uncommon occurrence at this time for a merchant at
Rotterdam to receive an order from Guernsey for 1,000 pipes of
geneva or gin. (See Tupper's “History of Guernsey.")
TY1T
V
ROSCOFF.
87
small casks of ten gallons—ankers as they were
called—which could be conveniently handled and
carried about.
The operations of Major and his coercionists-for
in that light did the loyal islanders regard their efforts
to obstruct trade-were, however, but short-lived,
and for some not very clearly-explained reason the
measures above described were allowed to fall into
abeyance, and Major and his staff vanished from the
page of history.
But even this half-hearted attempt to check the
trade was not without important, though little sus-
pected consequences to the future of the islands, as
will now be seen. Writing in 1841 the historian
already quoted observes, “The object of the British
Government in framing this restrictive Act (1767) was
evidently to protect her own revenue by putting a check
to smuggling, but the scheme was not as successful as
anticipated. High duties will operate as a bounty
and encouragement to illicit trade, and if one opening
be stopped another will soon be discovered. Thus it
happened with the attempt of the British Government
to secure its revenues by depriving the Channel
Islands of their chartered rights conceded by many
sovereigns and guaranteed by several Acts of Parlia-
ment. A large share of the illicit trade was transferred
to Roscoff, a small village on the coast of Brittany,
within a few hours' sail of the island. This insig-
nificant hamlet, for it deserved no higher appellation,
immediately became an interesting object to the
French Government, and it is worthy of observation
that no sooner were the officers of Customs established
in Guernsey and Jersey than the question of making
Roscoff a free port or port d'entrepôt was discussed in
the French councils and immediately agreed to.
TA
88
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The edict of the king of France was promulgated on
the 3rd of September, 1769. Its effect was soon felt.
Roscoff, till then an unknown and unfrequented port,
the resort only of a few fishermen, rapidly grew into
importance, so that from small hovels it soon pos-
sessed commodious houses and large stores, occupied
by English, Scotch, Irish, and Guernsey merchants.
These on the one hand gave every incentive to the
British smugglers to resort there ; and on the other
hand the French Government afforded encouragement
to the merchants. England added nothing to her
revenue, while France was enriched.”
These remarks supply a clue to a mystery which
puzzled the writer for a long time, and which none of
his smuggling acquaintances were able to explain,
namely, why the insignificant Brittany town of Roscoff
suddenly became, and continued to be until the
suppression of smuggling, the chief entrepôt for the
illicit trade with the western counties of England.
During the first half of the present century Roscoff
was a household word amongst west-countrymen of
all classes; and the volume of trade that streamed
into the counties of Cornwall and Devonshire from
this remote French port must have far exceeded
anything of the same description that passed through
the legitimate and duly authorised channels of H.M.
Customs. What it amounted to will be seen in due
course.
That the trade of Guernsey was but little injured
by the Order of 1767 is shown by the following:
“During the first American war," says Duncan, “and
the French revolutionary war, especially the latter, the
trade of Guernsey fourished more extensively than
at any antecedent period of her history. The island
became the principal depository of spirits, cagerly
.
THE GUERNSEY CELLARS.
89
N
purchased by the smugglers, and so great was the
traffic that many fortunes were realised simply by the
manufacture of casks. Such was the excessive import
demanded by the illicit trade that the vaults and
stores, numerous and capacious as they were, were
totally inadequate for the lodgment of the various
supplies.” *
The inquiring mind will probably wonder why
Guernsey enjoyed this advantage over her sister
islands. It may be as well, therefore, to explain that,
owing to certain climatic conditions, the island had
become a favourite place with the merchants of Bor-
deaux and elsewhere for the storage of wines, which
here developed certain qualities of excellence un-
attainable elsewhere, and this led to the construction
of the enormous cellars which were subsequently
utilised for the storage of spirits for the smuggling
trade with England.
Though England was the chief it was by no means
the only sufferer by reason of the peculiar privileges
enjoyed by the Channel islanders. Thus, it was given
in evidence that during the year preceding the last
French war the amount of manufactured tobacco
brought into Guernsey by French vessels amounted
to above one hundred thousand pounds, the whole of
which was smuggled back into Normandy and Brit-
tany, and in a report made to the French Government
* One family alone are currently reported to have amassed by this
means a fortune of £300,000, which was still further increased by
judicious speculations in French rentes. The vaults which played such
an important part in the commercial economy of Guernsey in days
gone by are still to be met with in different parts of the town of St.
Peters Port, and by their vast proportions enable one to realise in some
measure the volume of trade that passed through the island. The
greater number of them are situated on the quay facing the old harbour
and are now chiefly used for the storage of coal.
90 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
in 1781 by the Governor of Cherbourg, the Channel
Islands and their inhabitants are thus referred to:
“Good neighbours during peace, closely united by the
contraband trade, which enriches them with the in-
habitants of the neighbouring coasts of Normandy
and Brittany ... They are always in a state of
warfare ; now against the Custom House officers of
the two kingdoms; now against the French commercial
marine."
CHAPTER II.
Determination of Government to Suppress the Trade-Correspondence
between the Commissioner and the Royal Courts-Results of Diverting
the Trade to France-Encouragement of Smuggling by the French
Government–Value of the Trade to France-Privateering in the
Channel Islands, The Guernsey Merchants’ Best Customers.
AT length, after nearly thirty years had elapsed since
the passing of the Order of 1767, the British Govern-
ment became thoroughly aroused to the importance
of suppressing a traffic which had not only increased
to an enormous extent, but had proved so highly in-
jurious to the revenue. Accordingly, in 1800 the
Government sent over to Guernsey a Mr. Stiles, in
the capacity of Commissioner, who, besides entering
into personal explanations with the chief civil authori-
ties of the island with regard to the views and in-
tentions of the English Government on the subject of
the illicit trade, addressed a lengthy communication
to the Bailiff. Amongst the points touched on in
this document, the following are most worthy of our
notice :—
“... I beg leave to acquaint you more par-
ticularly that the fraudulent trade carried on from this
LETTER TO THE BAILIFF.
91
island is in its consequences so highly detrimental and
injurious to the revenue and fair trade of Great Britain
that the Lords Commissioners of H.M.'s Treasury
feel the necessity of recommending to his Majesty in
Council some measure for the prevention thereof..
... It must be presumed, sir, from your long
residence in the islands and high station you are
well aware that the illicit commerce in question has
increased to a very great and alarming extent, inso-
much as to affect the interests and lessen the revenue
of Great Britain most materially, and that at a time, too,
when she is labouring under the pressure of unusual
burdens, which have been necessarily imposed for the
maintenance of her constitution, her dearest interests,
and even her very existence as an independent state.
The inhabitants of this island are so highly favoured
as to be excused from bearing any of these burdens,
and indulged in the consumption of many articles of
commerce infinitely cheaper than the inhabitants of
Great Britain.
“It is but reasonable to hope that an injury of
such magnitude as the one complained of need only
be pointed out and impartially considered by the in-
habitants who may directly or indirectly be concerned
therein, to induce them cheerfully to acquiesce in any
measures which Government may deem expedient
for the suppression of this illicit commerce altogether ;
and as such measures must necessarily occasion a
great alteration in the trade of the island, and may
eventually affect a good deal the interests of some of
the inhabitants thereof ..they are therefore
unwilling to decide suddenly on the plan so intended
to be submitted..."
Accompanying this letter was a document setting
forth the measures contemplated by the English
92 SMUGGLING TNT
DAYS AND WAYS.
Government for the suppression of the contraband
trade, in which the following observations occur :-
“Smuggling from the islands of Guernsey and
Alderney having increased to a great and alarming
extent, and the offenders having, in some instances,
committed murder on the revenue officers on the coast
of England, Government has it in contemplation to
put a stop to such growing and serious evils, so highly
prejudicial to his Majesty's revenue and fair trade, to
effect which it is not only intended to enforce the
several rules, regulations, and restrictions contained in
his Majesty's Order in Council of February 12th,
1767, but to add others for the better carrying the
said Order into execution...
Mr. Stiles' letter and the Memorandum by which
it was accompanied created the utmost consternation
amongst the inhabitants of Guernsey, and every effort
was made to stave off measures which could not but
prove disastrous to a trade by which they all so
amazingly throve. Accordingly, a petition was drawn
up by those principally concerned, and presented to
the Bailiff. The following extracts will suffice to show
the importance of the trade to the island, as well as
the views of the islanders on the subject of its sup-
pression :
“... They cannot but feel alarm at the plan
proposed to the Royal Court to suppress the trade of
this island-a plan pregnant with ruin to thousands
of industrious inhabitants, who have carried on the
respective trades, etc., without any interference than
that which arose from his Majesty's Order in Council
of 13th February, 1767, which, being forcibly registered
but never enforced, could not be expected to be made
the sudden instruinent of the ruin of this island after
a lapse of thirty-three years. ... There is more
TTM
REPLY OF THE ROYAL COURT.
93
than conjecture to warrant the belief that the trade,
when suppressed here, would be transferred to other
ports, since there is already one port on the Continent
more resorted to by smugglers, and from which a
trade more extensive and more injurious to the trade
of Great Britain is carried on. ... The wealth
gained here reverts to the mother country, and helps
to support the public funds, promotes the navigation
of the country, and affords, in time of war, the means
of fitting out numerous privateers, to the great annoy-
ance of the enemy's trade.
“That in the other case all the advantages cease
for the mother country, and are thrown with double
weight in the scale of a rival country. The payments
are made in specie, which never returns; and a great
accession of wealth and still greater activity of cir-
culation is infused into the commercial interests of
the country.
“That the suppression of the trade of this island
would be productive at all times of the most fatal
consequences to the inhabitants ..would
annihilate large capitals, and diminish the property of
every man in the island to one-half of its value, and
reduce thousands of innocent and industrious persons
to beggary and ruin.”
The reply of the Royal Courts of Guernsey to
Mr. Stiles letter of August 31st, dated 27th Sep-
tember, 1800, is too lengthy to give here; but the
following passages will serve to indicate the line of
argument adopted, besides throwing an interesting
light on this particular chapter of smuggling history.
Adopting a lofty moral standpoint, the reply begins-
“As to smuggling, we should hold it unworthy of our
station as magistrates to countenance, or encourage
it in any manner whatever; and we would readily
94
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
concur in any measure or regulation to put a stop to
it from this island”—the descent from this lofty ideal
pedestal to the standpoint of expediency is some-
what rapid !—"had it not been evinced by facts upon
trial that the suppression of it here was shifting it to
the enemy. ... We therefore humbly submit
our doubts as to the expediency and efficiency of
shutting up the ports of this island to smugglers ...
at least in time of peace. We can now speak from
facts ... the Order of 13th February, 1767, was,
by the subsequent ones of gth October, 1767, the
16th December, 1768, and 13th March, 1769, for a
soon evinced.
: “ The French Government was no sooner apprised
of the measures than it opened several of its ports
to the smugglers, and made those ports free to
smugglers ; among those was the port of Roscoff,
to which several English, Scotch, Irish, and Guernsey
merchants resorted, and there erected several dwelling-
houses and warehouses, receiving every incitement
from the French minister, who not only declared it
a free port, but allowed rum and Spanish brandies
(notwithstanding the rivalship with theirs) to be
deposited there by entrepôt, for sale to the smugglers,
and in proof thereof, we shall beg leave to refer to a
publication in the year 1771, now delivered to you,
in which, at the appendix, are two edicts of the King
of France-No. 1, dated the 14th March, 1768, and
No. 2, dated the 3rd September, 11769; the last
issued in consequence of a letter written by the
intendant of the finances at Paris, and whose answer
is inserted at page 34, all of them evincing
the importance the French Government attached to
drawing the smugglers to that port; and also after-
IMPORTANCE OF THE TRADE.
95
wards to that of Fécamp, fronting the Sussex coast,
and of the measures taken to that end in consequence
of the above-named Orders in Council. We shall not
repeat what is inserted in the pamphlet, further than
to observe the importance to which the measure
raised the port of Roscoff-the advantage which
resulted therefrom to the produce of the French
West India Isles, and the encouragement it gave to
their Newfoundland fisheries, and thence to the
raising of seamen for the fleet, besides increasing
the population of the province, and drawing from
England some thousands of guineas, which were
carried to Paris, which, when brought to this island,
they were at all times returned to England; in proof
of which we can adduce, that one of our Southampton
traders, which had twelve hundred guineas concealed
on board, being taken in a former war by the French,
and purchased after peace by our merchants, the
whole were found on board, and returned to whom
they belonged ; and if we are rightly informed, the
port of Flushing receives, at this very time, from nine
to ten thousand guineas per week from the smugglers
who resort thither ... It may be proved that
from such measures (shifting the illicit trade from
Guernsey to the enemies' ports) they have been
enabled to fit out privateers against our trade.
Whereas, on the contrary, every acquisition of wealth
to these islands is in war launched out in privateers,
and with such success in the American war, that the
captures of French and American vessels by the
privateers of these islands amounted to about one
million and a half sterling ; * and Mr. Burke is
* In reply to inquiries, a Guernsey gentleman remarked to the
writer, “I remember hearing when at St. Malo that during the old
war there was an understanding between the merchants there and in
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
reported to have said in Parliament that he could
almost call these islands naval powers... The
spirits which are brought here and sold to the
smugglers are all low hollands proof... If we
are rightly informed what is smuggled from this
island, or Roscoff, is generally sent to Cornwall or
Devonshire, and mostly disposed of to some thousands
of miners of those counties, who mostly live under-
ground, to whoin spirits are beneficial, but who, never-
theless, could not afford to pay for entered spirits. (The
italics are the author's). .
“In this island the governor and magistrates have
been particularly attentive to prevent smuggling
vessels being armed, which has not been, and
certainly would not be attended to at Roscoff, or any
other French port. Nevertheless, it must be granted,
that in a few instances some have been wicked
enough clandestinely to carry muskets and use them
against his Majesty's Custom House cruisers, and
with them to have wounded or killed some of the
crews; but on an information given here that the
perpetrators of such enormities had sheltered them-
selves in this island, the magistrates have been
diligent in securing and delivering them up to proper
officers, that they might be sent to and tried in
England, which would not have been done in
France."
Jersey, by which they exchanged information concerning movements of
the privateers of their respective countries, with a view to escaping loss
by capture. I was even told the names of the Jersey merchants con-
cerned."
97
CHAPTER III.
The Trade Doomed–The Bill in the House of Lords-Extension of the
"Smuggling Limits” to the Channel Islands-Loyal and Self-denying
Conduct of the Guernsey Men-Methods of the Trade-Characteristics
· of the Smugglers.
If the Guernsey men had reason for alarm at the
prospect of the extinction of their trade, they had
certainly no cause to complain of any undue haste on
the part of the British Government in giving effect to
the contemplated measures for its suppression, for
the question dragged on another five years before any
definite steps were taken in the matter, and when at
length the time arrived for the final discussion of the
proposed measures in Parliament, the people of
Guernsey gave expression to their views once more
in a petition to the House of Lords.
The debate took place on July 9th, 1805, on which
occasion Lord Holland spoke eloquently and argu-
mentatively on behalf of the islanders. “The
object of the Bill," said his lordship, "is to prevent
smuggling, and so far the measure is wise and
expedient. The only question that remains is,
whether the provisions it contains are likely to be
generally effectual. I ask whether these provisions
will be equally effectual with respect to the smuggling
from France and Holland, as they will be with
respect to that from Guernsey. . . In case the
regulations are insufficient to prevent the smuggling
from France and Holland, the only effect of this Bill
will be to transfer this trade from British subjects
to foreigners, and the additional powers given to
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Custom House officers for the extent of one hundred
leagues will certainly complete this mischief. My
lords, I call it a mischief, for though I am aware I
cannot speak of smuggling here as a fair trade, yet, if
it is the necessary consequences of high duties that
smuggling should be carried on more or less, it is
better it should be carried on by subjects than by
foreigners.” After recapitulating the consequences
arising from former attempts to interfere with the
natural course of this trade, his lordship concluded
his speech with the following remarkable words :-
“It is impossible totally to prevent smuggling; the
interested motives of mankind will always prompt
them to attempt it, particularly when taxes are
extremely high, and the hope of large profit is a
temptation sufficient to make light of any risk; all
that the legislature can do is to compromise with a
crime which, whatever laws may be made to consti-
tute it a high offence, the mind of man can never
conceive as at all equalling in turpitude those acts
which are breaches of clear moral virtue.”
Whatever opinions may be held by the more
enlightened moral sense of the present day, there can
be no doubt that the speaker merely gave utterance
to sentiments that were very widely entertained at the
time, while his forecast of the probable result of the
measures proposed by Government was verified in
every particular, as will be shown in the subsequent
chapters of this history.
The other side of the question was ably handled
by Lord Hawkesbury, who pointed out that “the
vicinity of Jersey and Guernsey to this country
and the Continent gave them great facilities for
smuggling ... and it was found easy from the
vicinity of the coast of Hampshire and Sussex to
SUPPRESSION OF THE TRADE.
99
bring spirits in small barrels—in vessels of small
burdens—and roll them on shore in the night...i
And it was the opinion of those best acquainted with
the matter that the only effectual mode of remedying
the evil was to take care that none but packages of a
proper size should be made use of in the islands, and
that their trade should be carried on in vessels of a
certain burthen.... If they (the islanders) were
not prevented from fitting out smuggling expeditions
in their own ports, it was impossible to prevent the
success of these expeditions here.” It will be
observed, however, that the main objections to the
measure, from the islanders' point of view, remained
untouched ; namely, its inefficacy in really checking
the trade. In fact, they argued that the measure
would simply divert the trade to a foreign port, and
thus ruin the islanders, without bringing any resultant
benefit to the revenue of Great Britain.
3 But the British Government was inexorable, and;
in spite of all argument, held to the view expressed
many years before by Lord North, the then minister,
who, in reply to the pleading of one of the Guernsey
magistrates, deputed by the Royal Courts to lay the
case before Government, said, “We have no authority
in the ports of France, but we have in your islands,
and therefore we niust make the trial."
• By a majority in the Lords of nineteen to six the
“law to prevent smuggling” was extended to a
distance of one hundred leagues from the United
Kingdom, by which the Channel Islands were brought
within its operations; and the islanders, seeing that
the Government was inflexibly resolved to put down
the illicit trade, wisely bowed to the inevitable, and as
a proof of their loyalty to the British Crown, and their
repentance for the evil ways of the past, “the people
G2
100
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
of Guernsey," to quote the historian, Duncan,
“established a Chamber of Commerce, the condition
of membership being a promise to discountenance all
illicit traffic."
Before bringing this chapter to a close the writer
ventures to reproduce some further remarks on the
smuggling trade from the pen of the historian,
Duncan. He writes :-"Previous to its suppression
the smuggling trade was carried on in cutters and
luggers, of from 80 to 130 tons, built at Hastings,
Mevagissey,* Polperro, and other English ports, and
the greater part were owned in England, as the
inhabitants confined themselves chiefly to the sale of
goods to the smugglers, and on the outbreak of a war
either purchased these vessels or fitted out their own
as privateers, for which they were admirably adapted.
The smuggling crews were almost entirely English,
well acquainted with their own and the Irish coast,
and almost every man of whom was the beau idéal of
a British sailor-active, daring, and prodigal of their
dangerous gains. They forgot in the pleasures of the
day the risks of the morrow, as the favourite season
for their vocation was the winter.”
It remains now to be shown in what manner the
extension of the "hovering limits” to the Channel
Islands affected the flow of spirits into Great Britain.
* The Mevagissey-built vessels enjoyed an especially high reputation,
and were often purchased by East-country smugglers.
IOI
CHAPTER IV.
Vast Extent of the Trade-Continental Entrepôts-Constant Drain of
Specie from England—Glasgow “Flaskers "--Napoleon's Patronage
of the Smugglers—Smuggling in War-time-Busy Times at Flushing
--Volume of Trade between Roscoff and the West Country--The
“Underground Men" of Cornwall.
The value of the goods imported annually into Great
Britain without payment of duty during the first
quarter of the present century would be an interest-
ing subject of inquiry, but as, for obvious reasons, no
reliable data on which such calculations could be
based are forthcoming, we can only make a vague
guess on the subject from such material as can be
obtained. The old records are, unfortunately, not
very explicit on this point, but such as they are, they
enable us to realise, at least in some degree, the vast
proportions attained by the illicit trade, as well as the
marvellous energy with which it was conducted. The
general condition of the trade at the commencement
of this period was fairly well depicted by a pamphlet,
in which it was stated that the greater part of the
3,867,500 gallons distilled annually at Schiedam was
to be smuggled into England ; that a distillery had
purpose, at Dunkirk; that the French imported five
or six millions of pounds of tea, the greatest part of
which was intended to be smuggled over ; that the
trade of Dunkirk was mostly carried on by smugglers
in vessels not only large but so well constructed for
sailing, that seldom one of them was captured ; and
or by the illicit exportation of English wool. It was
further given in evidence by the Royal Courts of
102
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Guernsey, in the year 1800, that “there is no doubt
that from ten to twelve thousand guineas are every
week carried by smugglers to the Continent.”
A correspondent of a Glasgow paper gives the
following very graphic picture of the state of
smuggling in the North :—“Howsoever much the
regular commerce of the country is impaired by the
present pressure, there is no question the smuggling
trade continues with extreme vivacity. This extra-
ordinary traffic appears to be conducted with a
publicity which could scarcely be credited by the
testimony of one's own sight. The smugglers—or, as
they are called from the manner of conveying whisky,
"flaskers”-go in large bands on the high roads in open
day, and laugh at the traveller who, in his looks,
expresses wonder at contraventions of law so un-
disguised, and yet so undetected. One Monday.
night, for instance, a gang of twenty-four, with the
order of so many soldiers, marched through Spring-
bank to Cowcaddens, in the suburbs of Glasgow,
where, in the face of numbers of persons, some of
whom bawled out, “Success to smuggling !' they
entered a house, and deposited their laden flasks until
night enabled them to penetrate safely to their re-
setters in Glasgow." (1816.)
Some curious evidence on the same subject is
furnished by the Emperor Napoleon, who, doubtless,
had good authority for his statements. Speaking of
the English smugglers, he said: “They did great
mischief to your Government; they took from France
annually forty or fifty millions of silks and brandy."
It would be only reasonable to suppose that the
war with France would have very materially affected
this trade. As a matter of fact, however, it went on
very much as before, the French Government, for
TU
i
i
FRENCH SUPPORT OF SMUGGLING. 103
reasons of its own—which are not hard to divine-
offering every facility and encouragement to the
English smugglers to frequent their ports. “ During
the war," observed the Emperor Napoleoni, “they had
a part of Dunkirk allotted to them, to which they
were restricted ; but as they latterly went out of their
limits, committed riots, and insulted everybody, I
ordered Gravelines to be prepared for their reception,
where they had a little camp for their accommodation.
At one time there were upwards of five hundred of
them in Dunkirk.”* After the close of the war the
trade in tea, silks, tobacco, and spirits, was carried on
with grcater activity than ever, more especially from
the French ports, the partial restrictions on intercourse,
which had necessarily rather cramped the smugglers'
movements during the war, being now removed. By
degrees tea became difficult to get, while the reduced
duties on silks left little profit to the smuggler.; but
spirits incre ised in value, by being some 40 per
cent. over proof, while tobacco still gave large profits.
The particulars that will now be presented may be
accepted as perfectly authentic, having been supplied
by agents on the spot, or gathered from old records,
and they certainly furnish a curious commentary on
the revenue laws of the period concerned.
In 1819 the following vessels were reported to be
fitting out at Flushing for smuggling purposes with
the British coast, viz. :-
Vlunix lugger
...
Idas (No. 1) cutter ...
157
Idas (No. 3) cutter ...
Jane cutter ... ...
207
Folkestone lugger ...
(also a cutter building).
7
i
Tons.
200
180
140
*“Napoleon at St. Helena.”
By Barry O'Meara.
104 SMUGGLING GGLIN
A
YS DAYS AND WAYS.
• 1823, October.—The Hopewell lugger of 80
tons sailed from Flushing with 1,200 five-gallon
casks (half ankers) of brandy and geneva, intended
to be run at Truro in Cornwall for a person called
Sleeman.
From Jersey it was reported that on March 17th
a Cawsand Bay boat of 15 tons took in at St.
Brelade's Bay upwards of 300 ankers of brandy
and several bales of tobacco. On March 31st
a cutter of 25 tons from near Plymouth took
in at the same place upwards of 600 tubs of brandy
and geneva, besides a quantity of other goods ; and
on June roth a cutter of 25 tons from East Looe
in Cornwall took in at the same place 690 casks
of brandy, and during the same month a Cawsand
Bay boat took away a large cargo of spirits.
Evidently the inclusion of the Channel Islands
within the "hovering limits” had not had the desired
result of suppressing the illicit traffic ; indeed, it is a
well-known fact that a very brisk smuggling trade
went on with the Channel Islands in spite of all
Government measures and “self-denying ordinance"
on the part of the Guernsey men, up to within compara-
tively recent times, the only difference lying in the
fact that, instead of being carried on in the free and
undisguised manner which had obtained formerly,
the operations were conducted clandestinely, and that
tobacco very largely took the place of spirits.*
1
TY
* Readers of the “Life of Sir Charles Napier" will doubtless remem-
ber that when, as a young officer, he was crossing to Guernsey with his
regiment, an alarm was raised during the night that a French privateer
was chasing them. The stranger sailed round them, and on receiving a
volley sheered off, answering their hail with “ Guernsey smuggler."
This occurred in 1807, two years after the “self-denying ordinance"
had been passed.
YI
The FLUSHING SMUGGLERS. 105
The reader will doubtless recollect the pathetic
picture of the "underground men ” of Cornwall and
Devonshire, which the Guernsey men touched in by
way of extenuating their evil ways in regard to the
liquor traffic when threatened with Government inter-
ference ; how they spoke of them as a class “to
whom spirits were beneficial, but who, nevertheless,
could not afford to pay for entered spirits." Now it
is quite possible that there are honest souls who will ex-
perience a painful shock of surprise at the levity of these
Guernsey men in referring to spirits as “beneficial”
even to “underground men," and we all know how
opinions differ on this point; but on one subject at
least there can be no difference of opinion in view of
the facts stated, namely, that beneficial, or not bene-
ficial, the Cornishmen were intent on having a real
good time of it.
During 1824 several persons who were deeply
concerned in the smuggling carried on from Flushing
had a difference, with the result that they separated,
and one party established itself at Ostend on a very
extensive scale under the firm of Trueman and Co.,
erected several tobacco presses, and placed two very
large luggers on the stocks to be used for smuggling.
Another party, under the firm of Phillipson and Co.,
established itself at Nieuport with three luggers, mak-
ing frequent trips to the English coast with tin cases
of snuff, and tubs of brandy and gin.
A correspondent, writing from Ghent in October,
reported a great increase having taken place in the
smuggling establishments there, that additional
tobacco presses had been erected, and that the pro-
duce was sent over in tin waterproof cases, which
were taken by the large fishing “doggers” belonging
to the place, and exchanged for fish or money with
1
106 SMUGGLING lud
DAYS AND WAYS.
the Harwich and other boats at sea. On approaching
the coast the cases were sunk, and afterwards picked
up by small boats as opportunity offered.
Shortly after information was received of a large
armed smuggling craft from Flushing, expected on
the coast of Devon or Cornwall “the first easterly
wind.”
In November a correspondent at Roscoff supplied
the following information concerning certain well-
known smuggling boats and their probable destina-
tion:-
Maria (ist) of Cawsand ... West of the Deadman in Cornwall, where
it is intended to run the goods.
Maria (2nd) of Cawsand ... West of the Deadman in Hemmick Cove,
at the Dodman.
Cruizer ... of Polperro ... St. Austell Bay (N.B. - She landed her
last crop at Meragissey, Oct. 24.)
Ant ... of Mevagissey St. Austell Bay, near the Blackhead.
Arethusa ... of Cawsand ... St. Austell Bay, near the Blackhead.
Exchange of Polperro ... St. Austell Bay, near the Blackhead.
The St. Austell Bay mentioned here comprised an
extensive stretch of coast on the south of Cornwall,
bounded by Mevagissey on the west, and the Gribbon
on the east, in those days very imperfectly guarded,
and consequently a favourite place for landing goods.
Curiously enough, about this time a notation
occurs in the old records to the effect that "several
runs having taken place in the Fowey district, the
officers and crews are reprimanded, and all promotion
is stopped,” from which it may be inferred that the
“underground men” had succeeded in saving their
Christmas supplies of liquor.
One result of these “runs" was the establishment
of additional coastguard stations for the more efficient
protection of this portion of the coast; and as, later
BUSY Times AT ROSCOFF.
107
on, the coastguard made some very valuable seizures
hereabouts, let us hope they removed the stigma
which had attached to them. .
From this time forward Roscoff assumed a posi-
tion of extraordinary importance in smuggling an-
nals, and, judging from the facts which have come
down to us, did a larger volume of trade with the
West of England than almost any other foreign port,
a striking confirmation of the views expressed by the
Royal Court of Guernsey.
Next year, 1825, a French sloop with two Polperro
men on board besides her crew sailed from Roscoff
with a cargo of spirits for some place near the Land's
End. Information was also received that the
Venus, of Rye, 80 tons, had worked three
voyages lately, of 800 casks of spirits each time, in
the “ London river;" that a schooner of 122 tons and
a crew of thirty men was taking in a cargo of
hollands, brandy, tobacco, and tea, at Flushing, for
Ireland, while the Whiting, Two Brothers, and Fox .
smacks, of London, were loading at the same port
with geneva, brandy, etc., for the West of England,
and the cargoes were being prepared for sinking.*
CHAPTER V.
Smuggling from Jersey-Reconnoitring off Roscoff-Fighting over the
Spoil-Activity of the Revenue Cutters—"Our Own Correspondent”-
French Smuggling Vessels-—"French Jack"—Halcyon Days at
Roscoff-Narrow Escape of Smuggling Boats.
EARLY in 1826 a thirty-feet galley to row ten oars
was reported to be building at Jersey for the purpose
* This operation will be described later on.
108
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
of smuggling between that island and England.
Boats of this description played a most important
part in the smuggling economy of olden days, and
this importance rather increased than otherwise as
time went on, and speed became a greater desidera-
tum than ever in the successful prosecution of the
trade. We shall hear more of these galleys as the
history proceeds.
In consequence of several well-known snuggling
boats being absent from Cawsand, and supposed to be
taking in cargoes at Roscoff, the revenue cutter
Harpy, of the Plymouth station, was sent across to
look them up (June, 1826), and on reconnoitring
outside Roscoff, discovered there the Little Henry, of
Portsmouth, the Bee, Jane, and Friend's Endeavour, of
Cawsand, and Hope, of Polperro-all no doubt on
smuggling intent, though safe in a French port at
present. This information was coupled with a note
'to the effect that “these boats being outside of their
limits are liable to seizure on attempting to return to
the English coast," from which we may anticipate an
exciting game of hide and seek, the first “darks,”
or moonless nights, with a southerly breeze.
Sometimes the good cognac was diverted into
quite other channels than its owners intended, and, to
judge by the graphic little picture of the times pre-
sented below, we may infer that the crews of the
revenue cutters were as much on the alert, and, as
eager to participate in the spoils of the trade as their
fellow preventive men on shore. It is recorded (Feb.,
1827) that “the commander of the Lion, revenue
cutter, was reprimanded for allowing his boat's crew
to take by force part of a 'seizure' made by the boats
of the Looe and Polperro stations.” It seems that the
Lion's men, in their anxiety to share in a seizure,
EXTENT OF THE TRADE. 109
endeavoured to carry off some of the tubs "crept” up
by the Polperró boat's crew, under command of the
chief officer of the station, who, in consequence of the
reckless way in which the Lion's men used their
knives in cutting off the tubs from the sinking rope,
had several of his fingers severely cut. A pretty
state of things, indeed! Evidently these untamed
young lion cubs wanted licking into shape.
The following case affords a curious illustra-
tion of the proverbial slip 'twixt the cup and the
lip :-" The Lively was captured in Lundy Roads
(Nov., 1831) with 300 tubs of spirits on board,
having been twenty-six days at sea." Nearly
four weeks “battyfagging” about, waiting a chance
to run her cargo, and then to be taken! Hard luck,
indeed! The records further state that “two of her
crew were sent into the navy and one to gaol” to
repent at leisure !
It must be understood, of course, that these cases
are merely selected as representative ones out of a
very large number that have drifted to the surface,
and can by no means be accepted as affording any
real indication of the volume of the trade that poured
into the country during the period in question, or of
the activity with which it was conducted. The
records are often silent when we are most in want of
information, and we have need to read between the
lines to get a true measure of the energy brought to
bear on this particular branch of industry.
Next year (March, 1832) “a well-informed cor-
respondent" reported from Roscoff that "smuggling
had not been carried on so 'extensively at any time
during the last twenty years as it is now.” At the
same time several boats were reported taking in
cargoes of spirits under the Isle of Bass (outside
110 SMUGGLING DAYS AND IY
1
WAYS.
Roscoff), which said news had the effect of putting
the revenue cruisers on the qui viveand to some
purpose, as the sequel shows: for soon after (April)
we read that the revenue cruisers Harpy and Arrow,
belonging to Plymouth, made three Cawsand boats
and one from Yealm throw over their cargoes to
escape capture—a waste of good liquor which must
have brought sorrow to many a household.
More news from Roscoff in September that “the
Good Intent is carrying on a successful contraband
trade in brandy and tobacco between the Isle of Bass
and Plymouth. Also that the Daniel and William,*
passenger vessel, of Portsmouth, is occasionally em-
ployed in the same trade; and that a boat had arrived
at Roscoff with her name covered over with canvas,
and that Mallabay,t a merchant, was preparing sixty
tubs of spirits to put on board her during the follow-
ing night. Further, that another cutter called the
Jean Baptiste had been purchased for smuggling
tobacco; and that the Aurore had been altered so as
to admit of her cargo being placed on deck when
nearing the shore, ready to land; also that a long
clincher-built' boat to draw but little water was
being built for her."
The attractions of Roscoff seemed to grow
stronger as time rolled on; the bare mention of the
name, indeed, being enough to bring an anticipatory
gleam of delight into the face of a properly-consti-
tuted Cornishman of those days, for was it not
synonymous with cheap liquor and baccy? Thus,
for many years, the produce of Roscoff, or Rusco, as
it was called, proved as indispensable to the men of
the west country as their daily bread, and while they
* A celebrated smuggling craft.
One of the chief spirit merchants patronised by the smugglers.
THE CHERBOURG SMUGGLERS. III
poured their gold into the laps of the Roscovites like
water, the latter repaid them with the water of life
they loved so well.
In Noveniber, 1832, information was received
from the same source of the sailing of the Rose from
Roscoff with 100 tubs of brandy for Fowey; and
a little later of the following vessels being there,
viz., the Eagle, 35 tons, and Rose, ii tons, both of
Fowey, and bound to Fowey with spirits.
Just picture the scare in smuggling circles at
Roscoff, had a little bird whispered “a chiel's amang
ye taking notes and faith he'll !” We can under-
stand now why so many of their nice little schemes
"went aft agley.” For the sake of the revenue—to
say nothing of his own person, let us hope “our
correspondent" never fell into the hands of the Phi-
listines, or there would have been rough work to
report from Roscoff.
In January, 1833, some interesting information is
given concerning the movements of French smug-
gling vessels, further to the eastward, viz. : “The
following from Cherbourg are in the habit of visiting
the English coast, chiefly about Weymouth; they
range from 27 to 37 tons :-
Betsey)
Louise
L'Espoir
Phæbe just built. Sisters
Argus
Eliza
L'Amité
Bier Aime
Arthur Eugène L'Aimable Vii tue.
“The following mostly frequent Dartmouth-
Jeune Eliza
L’Argus
Two Sisters
L’Active Eugenie
Louisa (The master of this vessel formerly sailed in the Two
Brothers. He is called “ French Jack," and has
lately been released from Bodmin gaol).”
The enterprising smuggler known by the sobriquet
112 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
of “French Jack” was a rather celebrated character
in his way, and was well known to the revenue cutters
on the Dorsetshire coast. There are old pensioners
living still who have a lively recollection of “French
Jack” and his good old cognac, a bottle of which was
always kept in the binnacle expressly for the boat's
crews that boarded his vessel-a considerate act on
his part, for many was the dance he led them. He
was said to be very popular amongst the cutter's
men! Can we be surprised ?
In February we find the Daniel and William back
again at Roscoff, also the Eagle, Laura, and Help.
“ They are to sail the first fair wind.”
And again in March—“ Information from a. pri-
vate source" at Roscoff, of the sailing of the follow-
ing smuggling vessels, which are working under
feigned names :-
Love, with 250 tubs of brandy destined for Coverack (Cornwall).
Help , 110
Plymouth.
Rough,, 260
Dartmouth.
Eagle , 300
Fowey.
T
To which is appended a note that “The Rough
is a fine cutter of 28 tons, and her master's
name is Smooth. It is her first trip to Roscoff.”
This sounds like a jeu d'esprit on the part of the
skipper : and so it is, for later on comes “informa-
tion” from the same source that the Help is really
the Dove, of Cawsand, and the Rough the Sun, of
Cowes.
The extraordinary activity with which the smug-
gling trade between Roscoff and the coast of Cornwall
was being conducted may be gathered from the list
of sailings and arrivals for the month of March, 1833,
furnished by the correspondent above-mentioned :-
WEST-COUNTRY SMUGGLERS.
113
TONS.
14
12
ARRIVALS BETWEEN 13TH AND 31ST MARCH.
YAWL.
Goldfinch ...
From Plymouth.
Four Brothers
Plymouth.
Goldfinch ...
Dartmouth.
Supply
Dartmouth,
Rose ...
13 ...
Lizard.
Dove ...
Cowes.
Eagle ...
35 ...
Fowey.
William
Falmouth.
Love ...
Coverack.
,, Plymouth.
Trip Eagle ... ...
Fowey.
(Love ...
Coverack.
:::::::::
::::::::::
2nd Goldfinch
Rose
DEPARTURES BETWEEN 15TH AND 27TH MARCH.
*Goldfinch with 90 tubs ...
For Plymouth.
Four Brothers, 20
Plymouth,
Goldfinch
,, Dartmouth.
Supply
, 60 ..
Dartmouth.
, 80 » ...
Lizard.
Dove
, 125 „ ... ...
Cowes.
* Eagle
9 150 » ... ... , Fowey.
* Love
» 125 » ...
» Coverack.
William , 80 » ... ... ,, Falmouth.
Total 850
“ Note-The three boats marked thus * have been very successful,
especially the two last, on board of which are the two Dunstans.* They
sailed on the 27th, landed their cargoes, and were back to Roscoff on
the 31st. A tobacco voyage will now take place ; Mallabay is con-
ducting the preparations with the greatest secresy, and is trying to get
authorised by the Customs to load in the roads of the Isle of Bas."
Next month comes the following information from
Roscoff :-
DEPARTURES BETWEEN 13TH AND 20TH APRIL.
Goldfinch with 100 tubs ... ... For Plymouth.
Love » 150 ... ... For Fowey.
* The two Dunstans above-mentioned belonged to a celebrated smug-
gling family, one of the survivors of which was living until quite re-
cently, and was well known to the writer, to whom on various occasions
he imparted some curious smuggling reminiscences.
114
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Eagle
Fox
Friends
Goldfinch
with 180 tubs ...
70 „ ...
» 150 » ...
„ ICO , ...
» Coverack.
, Dartmouth.
» Plymouth.
» Teignmouth.
..
Total
750
“Note. The first three boats put back twice since their arrival on
March 31st, having been chased by a revenue cruiser.. They were fired
at, and the Eagle was in the greatest danger, having only escaped by
good sailing."
CHAPTER VI.
Where are the Coastguard ?-Prize-money Galore—Roscoff Again-Activity
of the West-country Smugglers- Fate of Smugglers-Hovering Limits
-Terrors of the Middle Passage—The Two Brothers-Eveniful Lives
of Smugglers.
WHAT, it may be asked, were the coastguardmen
doing all this time? And where were the revenue
cruisers ? From the scant information supplied by
the records, it might be supposed that little was being
done by H.M. servants to stop the flow of cheap
liquor. As a matter of fact, however, both coastguard
and revenue cruisers were busy enough, and prize
money was plentiful. A casual entry here and there
gives one an inkling of what was going on. Let the
reader judge for himself.
Here are some of the entries for 1833:-
"July. Forty-two tubs, the Dove's cargo, are
taken by the boats of the Harpy, revenue cruiser,
and Cawsand and Yealm stations."
“Twenty-one tubs are taken by the Cawsand crew
in the galley John, of Cawsand; the remainder are still
sunk off the Eddystone. They are part of a 'crop'
115
SEIZURES.
belonging to John A--, of Downderry, 'who was
seen near Craft Hole, lying by a hedge, drunk.""
Poor John A--, to what a pass did the good old
cognac bring thee! Not an exceptional case, though,
by any means. It may be remarked, in passing, that
our friend was a noted smuggler, some of whose ad-
ventures were recounted to the writer by a member
of the family.
“ August. One hundred and fifteen tubs belonging
to the Dove were taken by the Looe coastguard.
“ September. Five tubs washed ashore near Looe,
and a boat marked Fox, of Plymouth, found on the
beach a mile west, and another tub in the cliff close
by.
"Fifty-seven tubs belonging to the Elizabeth are
crept up by the Looe boat off Seaton.
"October. Fifty-eight tubs out of sixty, forming
the cargo of the Dove, are crept up off Downderry by
the Looe boat.
“November. A new boat without name is found
on Lantivet beach, and sixty-nine tubs of spirits are
found in the cliff near Lantivet beach, which are
believed to have been landed from the Daniel and
Williain on the morning of the 14th inst., and the
boat afterwards removed to Lantivet.
“December. Some tubs belonging to the Four
Brothers are taken near Plymouth breakwater by the
Cawsand crew. The Admiral's tender chased the
Daniel and William near the Eddystone, but lost
sight of her in a fog." And so on.
But all these captures were a mere drop in the
ocean to the stream of liquor that flowed in, and
evidently had no damping effect on the trade, for
news comes from Roscoff again of the departure of an
English schooner with 300 tubs, which “she took
H 2
116
S11UGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
S
AS
in one night, and sailed again at 4 next morning."
Also of the following :-
Jane with 135 tubs ... ... For Plymouth.
Active , 190 » ... ...
William } detained by fine nights and N.E, winds.
Goldfinch}"
And so the game went merrily on, with varying
success on both sides; the smugglers being eager and
willing to risk the crossing so long as freights were
high, while the freighters considered themselves amply
recompensed so long as they could save one cargo
out of three. And we may be sure the coastguardmen
enjoyed the fun, and seldom grumbled at overwork
while seizures were plentiful.
As a matter of fact, during no period was smug-
gling carried on with more energy or success in the
West of England—not excepting even the free-trade
days, than during that comprised between 1825–35.
And in this trade no one took a more prominent or
active part than the inhabitants of the quaint little
village of Cawsand, on the western shore of Plymouth
Sound. Their boats were in demand all along the
south coast of Cornwall, while the men who sailed
them enjoyed a reputation for skill, daring, and enter-
prise which was unequalled in any part of the king-
dom.*
As for the authorities, they were at their wits' ends
how to stop the trade. The extension of the hovering
limits to one hundred leagues from the British coast
-which was to have proved the death-blow to
YYYY
The writer has succeeded in compiling, from authentic sources, a
list of no less than fiſty-two boats and eighty-one men belonging to
Cawsand in the habit of making occasional runs across to Roscoff for
contraband during the ten years, 1832-42. Not a bad record for a
fishing village !
FATE OF SMUGGLING BOATS.
117
smuggling—had only driven the trade to French ports
-as foretold, without sensibly diminishing the im-
ports. The Government had played its trump card
and here was the result.
However, a smuggler's luck could not last for
ever, and there was something chilling to say the
least in the spectacle of a fine boat-the smuggler's
own property may-be, and on which his chances of
earning a livelihood depended-being slowly and
solemnly sawn through into three separate portions,
while the cargo of good old cognac, with which, alas !
at an unfortunate moment it had been freighted, was
diverted into altogether unlooked-for channels. Such,
however, was the fate of a smuggling boat when
taken in flagrante delicto ; while for the crew their
fate was five years' service in a man-of-war, or a term
of imprisonment on shore, all of which must have
rubbed a good deal of the gilt off the gingerbread of
a smuggling transaction.
The extension of the "hovering limits” had
proved advantageous to the preventive men in one
respect, insomuch as they had now the power of
arresting any vessel or boat discovered outside of the
limits specified on her licence, viz., three leagues from
the English coast, in the case of vessels not engaged
in the foreign trade, and all boats. The very fact of
being outside the three league limit was regarded as
ipso facto proof of being on smuggling intent, and
sufficient to warrant seizure and detention, if not con-
demnation. Still, the sea was wide, the revenue
cutters were few and far between, while the crossing
was always made at night in a strong breeze, for
choice; and so far as sailing qualities were concerned,
the smuggling boats were notoriously capable of
showing their heels to every cruiser on the coast.
118
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The chances of capture were not, however, the
only risk attaching to the smuggling trade, there
were the dangers of the “middle passage," no light
ones either, when it is remembered that the winter
was the time when the trade was prosecuted the most
actively.
Crossing the hundred miles of water intervening
between Roscoff and the Cornish coast in the bittergales
of a hard winter was no child's play in a decked vessel,
and we can only dimly surmise what must have been
gone through in the open boats, to which the more
adventurous souls trusted their persons and their
cargoes. Many a "neat little crop" had to be sacri-
ficed in mid-channel to the safety of the boat, and
tales are still handed down from father to son of
these “battering times, and of boats and inen that
sailed, but never returned. One such story the writer
remembers well, in which it was related of a well-
known Cawsand smuggling boat, how she was lost on
the Mewstone with all her crew; the head of one
man, a very celebrated smuggler, whose brother was
holding high rank in the royal navy, being found
afterwards in the cabin.
An entry the writer chanced on in some old
records affords another picture of these stirring days:
“ March, 1834. — The Arrow, revenue cruiser,
chased the Two Brothers on shore on Plymouth
breakwater at one a.m., when she became a total
wreck. The crew saved themselves with great
difficulty by lashing themselves to the cranes, and
were taken off at daylight by the crew of the light-
vessel. The Harpy and Arrow secured the wreck
together with 101 full tubs. The Bovisand coast-
guard boat got four more, and the rest went to
pieces,"
EAST COAST SMUGGLING. 119
A smuggler's life was by no means all beer and
skittles, as the saying goes. It was exciting, no
doubt, if not particularly glorious, and had its ups
and downs like every other walk in life-rather more
so in fact than most. Still, it seemed to possess
attractions to the coast population of those days,
and certainly never wanted for patrons..
CHAPTER VII.
East Coast Smuggling-Smuggling Galleys–New Developments of the
Trade- A Run of £20,000 worth of Goods—A Famous Smuggling
Craft-Busy Times at Boulogne-Smuggling in French Boats—The
Cawsand Fleet-A Curious Instance of Reversion.
So far, this history has been chiefly concerned with
the West of England. A few particulars which it is
now proposed to submit to the reader will show that
the contraband trade was conducted with equal
assiduity further East, if with somewhat less variety
of incident. As a matter of fact there had been
scarcely any break in the trade, or any diversion of
the stream from one port to another, as was the case
in the West of England; while even the war with
France, as we have seen—thanks to the fostering care
of Napoleon-scarcely effected any change in the an-
nual volume of imports. Certainly the “blockade "*
had necessitated certain adaptations in the methods
of the trade, and of these the most important was the
more extensive employment of smuggling galleys
and “tub-boats.” Luggers and decked boats still
did a large business from Deal, Margate, Ramsgate,
* The “coast blockade" along the Kent and Sussex coast, de-
scribed further on.
120 SMUGGLING 1
Y 29
Y
DAYS AND WAYS.
Folkestone, Hastings, and Rye, from the latter
especially ; while on the other side of the Channel the
chief smuggling depôts were at Flushing, Nieuport,
Dunkirk, Calais, Harfleur, Boulogne, Gravelines, and
Fécamp, and lastly Cherbourg. The galleys were
constantly running from the latter port, as well as
from Calais, Dunkirk, and Boulogne, and the records
are full of references to the activity displayed at these
notorious smuggling centres. Thus, in 1831, the
coastguard stations were cautioned that “smuggling
in open boats from Boulogne and other ports opposite
Kent and Sussex is carried on as actively as ever by
some secret mode,” which they are enjoined to dis-
cover-if they can!
The galleys were usually manned by English
smugglers, though built and owned by Frenchmen.
They would dash across from the French coast, and
sometimes even from the Channel Islands, to Port-
land and places further east, being timed to reach the
English coast soon after dark, where they would
"run" or more usually sink their cargoes, and be
back by daylight next morning. It was a common
practice with the crews of smuggling vessels lying at
Cherbourg waiting for a fair breeze, to inake a trip
over to Portland or the Isle of Wight in one of these
galleys-pour passer le temps-receiving £i per man
for the trip from the freighter.
The establishment of the coastguard on the
south-east coast in place of the “blockade” soon
made itself felt in smuggling circles ; and in 1832 the
following warning was issued :—“The smugglers being
disconcerted along the coast of Kent and Sussex in
the more open mode of smuggling, intend trying to
import their goods in partly-laded colliers.” This
method of smuggling continued in high favour for
0
1
T27
SMUGGLING ON A GRAND SCALE. 121
many years, and several large seizures were made by
active officers.
The following piece of information from a
"private source” gives a curious insight into the
trade methods of the period. The letter was dated
from Bombay, and ran as follows (June, 1832):-
“The chartered ship Orwell will be on the coast of
England with a valuable contraband cargo to be dis-
tributed among small trading craft, previous to our
arrival in London river in May or June, 1833. We
have Gravesend watermen on board, who are to con-
duct the trade in the river. In this manner £20,000
worth was smuggled last voyage by one of these
ships. Even the gunbreechings were sick,' and
crape shawls 'served' over them, and we have many
men on board who have made fortunes by this
trade.”
Dry goods were still smuggled from the Con-
tinental ports on a very large scale when opportunity
offered. Thus, in 1834, we find "a cutter of about
80 tons is expected on the Sussex coast from
Nieuport with dry goods, worth from three to four
thousand pounds, supposed to be the Eliza. There
are three other cutters there, of 35 to 40 tons.”
The Eliza, it may be remarked, was a celebrated
armed smuggler that chiefly frequented the Irish
coast.
Four years later (1838) a correspondent wrote
from Boulogne :—“Smuggling has been carried on
from here to a great extent these three months past;
over twenty vessels of various sizes have left with
cargoes."
The practice of crossing in English boats became
at length, through the vigilance of the coastguard on
shore, and revenue cruisers afloat, fraught with too
122 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
_
much risk to be any longer indulged in. A caution,
dated March, 1839, will explain matters more
clearly :-
“In consequence of the large number of Cawsand
and other English boats that have been recently
taken, lost, and made to throw overboard their
cargoes, the coastguards are warned of the probability
of the smugglers employing French boats to bring
over their cargoes.”
This warning was not uncalled for. As a matter
of fact the employment of foreign vessels had become
pretty general amongst English freighters, who were
thus enabled to conduct their operations without ex-
citing the suspicions of the home authorities, a result
which it was almost impossible to avoid in the case of
English craft, whose absence from their accustomed
haunts, together with their crews, had the effect of
putting the coastguards on the qui vive.
The famous Cawsand smuggling fleet now vanished
from the stage, having long played its part with a
degree of skill, energy, and industry that seems little
short of marvellous. But if the activities of the
Cawsand men had been driven into other channels, let
it not be supposed that the traffic had been suppressed
-far from that! Here, for instance, is an entry
which throws light on the matter (October, 1843) :-
“A new mode of smuggling is discovered, viz., cargoes
are brought over in French vessels, and when within a
convenient distance from the shore, the tubs are rafted,
and towed to the place appointed, to land by a 'tub-
boat,' which is carried on board the vessel for that
purpose. To prevent the discovery of an assemblage
of persons waiting for the arrival of the vessel, the
tubs, on being first landed, are deposited in caves, or
buried in the sand. The carriers are then collected,
E
FRENCH SMUGGLERS.
123
and early the following night led to the spot where
the tubs are secreted."
The French smuggling vessels whose names most
often occur at this time are :-
Le Pierre.
Le Oif.
Letitia.
Le Annie.
La Grande Favella.
La Petite Emilie.
Le Anna (French Jack, master). — This vessel
traded mostly between Guernsey and the western
parts with tobacco, and often brought across one or
two of the notorious Cawsand and other smugglers as
"spotsman," or freighter. Increased energy was
now devoted to the smuggling of tobacco, from which
large profits could still be realised. Thus (December,
1843) it was reported that large quantities of smuggled
tobacco were selling in London and other large towns,
and in January following, “great energy is shown by
the smugglers at Flushing and Guernsey in sending
over cutters with tobacco."
Although the illicit trade was now, as a matter of
expediency, chiefly conducted in foreign “bottoms,"
English vessels and boats often made clandestine
trips across to the French coast, while en route from
port to port—sometimes taking in cargoes of contra-
band in mid-channel, from vessels sent to meet them.
The worst offenders in this line of business were the
pilot vessels and trawlers—notably the Cowes pilot-
vessels ; while of the trawlers, the Place, Boconnoc, and
One and All, * of Fowey, are most worthy of mention.
1
* This curious name calls for explanation. The Cornish arms and
the motto, "One and All,' are said to have originated during the
crusades, when a certain Duke of Cornwall was taken prisoner by the
Saracens, and held to ransom for fifteen bezants. On the news reach-
ing Cornwall the whole of the population subscribed the necessary sum,
and their Duke was liberated. The fifteen bezants are represented by
124 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
In this way smuggling dragged on a fitful sort of
existence for a number of years, with occasional
bursts of activity-consequent, doubtless, on the re-
laxed vigilance of the coastguard, who now began to
lack the stimulus of prize-money, seizures becoming
scarcer every year. Thus, in July, 1850, there is an
entry to the effect that “smuggling has greatly in-
creased again," and the year after a correspondent,
writing from Plymouth, observes :-“I am credibly
informed that the funds for smuggling on this part of
the coast are larger than they have ever been for five
years."
Curiously enough, just before the final extinction of
the trade we meet with the names of several old
revenue cruisers figuring amongst the lists of
smuggling vessels. Thus, in February, 1850, “The
Childers, 201 tons, late a revenue cruiser, and formerly
captured as a smuggler in the Bristol Channel, has
been bought by her former owner-a barber by trade,
residing in Guernsey—and sailed from Plymouth with
five suspicious characters, who have been in constant
communication for the last ten days with well-known
Plymouth smugglers, with whom the master is in
frequent company.” Also the Rob Roy, late revenue
cruiser, which “has been fitting out at Ramsgate for
smuggling, has sailed with some notorious smugglers
on board, two of whom were previously captured and
imprisoned.”
Again, in April, the Secret, of Poole, one of the
revenue cruisers, “ lately sold out of the service," is
reported to have arrived at Pentewan, near Mevagissey,
in Cornwall, where Richard K- , of smuggling
the fifteen balls in the shield of the Cornish arms, and the motto,
"One and All," was chosen to commemorate the fact that all subscribed.
Of course, other explanations are offered.
THE SCILLY ISLANDS.
125
notoriety, appeared, and was in constant communica-
tion with the master.
And last of all, the Eliza, “late coastguard tender
at Fowey, and formerly captured by the Cawsand crew
as a smuggler, is expected with a cargo of spirits from
Roscoff.”
And, having thus come back once more to the
place we started from, this chapter must close, ob-
serving that this is the last mention of Roscoff in
smuggling annals.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Scilly Islanders--Sunday Diversions—Warm Reception of a Coast-
guardman-Occupations of the Inhabitants--Condemnation of Smug-
gling Boats- Annie L---King Log and King Stork—"A Complete
Nest of Smugglers "-Daffodils and Pota'oes.
THE Scilly Islands are so intimately associated in the
minds of most people at the present day with the
cultivation of early vegetables and flowers for the
London market, that it must come as a rude shock to
their admirers to hear that during the early years of
the century the energies of the worthy islanders were
chiefly devoted to a branch of trade which brought
more profit than honour to all concerned in it. As a
matter of fact, this interesting group of islands were
at that time extensively used as depôts for contraband
goods imported from France, or landed from home-
ward-bound vessels, to be smuggled as opportunities
offered across to the English coast. Consequently,
when the preventive service was established in the
western counties, it was soon found necessary to ex-
tend the sphere of its activity to the adjacent islands,
126
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
as a means of checking the depredations on the
revenue which had become so flagrant. Thus, in
1828 we find an “inspecting commander" located here,
with a force of twenty-three officers and men,
distributed between St. Mary's, St. Agnes, St.
Martin's, and Tresco. That the presence in their
midst of so many servants of the revenue should not
have proved altogether congenial to the simple tastes
of the islanders can easily be understood, if the fact
was not emphasised by a curious record of the times,
which chance has fortunately preserved, and which
throws an interesting light on the improving manner
in which these simple folk spent their Sabbaths-
sometimes :-
“ St. Mary's, Scilly, 9th Septeinber, 1828.
“I beg to report that Cornelius Oliver, a com-
missioned boatman, stationed on the island of Bruger,
having represented to me that several boats belonging
to that island went off alongside of several ships in
the offing on Sunday, the 7th inst., and as the said
boats were returning to Bruger the said officer (and
his son, a boy about fourteen years old) went on the
landing-place in order to search the said boats.
There were several of the islanders assembled, one of
whom threw a stone at the officer, and the men
threatened him most severely if he would attempt to
rummage the boats. The officer, in return, threatened
that if they continued to pelt him with stones he
would fire amongst the crowd. About seven p.m. the
boats Pigeon and Howe landed nearly the same time,
and on the officer attempting to board the latter boat,
a man named Stephen I- , belonging to the island
(and on board the Howe), prevented him, and after-
wards shoved the boat off from the beach, and held
DIVERSIONS OF THE ISLANDERS. 127
up a bottle of spirits, and holding forth the most
awful threats if the said officer again attempted to
board. On the boat again attempting to land, Oliver
ran into the water, and jumped into the boat, on
which the said Stephen I seized the officer in his
arms (so that he was not able to disengage his pistol),
and threw him overboard into the water, and before
he could recover himself the boat's crew ran on shore
with what contraband goods they had in the boat.
After Stephen I landed on the beach, he seized
the boy (Oliver's son), and threw him down and
kicked him most severely, the marks of which are
quite visible. The officer, also, has been hurted, his
watch, commission, arms, etc., wetted, and the pistol
lost out of his belt. I therefore humbly beg leave to
recommend that the said Stephen 1- may be
prosecuted for assaulting the officer, and made an
example of to the rest of his colleagues.”
Certainly it was desirable that the good people of
Bruger should be taught respect for the majesty of
the law, as represented by Mr. Cornelius Oliver !-
though it seems unfair to have expected a solitary
officer to turn the inhabitants of Bruger aside from
their evil ways.
Alas! poor Cornelius! It appears that his nerves
never recovered from the rude treatment he received
on that Sunday night, for we find the inspecting com-
mander shortly after advising his removal to another
station, “as he appears to be intimidated ever since
the assault was committed on him." Writing under
date, i1th October, 1828, the inspecting commander
reports that “in consequence of the stir which I made
relating to the rig, navigation, etc., of the boats
belonging to these islands, I have entirely prevented
128
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
them from going to France for the purpose of effect-
ing runs about these islands and the main. I further
beg leave to report that these islands were never
known with so little smuggling as this year, and the
greatest part of the inhabitants are reduced to great
distress in consequence, for hitherto it used to be their
principal employment, and a strong guard will be
always advantageously employed here, otherwise they
will smuggle to a great extent, and run the goods
to the main, and dispose of the same to the numerous
vessels which gain shelter there."
It may be some satisfaction to the Guernsey men to
know that they are not the only people who suffered
from interference with what they had always re-
garded as a natural and perfectly legitimate branch of
industry.
One of the reasons for the Scilly boats discon-
tinuing their visits to Roscoff was, it seems, an im-
pression that "parties were looking out for them
there to report their movements,” and this impression
must have been matured into something very like
conviction by an affair which took place at this time,
viz., the arrest on “information” of two boats belong-
ing to Tresco, the Speedwell and Mary A 1111, for having
been seen at Roscoff, and for running their cargoes at
the Land's End and Mount's Bay. Both were
convicted and condemned to be cut up (March,
1830).
A long and curious correspondence took place at
this time concerning a certain Annie L- who,
with thạt fine solicitude for the interests of the
revenue which is so marked a trait of her sex, had
furnished the coastguard with several valuable “in-
formations,” by means of which some important
seizures were said to have been effected, and who now
S.JUGGLING PROJI EAST INDIAMEN.
129
i
TY
complained of the reward being out of all proportion
to the value of the services rendered. *
“'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good," as
the old proverb says, and the islanders hoped great
things from a change in the personnel of the coast-
guard. Thus, the inspecting commander reports
(June, 1829) that "the smugglers have recommenced
with great energy, as they expect my removal
shortly." But these gentry reckoned without their
host, for they soon made the unpleasant discovery
that it was merely a change from “King Log” to
“King Stork.”
Allusion has already been inade to the system of
smuggling from homeward-bound ships. A case in
point was that of the Thames, East Indiaman, which
attracted some attention at the time, and led to
a Customs prosecution, in which the chief officer
was heavily fined. It seems that on arrival of the
vessel off the Scillys, a pilot boat came alongside
with six or seven men, who betook themselves
to the mate's cabin, where a rich display of silks,
etc., was ready prepared for their inspection. These
draperies were at once deftly disposed round the
persons of the visitors by a process of winding;
and a further supply, neatly packed in cases, was
* A curious instance of the conscientious scruples sometimes enter-
tained by ladies in regard to the rendering of dues is supplied by the
Postmaster-General in his Report for the current year. It seems that a
lady residing in Siam forwarded to London several parcels, declared to
contain walking-sticks and stationery of the value of £7 Ios.; “but the
vigilant eye of the Custom House officer promptly detected' a brilliant
collection of diamonds and jewellery worth upwards of £25,000. The
postage, at the registered letter rate, would have amounted to about
£30, and it may be assumed,” adds the report, “that the course
adopted was prompted by the desire to save the difference between the
ordinary parcel rate and this amount."
130
SUUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
rapidly passed down into the boat, which thereupon
returned to the islands. Unfortunately, as it proved
for the inate, some inquisitive outsider had watched
the proceedings, and actuated, let us hope, by lofty
motives, promptly informed against him on arrival of
the vessel in the Thames.
Smuggling continued for many years after the
advent here of the coastguard ; in fact, the islanders
had thriven too long on this precarious means of
livelihood to turn their hands readily to a more re-
spectable calling. Thus, in January, 1831, the in-
specting commander writes :-“Foreign spirits, tea,
and tobacco, may be had in any quantities at two or
three days' notice, but not without despatching a
vessel to France, which illegal traffic the vessels and
boats are at all times ready to engage in that belong
to these islands, as they are a complete nest of
smugglers.”
And so matters dragged on, but without any
incidents worth recording. The transition from the
smuggling habits of yore to the present-day cultiva-
tion of daffodils and potatoes was necessarily a slow
one, and alogether devoid of interest for the student
of smuggling history.
T
i
131
Part III.
THE COASTGUARD.
ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.
CHAPTER I..
Punch's Idea of the Coastguard—Good Times for the Smugglers - The
Coast Blockade-Origin of the Coastguard--Unsatisfactory Nature of
the Blockade-Preventive Boats' Crews-A Curter Man's Ruse-
Preventive Water Guard--Composition of the Force—'Longshoremen
Afloat.
ALMOST everyone is familiar with the trim paths,
well-tended gardens, and whitewashed walls of a
coastguard station, and may even have a vague sort of
notion that this little centre of order and good dis-
cipline is connected in some mysterious kind of way
with the prevention of smuggling, but as for any clear
ideas concerning the duties pertaining to the officers
and men of the coastguard at the present day, or how
the force came into existence in the first instance,
such a pitch of knowledge is rarely attained by the
free and independent tax-payer. And when this
worthy person beholds a sturdy tar marching up and
down with a big telescope, the cynosure of admiring
rustics at a popular watering-place, he is apt to
assume that this jolly mariner's lot has fallen in
pleasant places.
The popular ignorance concerning this branch of
the public service was curiously exemplified some
time ago by our old friend Punch, who, in a moment
2
I 2
132 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TIT
VV
of forgetfulness let us hope, so far deviated from the
standard of good taste which usually characterises his
remarks on men and manners, as to define coastguard
stations as “castles of idleness, where able-bodied
men spend their time in looking through long glasses
for imaginary smugglers." A short experience of
coastguard work during the winter months would
have considerably modified the opinions of the author
of this impudent libel.
To discover the germ from whence the coastguard
originally sprung, we must go back to the very early
years of the century. It has been shown how the
unsettled state of the country during the wars with
France enabled the free-trader, as he was called, to
follow his vocation with an audacity which could
scarcely have been tolerated under more settied
conditions, and how, with the return of peace, the
Government turned its attention once more to domes-
tic affairs with the result that the free-trader found
himself all of a sudden the object of the profoundest
solicitude, and his calling threatened with extinc-
tion.
It must not be inferred, however, that the smug-
gler had been allowed to indulge his tastes hitherto
without interference of any sort, or that there was no
force in existence for the protection of the revenue
before the coastguard was called into being. As a
matter of fact this duty had been entrusted hitherto
to the officers of Customs and Excise on shore, while
afloat the revenue cutters, when not engaged in
smuggling on their own account, had done what little
they could to cope with an evil which had acquired
proportions far beyond their powers of control.
But, unfortunately, the Customs officer and his
minions had become, through no fault of their own,
TUT
The COAST BLOCKADE.;
133
+
1
1
the laughing-stock of the countryside, while as for
the revenue cutters they had long ceased to have any
terrors for the intrepid mariners who gained their
living by defrauding the revenue of its dues. But the
halcyon days of the free-trader were drawing to a
close. The very lawlessness which characterised his
operations could be regarded in no other light than as
a disgrace to any country calling itself civilised;
while the heavy losses sustained annually by the
revenue showed the necessity of strictly enforcing
the various statutes enacted from time to time for
coping with such depredations.
The authorities having determined on putting
down their feet in the matter, lost no time in giving
effect to this resolution, and commenced operations
by establishing a thorough blockade of the coasts of
Kent and Sussex. For this purpose a man-of-war
was stationed in the Downs,* another at Newhaven
in Sussex,t and their crews landed, broken up into
detachments, and quartered in the Martello towers
along the coast. Where towers were not available
a sort of barracks was built, and these “blockade
stations," altered in accordance with modern require-.
ments, are used for coastguard quarters at the present
day. Here, then, we have the germ of the modern
coastguard station along the coasts of Kent and
Sussex. The various stages of development will
now be traced. I
* The Ramillies. This •fine old seventy-four had last seen service
in the American war under command of Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy,
during which she narrowly escaped destruction by torpedoes on two
occasions.
* H.M.S. Hyperion, forty-two guns.
I In a volume of the “Family Library,” published in 1840, the
following curious passage occurs :-" Captain Hanchett, C.B., R.N.,
134 SMUGGLING 7 27
DAYS AND WAYS.
T1
The blockade stations were commanded by
lieutenants of the Royal Navy, of whom, at the close
of the war, there were a large number out of employ-
ment, and with but small prospect of obtaining it
afloat. A station comprised so many towers, which,
with their complement of men, were in charge of petty
officers with the rating of quartermaster. The entire
force was under naval discipline, and in the event of
misconduct the offenders were liable to be sent on
board the old Ramillies to be "dusted down”-an
occurrence which, if tradition is to be relied on, was
by no means infrequent, “Old Jock McCulloch,” as
the worthy Scotsman who commanded that fine old
seventy-four was somewhat irreverently called, hav-
ing a decided penchant for this particular method of
"moral suasion."
The “coast blockade" lasted a number of years,
but the system was never altogether satisfactory. The
service was unpopular with the men of the fleet, the
better class of whom held off from joining it, and
those who were induced to enter connived with the
smugglers, got drunk, and often deserted, and there
was a very general complaint amongst them that the
quartermasters were entrusted with too much power.
The blockade was broken up in 1831, the men
withdrawn, and their places taken, partly by men from
the revenue cutters and partly by civilians, the desig-
nation of the force being altered to “coastguard." Long
before this, however, the principle of the blockade
had been extended gradually, and in a modified form
who proposed the constitution of the coastguard, and was appointed to
its head with emoluments of £2,000 a year or more, was accused of
attempting to sell his appointments, and without trial dismissed his
post, degraded of his Companionship of the Bath, and stripped of his
commission.”—“The Mutiny at Spithead and the Nore," page 322.
PREVENTIVe Boats.
under another name, round the entire seaboard of the
kingdom. Obviously, it was useless locking the front
door if the back entrance and all the windows were
left open. In other words, it was of little advantage
to the revenue depriving the good people of Kent and
Sussex of their direct supplies of liquor and baccy
while these popular commodities could be imported
duty free round the corner. Almost simultaneously,
therefore, with the establishment of the blockade,
active measures had been taken for suppressing the
trade round the entire seaboard. For this purpose the
old-established revenue cutter service—the only avail-
able organised force for the suppression of smuggling
was largely developed and utilised. A proportion
of the men were detached to form boats' crews at
the most notorious smuggling centres, and long after
these boats' crews had become permanencies at the
localities where they had been "detached ” in the first
instance, the men were still spoken of as belonging to
the "boat,” and were, in fact, always appointed to such
and such“ preventive boat."
From these detached boats' crews, which are still
remembered by the proverbial“ oldest inhabitant,” we
can trace through a series of evolutions, extending
over half a century or more, the coastguard stations
of modern times; while, strictly speaking, the germ
of the coastguard force must be sought for in the old
revenue cutter service rather than in the hybrid force
composing the “blockade."
The duties of the "boats' crews" at this particular
time were, as implied by the title, exclusively naval.
The men patrolled the coast in their boats* by night,
* By way of ensuring the proper performance of this duty, the
“sitter," as the officer in charge of a preventive boat was somewhat
ironically called in those days, was enjoined to take soundings at
TIT
136
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
or, if prevented from going afloat through stress of
weather, the boat would be hauled up, the crew seek-
ing refuge under a shelter composed of the boat's
sails.
These detached “boats' crews," though un-
doubtedly a step in the right direction, were at best
but a makeshift. The duty was imperfectly performed,
partly from want of proper supervision, and partly
from the nature of things. It was, of course, impos-
sible for men thus situated to obtain information
concerning the ways and means of the local smugglers,
or to keep themselves au courant with their move-
ments, though some ingenious ruses were occasionally
resorted to by the more active officers with a view to
acquiring this much-to be-desired knowledge. “When
my father was in the Lapwing cutter,” said an old
pensioner to the writer, "all sorts of dodges used to
be tried; for instance, when they were stationed at
Plymouth a boat would be sent ashore in Whitsand
Bay, where the crew would haul her up and cover her
over with seaweed, and then, after dressing themselves
up in old clothes, and putting on a smock-frock, may-
be, they would throw a bundle over their shoulder,
and go away into the villages, where they would drop
into the public-houses and listen to the talk. By this
means they often managed to find out what the smug-
glers were about, and when cargoes were expected
over. Then, as soon as it was dark, they would launch
their boat and return to the cutter with the information
they had picked up."
The next and most important step was the
W
certain stated times during the night, and to furnish a return of these
periodically to the inspecting commander. Scandal has it that the
process known as "fudging” was largely resorted to in the compilation
of these returns by ingenious “sitters.”
The WATER GUARD.
137
establishment of permanent boats' crews_"preventive
boats," as they were called, and the appointment of
responsible officers in command. The crews were now
located on shore, in hired houses, or where, for various
reasons, quarters were unobtainable—as was often the
case in those days, owing to the very natural reluct-
ance of the inhabitants to facilitate arrangements so
entirely opposed to their notions of the eternal fitness
of things*—the men were housed in old hulks, or
"watch vessels."
· And now we find the force designated in official
documents as "The Preventive Water Guard,” the
duties still partaking largely of a naval character-
rowing guard afloat by night, or patrolling the coast
on shore when unable to launch the boat.
Before tracing out the subsequent stages of de-
velopment, it may be as well, perhaps, to pause for a
moment for the purpose of inquiring into the charac-
ter and composition of the force at this stage of its
history.
The officers appointed to the command of “boats"
were, as in the case of the blockade, chiefly lieutenants
of the Navy, of whom, as already observed, there was
a plethora ; but in some instances what were called-
for not very apparent reasons—"civilian officers,” were
selected from amongst the “deputation officers ”-
mates, gunners, etc., of the revenue cruisers—the in-
dividual holding this post being officially designated
as “chief officer," regardless of his profession, real
* Polperro, in Cornwall, affords an illustration of this :—“Though
active opposition was not politic, the people determined, one and all,
to offer as much passive resistance as was safe. No one would let a
coastguardman a house to live in at any price ; so the whole force was
obliged to make a dwelling and guard-house of the hull of a vessel,
which was moored to the old quay.”—Couch's “ History of Polperro.”
138 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
rank, or status. The post was not a very glorious
one, perhaps, but there were always plenty of appli-
cants for it in the hard times which prevailed, and
if the pay was not exorbitant, the prize money, which
not infrequently accrued to a zealous and, perhaps,
lucky chief officer, was by no means the least of the
attractions of the post. There was plenty of hard
work certainly; and not a little fighting, for which,
however, no medals were granted, and in which little
glory was to be reaped.
With regard to the “crews," although the nucleus
was selected in the first instance from the revenue
cutter service, they were usually completed by the entry
of “’longshore” men. Whether by this means the most
desirable class of men was obtained seems a little
questionable. Old smugglers speak very contemp-
tuously of the preventive men of those days, but per-
haps old smugglers are a little prejudiced. They
could scarcely be expected to recognise merit in a
preventive man. For all that, there would seem to
be a consensus of opinion that pretty nearly anyone
was taken-shoemakers, tailors, coopers, perhaps even
tinkers-anybody, in fact, who had interest with a
Member of Parliament, or friends in office to obtain
for them an appointment in the force.
Said an old coastguardman to the writer : "I can
mind, when a boy, many a time seeing the six-oared
galley at Polperro going off to board the cutters, the
men going floppity-flop with their oars, one after the
other, just like a lot of ploughboys.”
139
CHAPTER II.
Salutary Precautions-Mixed Marriages Forbidden-Consolidation of the
Revenue Forces—Riding Officers of the Customs-Employment of
Dragoons—Aversion to the Work-Organisation and Duties of the
Mounted Guard-Gradations of Rank in the Coastguard.
HAVING regard to the universal prevalence of smug-
gling, it may be safely averred that every man who
joined the coastguard, even if he had never smuggled
himself, most certainly had relatives engaged in the
trade ; and as the strength of old associations is pro-
verbial, no surprise will be felt at the elaborate pre-
cautions taken to prevent the possibility of collusion
by severing all connection between men in the pre-
ventive service and their former associates. To this
end it was enacted in the old regulations that “no
individual can be appointed to any station within
twenty miles of the place of his birth, or within
twenty miles of the place at which he has resided for
the six months previous to his appointment in the
water guard.” This regulation was extended subse-
quently to the place of residence of a man's wife.
And again, “Any individual intermarrying with the
family of a reputed or notorious smuggler, or lodging
in his house, or contracting any improper intimacy
with him, will be dismissed."*
1
* A case in point occurred in the Scilly Islands :-"Mr. Richard
R , chief officer of the Tresco station, has, since the last half-yearly
report, married a woman belonging to St. Mary's Island, who may be
a branch of a smuggler's family, or be connected with smugglers, of
whom the island principally consists; and, under the circumstances, I
beg to suggest that he may be removed from the district.” Let us hope
that before taking this momentous step Mr. Richard R--- weighed
well the comparative advantages of single blessedness in Tresco, on
matrimonial joy in other lands.
140
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
YA
A preventive man could not be too careful in the
choice of his friends, “It was death in those days,"
old coastguardmen will tell you,“ to be seen talking
with a smuggler”-by which it is meant that it was
ruin to all prospects of advancement in the force.
That these precautions were by no means superfluous
will be seen as this history proceeds.
The "preventive water guard” as well as the revenue
cutter service were at this time under the “Lords
Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury,” the execu-
tive command being vested in a “comptroller-general,"
who was a captain in the Royal Navy. In 1822
orders emanated from the Treasury department to
the effect that "the whole of the forces for the pre-
vention of smuggling, consisting of the revenue
cruisers, preventive water guard, and riding officers,
shall be consolidated, and be placed in like manner as
the riding officers are at present, under the direction
of the Board of Customs." It will be noticed that no
reference is made to the “coast blockade," which was
still in force, and undoubtedly a part of the "force
for the prevention of smuggling," an omission which
makes it clear that the officers and men employed on
this service were only “detached," and still belonged
to the Royal Navy.
Allusion was made just now to a branch of the
preventive service which has not been mentioned
before, namely, the riding officers. Some notice of
their previous history is called for. The riding officers
may be traced back for nearly a couple of centuries,
and are therefore entitled to be regarded as the
premier branch of the now consolidated force for the
prevention of smuggling.
In an enactment passed in 1638, with a view to
checking the export smuggling of wool along the
RIDING OI-FICERS.
141
south-east coast, we find provision made for the
appointment of 299 riding officers at an annual cost
of £20,000 ; and during the war which broke out sub-
sequently between France and England the services
of the riding officers were largely instrumental in
checking clandestine communications with the enemy
—a dishonourable vocation to which the smugglers
betook themselves very largely in times of disturb-
ance. From a report by Mr. Baker, supervisor of
Customs for the counties of Kent and Sussex, dated
December, 1703, we find the coast from the Isle of
Sheppey in Kent to Emsworth in Hampshire, a
stretch of about 200 miles, in charge of fifty riding
officers, giving an average of one officer for every four
miles of coast-line.
: How utterly inadequate this force proved to sup-
press the illicit trade has been made abundantly clear.
To compensate in some measure for the numerical
inferiority of the preventive force proper, the practice
of employing the mounted branch of the army was
now largely resorted to. To quote from Mr. Baker's
report, under date December, 1703, in which certain
suggestions are submitted with the object of reducing
the cost of the riding officers, he says :-"I further pro-
pose that the dragoons now quartered in Kent, and
by her Majesty's order of uith August last, to be
detached into severall parts of the Marsh (Romney) to
assist the officers, as from time to time I shall direct,
may, if your Honours shall so please, be made useful
in this service, pursuant to the Order in Councill by
his late Majestie, bearing date the 23rd June, 1698,
wherein it was ordered that for the encouragement of
the said soldiers and the landlords of the houses that
quarter them there (being an allowance of twopence
per diein to each dragoon upon such service, and to
1
142 SMUGGLING LI
DAYS AND WAYS.
the officers in proportion) being revived. I can soe
dispose those soldiers that the nightly duty of the
officers shall not be interrupted, and everyone of them
shall always have one or more of them in the night
upon duty."*
The system of employing dragoons in conjunction
with the riding officers continued up to the time of
the “Consolidation Order," in 1822, at which particu-
lar period the riding officer might have been spoken
of as a man in authority with soldiers under him,
though whether the same ready obedience was
rendered to him by his subordinates, as we read of
in connection with a certain centurion of old, seems
extremely doubtful. There is ample evidence, indeed,
to show that the soldiers detested the work, were
hand and glove with the inhabitants of the places
where they were quartered, and nothing loth to do
a little smuggling on their own account when the
officer lay snug in bed.
From time immemorial, as indeed may easily be
supposed, considerable friction had taken place
between the military and the officers of the Customs,
and the formalities that had to be observed before
the assistance of the soldiers could be procured nulli-
fied to a great extent the advantages resulting from
their employment.
* A curious record of these days has come down to us in the shape
of a letter from an individual signing himself “Old Soldier,” who, in
the course of some observations in which he deplores the deterioration
of a military spirit amongst the officers, says :-“I am sorry to say there
are some officers who never desire to make a campaign, except against
the smugglers, some who would be much better pleased to watch all
night for a seizure of tea and brandy than to march into trenches; and
I do assure you they had much rather be commanded by a Custom
House officer than Prince Eugene or the Duke of Marlborough."-
Monthly Intelligence for 1737.
THE MOUNTED GUARD.
143
For
OOOO
GOOGT
So far as the suppression of smuggling was con-
cerned, this system had not been attended with
marked success. The riding officers by themselves were
easily overawed; while,
as regards the military,
it was not a happy idea
this of setting dragoons
to catch smugglers —
rather, indeed, like setting
elephants to catch eels.
By the Treasury minute of
1822 the riding officers
were attached to the coast-
guard stations under the
orders of the chief officers,
the official designation
being altered at the same
Porto
time to that of “ mounted
guard."
According to the regu-
lations of this date they
Vniform coat
were “to be considered as
the movable force of the
a Riding Officer
district, and to be placed
1829
at such stations as may
from time to time be deemed most beneficial to the
service.”
Civilians were no longer eligible for this branch of
the service, appointments being confined to persons
“to be selected from cavalry regiments by the general
commanding-in-chief." * The force was divided into


* How far the old “civilian " class of riding officers were adapted
to the rough and tumble work they were called on to perform, the
reader may judge from the following extract from the Sussex Adver-
tiser of 1834:—“Three riding officers of the Customs of the Arundel
144
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
three classes, viz., sergeants, corporals, and privates,
while as regards their duties, to quote again from the
regulations :-“The general and most important part
of the duty of the mounted guard is, towards the
close of the day and during the night, to examine
carefully the by-roads, lanes, and in general every
part of the neighbourhood of the station to which
they are attached, for the purpose of discovering any
preparations which may be making by the smugglers
for effecting a landing, either by assembling carts or
men, or in any other way ... and in the event of a run
being effected, pursuing the company, and endeavour-
ing to intercept the carts in which they are conveying
the goods. . . . All their movements in the night
are to be conducted with the greatest secrecy, silence,
and circumspection ; and it is expected that by their
intelligence and vigilance they will be enabled to dis-
cover all the secret haunts of the working parties,
become acquainted with the persons of those who
reside in the immediate neighbourhood, and with the
habits of life of that description of people in general
who are suspected of being in any way concerned
in illegal traffic . . . and thus render most important
and valuable service in defeating the object of the
smugglers.”
This rather long digression may be thought
superfluous; but to enable the reader to understand
the chapters which follow, it is essential that the
duties of the several branches of the service should be
clearly explained.
The practice of calling in the aid of the military,
though but rarely resorted to after the establishment
1
district have been superannuated on full salaries. Their ages were
eighty-four, eighty, and seventy-two respectively, and they had been
fifty, fifty-four, and fiſty-four years respectively in the service."
COASTGUARD RANKS.
145
of the consolidated force, was still a recognised
custom, and was provided for under the regulations
“relative to the employment of dragoons in aid of
the revenue coastguard.”
The coastguard having now assumed a definite
form and organisation, it may be as well at this point
to enumerate the several ranks of the service. First,
there was the officer in charge of the station, known by
the title of " chief officer," next the “chief boatmen ";


OOO
Decoco
TOOO00000
Chief Officed that
ers
1829
oafnan's
Jacket
.
1829
COASTGUARD UNIFORM, 1829.
while the rank and file, as it may be termed, consisted
of "commissioned boatmen" and "boatmen”; and this
gradation, with the exception of the added rank of
“chief boatmen in charge,” intermediate between
chief boatmen and chief officer, has remained un-
altered to the present day.
As time went on the custom of appointing
deserving chief boatmen to the post of chief officer
gradually came into vogue until the whole of the
stations round the coast were placed in charge of this
class of officer, and no lieutenant has held the post of
chief officer during the last thirty years.
146
CHAPTER III.
Tinkers and Tailors-Land Patrolling-Guard-rowing Afloat-Conse-
quences of Neglect-Organisation and Duties—Revenue Cutter Ser-
vice-Severity of Night Duty-Station Limits--Flying Detachments-
A Novel Suggestion.
IT soon became evident to the authorities that the
custom of entering “tinkers and tailors” was any-
thing but conducive to the welfare or efficiency of the
service; and accordingly, in 1829, we find regulations
to the effect that “no person is to be admitted as a
boatman in the coastguard service unless he is
twenty and under thirty years of age, nor unless he
has served six years at sea, or seven years' apprentice-
ship in fishing boats.” In spite of this it was by no
means unusual for 'longshore men to get admission
under false pretences, and a friend at court could
generally manage to overcome any little scruples
concerning the qualifications of the applicant that
might be entertained at headquarters.
The official designation of the force was now once
more altered to "coastguard," a title which it has ever
since retained, while all orders emanated hencefor-
ward from the “Coastguard Office, Custom House,
London.”
The duties, too, had become less naval in charac-
ter, the land patrolling or coastguarding, as im-
plied by the new title, rather than waterguarding,
according to the old dispensation, having been found
by far the most efficacious method of counteracting
the operations of the smuggler. It must not, of
course, be supposed that the duties of the force had
becn precisely assimilated round the entire seaboard,
i
COASTGUARD Duties.
147
for obviously these were necessarily regulated by
local conditions, such for instance as the nature of
the coast, or the local smuggling customs. At some
stations it was not only impracticable to row guard
afloat, but highly undesirable, from the fact that by
taking the crew away for this purpose the coast
within station limits was left practically open and
unprotected.
Guard-rowing afloat had one advantage, however,
over the coast patrolling, in that after an offing had
been gained, the course of the boat could be directed
unperceived to any point on shore, whereas the
movements of a land patrol were open to observation
from the moment of a man leaving the watch-house
till his arrival on the guards, and could be com-
municated to the smuggling boats off the coast by
means of well-known signals. The matter was, there-
fore, leſt very much to the discretion of the chief
officers, who, to quote the regulations, “were distinctly
to understand that they were held responsible for any
smuggling transactions which took place within the
limits of their guards."
By way of still further impressing on the officers
and men of the force the responsibilities attaching to
them, the following order was issued about this tiine:
“The Comptroller-general directs that officers and
men be publicly informed that a list will in future be
kept of every person serving at a station within which
a run took place, and that no such officer or man will
be considered eligible for promotion or entitled to
any mark of indulgence or favour.”
That this was no empty threat is evident from the
fact that on a subsequent occasion we find all promo-
tion in the Fowey division (Cornwall) stopped in
consequence of several runs having taken place.
J 2
· 148
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The old "preventive waterguard ” having passed
through a series of evolutions into a carefully or-
ganised and well-disciplined force, under the title of
coastguard, a few words concerning its organisations
and the duties pertaining to its several branches will
make matters clear to the reader.
Briefly, then, at the time of which we speak (1830)
a triple cordon had been established round the greater
part of the United Kingdom, strong in some places,
weak and attenuated in others, while some parts of
the coast which, from their extreme isolation and
inaccessibility seemed to offer no facilities to the
illicit trader, were left practically unguarded. The
protective cordon consisted first of the naval branch,
or revenue cutters ; secondly of the coastguard, and
lastly the mounted guard.
The revenue cutter service consisted of a fine fleet
of over fifty vessels, comprising several splendid
cutters of nearly 200 tons, with crews of from forty to
fifty men, and commanded for the most part by
lieutenants of the Navy. Taking the average of the
crews at twenty-five, we have a floating force of
nearly 1,300 officers and men engaged solely and
entirely in the protection of the revenue.
The duties performed by this branch of the service
were exceptionally arduous. The vessels cruised off
the districts to which they were attached, for the
purpose of intercepting smuggling vessels, and were
seldom allowed in harbour except when driven in by
stress of weather or for repairs.
The routine of duty in those days was somewhat
as follows :— Towards dusk every day the vessels
usually drew in towards land, and dropped their
boats for the purpose of rowing guard along the coast
during the night, picking them up again at daylight
277
REVENUE CUTTERS.
149
next morning at some pre-arranged rendezvous. If
bad weather came on, the boats had to manage as
best they could—either to find the cruiser or run for
the nearest shelter. “Many a time I've been dropped
one side of the Isle of Wight in the evening and
picked up next morning on the other," said an old
cutter's man; from which it may be gathered that
this "guard-rowing" in the winter months was no
sinecure. On the other hand there was always the
chance of falling in with a valuable prize.
Nor were the duties much lighter when the vessel
was in harbour, for the anchor was no sooner down
than orders would come off for the employment of
the boats during the ensuing night; and even when
laid up for repairs the crews were given little oppor-
tunity for resting, being usually distributed amongst the
stations where smuggling was most rife, bunks being
fitted up in the watch-rooms for their accommodation.
It would be difficult to conceive of a finer school
of seamanship and pilotage, or of a sterner train-
ing, than was afforded by the old revenue cutter
service in its palmy days, and one cannot help
regretting that it has passed away, with all its his-
torical associations and traditions. At the timne,
indeed, of which we are treating, the service had
already come to be regarded as a mere accessory to
the coastguard, into which it was ultimately merged
just as the coastguard was itself afterwards absorbed
into the navy.
Passing on to the second line, or coastguard, we
have seen how, from mere tentative measures-de-
tached " boats' crews "—the service blossomed forth
into a regular force with discipline and organisation,
and at this point a rather more detailed statement of
its character and functions will be acceptable.
150 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TY
For purposes of administration and discipline the
several coastguard stations were divided off into
“districts," each of which was under a commander of
the Royal Navy, with the title of "inspecting com-
mander,” which officer was again directly responsible
to the comptroller-general, who, with his “deputy
comptroller-general”—a commander of the Royal
Navy—was located at the Custom House in London.
The various links in the chain of responsibility will
now be clear.
As regards the duties of the coastguard, they were
scarcely less irksome than those pertaining to the
fioating branch of the service. Speaking generally
the peculiar nature of the work necessitated a com-
plete inversion of the natural order of things. Thus,
as the smuggler plied his vocation chiefly by night, so
the coastguardman had to be most alert during the
hours of darkness. His night, in fact, so far as his
work was concerned, was turned into day, while the
latter was chiefly given up to rest and refreshment.
“The work was terrible," old coastguardmen have
often said to the writer. “Why, sir, in the winter
months we had to be on our guards by dusk, which
meant leaving home at four or half-past, and we
never got back again till nearly eight next morning.
The only ‘nights in' we got was when our turn
came round to be day watchman at the station-once
in ten days or so; and perhaps two nights before the
full moon and two nights afterwards; though, even
then, we seldom got more than half nights off, and
if smuggling boats were expected off the coast, of
course all the crew had to be out. I've often been
that done up that I could scarcely walk home, and
many is the time I've gone down to the water and
washed my face to keep my eyes open. Oh, it was
· Night DUTY.
151
enough to kill a horse, I can tell you ; only a strong
man could stand the work !”.
Sixteen hours on the stretch through the winter
nights in snow, sleet, wind, and rain, without shelter
or protection of any kind, besides the chance of
being shot, tied down to the rocks, or pitched over
the cliff! Coastguarding in those days was cer-
tainly no child's play. “You couldn't get men to
do the work now," my informants have often added,
the truth of which no one will be inclined to doubt;
indeed, it required something more than the pros-
pects of free quarters and regular pay to induce men
to do the work in those days. The particular form of
inducement that was held out to them will be seen in
due course.
It may be as well to explain with reference to the
"nights in," which the men calculated on before and
after full moon, that the smugglers only plied their
trade, as a rule, during the “darks”-as moonless
nights were styled-when, as a matter of course, their
movements were screened from observation ; hence,
unless information to the contrary was given, it was
taken for granted that no run would be attempted,
and one-half of the crew of the station were allowed
to rest during the light nights of the full moon.
The practice of weakening the guard during
stormy weather under the impression that smuggling
operations would be suspended, which crept in at
many stations, was studiously discouraged at head-
quarters, it being pointed out that many runs had
taken place in consequence of the relaxed vigilance
of the coastguard on these occasions, “the smugglers
caring nothing for the loss of their boats, so long as
they can run their goods.”
With reference to the word “guard” which has
152 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
often been made use of, it may be as well to explain
that from a very early period—probably from the
first establishment of the blockade--the coast com-
prised within each station's limits had been divided
off into “guards” for patrolling purposes. The
number of guards into which a station was divided
depended on the strength of the crew, allowing one
man for each guard. The limits of the stations
varied very considerably, being usually regulated, in
the first instance at any rate, in accordance with the
smuggling facilities of the coast. How widely these
varied may be gathered from a comparison of the
several stations in the United Kingdom. Thus, while
in Kent and Sussex there are stations whose limits
scarcely exceeded a mile in extent, divided off into
fifteen or twenty guards, we find stations in other
parts of England comprising from eight to twenty
iniles of coast, with crews of only eight or nine men
for patrolling purposes.
The wide extent of many of the stations, and the
impossibility of keeping a proper watch over the
coast in consequence thereof, led about this time, and
during subsequent years, as the necessity arose, to
the institution of what are officially styled "flying
detachments ”-small look-out houses, where a couple
of men were detached for a week at a time from the
main station for patrolling the adjacent shore. In
coasting along the south-western portion of England,
especially the south coast of Devon and Cornwall, the
voyager will notice small white cottages perched on
extremely isolated and often almost inaccessible points,
the purport of which he might have some difficulty in
divining. These are the “flying detachments," each
of which has quite an interesting little smuggling
history of its own, and although the special circum-
T
0
A NOVEL SUGGESTION.
153
stances which prompted their construction have dis-
appeared with the lapse of time and change of habits
of the coast population, these little houses still play
a useful part in the coastguard economy of modern
days.
It has been suggested, and the proposal is at least
worth considering by an economical Government, that
during the summer months, while the coastguard
men are embarked for the manæuvres, these cottages
might be made available at a moderate rent for
honeymoon couples, where, free from the impertinent
gaze of their fellow-mortals, and the cares of civilisa-
tion, surrounded by romantic, if not always beautiful,
scenery, and undisturbed by the muffin bell, the
tradesman's boy, or the postman's knock, they might
dream away the golden days of early married life, the
world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Such an excellent idea is, perhaps, too much in
advance of the age to commend itself to the sense of
the governing classes. ·
CHAPTER IV.
Routine of a Station-Dress and Equipment-Drill and Discipline - Possi-
bility of Collusion-Sinking Goods--Creeping and Sweeping-Rewards
for Seizures~-Incentives to Duty-Corruption.
THE routine of a coastguard station was somewhat as
follows:-At dusk every day the entire crew were
assembled in the watch-house, fully equipped for
their night's duty with arms, ammunition, and blue-
light. Each man was then told off for the guard he
was to take charge of, and, without holding further
communication with any person, proceeded at once to
his post.
154
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The old regulations were most explicit and
peremptory as to the importance of allowing no com-
munications to take place between the men and their
families, after having been detailed for the night's
duty. They were equally explicit on the subject of
permitting no man to have charge of the same guard
two nights in succession. Experience had shown the
necessity of these precautions against the possibility
of collusion, and it required the utmost care and
ingenuity to frustrate the unceasing efforts of the
smugglers to discover the routine of duties at the
several stations.
Not only was it permitted to no man to know the
guard he was to occupy during the ensuing night, but
at most stations it was the invariable custom to
change the guards at least once during the night;
while, to ensure the alertness of the patrols, each
guard was visited twice every night at uncertain
times and without notice by the chief officer of the
station, and at rare intervals by the inspecting com-
mander of the district.
Contrary to modern usage, the wearing of uniform
was not obligatory on the men at night; indeed in
many districts the practice was ratlier discouraged
than otherwise as a means of avoiding observation,
and thus throwing the smugglers off their guard.*
One consequence of this was that the men often so
encumbered themselves with wrappings as a protec-
* A case in point occurred in the Deal district (1832). The
inspecting commander observing that, “having noticed the day look-
out men at - station parading their posts in uniform, the first
object is to have the day sentinels dressed as much as posible like the
inhabitants, instead of placing them as beacons to warn the illicit
traders, whom it is our duty to detect by disguise and every other
means that can be devised."
NIUSKET DRILL.
155
tion from the dreadful weather to which they were
exposed, that in the event of sudden attack they were
unable to defend themselves properly, and were not
infrequently overpowered and secured.
As regards arms, the patrols, when equipped for
the night's duty, carried a brace of heavy pistols, a
cutlass, several rounds of ammunition, and a blue-
light for giving the alarm. The pistols were
generally carried inside the breast of the great-coat.
In some districts a musket and fixed bayonet was
substituted for the cutlass, the bayonet being further
secured by a lashing—details of this sort being re-
gulated by the inspecting commanders- to suit local
circumstances.
Obviously, some knowledge of drill and the use
of firearms was necessary for men who were liable
at any moment to find themselves vis-à-vis with a
gang of desperate smugglers; but that the drill in
those days was of an exceedingly primitive kind may
be inferred from an official memorandum of so late a
date as 1840, wherein we read that “it is presumed
that the crews are now perfectly well trained in the
use of firearms."
It seems to have been the custom at this time for
an old soldier, possibly one of the mounted guard, to
make a circuit of the divisions for the purpose of
instructing men in the musket and cutlass drill, and
funny stories are handed down of the methods by
which this instruction was imparted to the crews.
In 1829 regulations of a most elaborate kind were
issued with reference to the exercise of the crews on
occasions of inspection, so as “to secure the uniform
and creditable appearance of the whole force on
inspections and all other occasions of parade, and to
prevent that diversity of system which has hitherto
156
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
too much prevailed in different districts." The
musket drill was a tolerably simple affair, but the
cutlass exercise was so elaborate and complicated
that the coastguard intellect of the period must have
been sadly exercised to make hvad or tail of it.
Instead of being adapted to intellects of a humble
order, the drill consisted of no less than sixty-two
movements, the purport of which was, to use a
Dundrearian expression, what“no fellah could under-
stand.”
As regards the discipline of the “consolidated
force," though satisfactory in the main, there was a
tendency now and again to kick over the traces,
which was met by fines and dismissals. When,
indeed, it is stated that during the period between
August, 1825, and February, 1829—about three years
and a half—there were no less than 215 dismissals
from the force, we have pretty clear evidence of
the existence of a considerable element of rowdyism
in it. But as this phase of coastguard life is treated
at length in a subsequent chapter, it is needless to
go into the matter just now, beyond remarking on
what may seem the needless severity with which the
offence of patrols allowing themselves to be secured
by smugglers without offering a proper resistance was
invariably treated. Experience, however, had shown
the necessity for this. There was, indeed, no readier
means of evading the responsibilities of their post,
to say nothing of the personal risks involved in an
encounter with smugglers, than that of allowing
themselves to be seized and secured while a run was
being effected. To treat this offence with the
leniency which inexperience might have suggested
would have been simply placing a premium on collu-
sion. What could have been easier than for a man
"CREEPING” AND “SWEEPING."
TY
I
to have allowed himself to be secured—for a con-
sideration, of course—and to have pleaded sudden
surprise in extenuation of his treachery? The fact,
therefore, of a coastguard man permitting himself to
be secured by smugglers without having made use of
his arms, or receiving any personal injury, or raising
any alarm, was regarded as prima facie evidence of
gross neglect, if not of absolute collusion, and was
punished accordingly.
It has been already explained how the duties of
the coastguard were for the most part conducted by
night, the day being generally given up to rest and re-
freshment;* but although this was the rule, there were
exceptions, and probably of all their duties, not the
least harassing was that of “creeping ”for sunken goods
off the coast. It must be explained that, as a result
of the increased efficiency and vigilance of the pre-
ventive service, and the greater difficulties experienced
in running goods, the smugglers now very generally
adopted the more cautious method of first sinking
them off the place where it was intended subsequently
to run them. In spite, however, of the secresy and
precautions exercised on these occasions, the fact of
a cargo having been sunk generally got to the ears of
the coastguard, who had now to use their utmost
endeavours to prevent the goods being run. To this
end, the boats belonging to the particular station
concerned were kept constantly afloat by day “creep-
ing” and “sweeping ” for the goods. Creeping con-
sisted in dragging an iron grapnel, or “creep," as it
was called, along the bottom, so as to hook on to the
* It may be of interest to note that “libraries of books of an enter-
taining and moral tendency” were first supplied to coastguard tations
at the suggestion of a Mrs. Fry in 1833.
158
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
tubs; while in sweeping, two boats were rowed along,
parallel to each other, dragging the bight of a rope
between them along the bottom. As these operations
had to be persevered in as long as there was any
reason to suppose the goods were down, a great deal

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APPLIANCES USED FOR CREEPING UP SUNKEN GOODS.
of extra work was thus entailed on the crews. It
must in fairness be stated, however, that in the event
of the operations proving successful the reward amply
recompensed the men for their labour.
When the harassing and arduous nature of the
coastguard duties at this particular period are taken
into consideration—not to mention the risks to life
and limb which were constantly incurred-some sur-
prise may be felt at men being found willing to sub-
159
SEIZURE REWARDS.
mit to the hardships attaching to the service; and
certainly the bare prospect of wages would never of
itself have been found a sufficient inducement to en-
listment. The service was nüt only hard but un-
popular with the coast population. A higher incentive
was needed, and that was supplied on a lavish scale
in the shape of “rewards for seizures”-in plain
English, prize money. What this occasionally
amounted to may be dimly realised when we hear of
a thousand pounds having been distributed amongst
the officer and crew of a station for a single capture,
the smallest share, that of a boatman, amounting
to about £90.
The scale of rewards depended not only on the
value of goods scized, but on the number of smugglers
captured, in accordance with the regulations, wherein
it was laid down that “Every man cmployed in the
waterguard is to make it his first and most material
object to secure the person of the smuggler . . . .
and unless inspecting commanders ccrtify that the
most active exertions were made to take the smug-
glers, no reward for or share of any scizure whatever
will be paid or allowed.”
- Briefly, a “full seizure” reward was granted only
in the event of the boat or vessel, as well as a fair
proportion of smugglers being captured, in addition
to the goods; only half being granted when the goods
alone were seized, unless, indeed, satisfactory reasons
were forthcoming to account for the escape of the
smugglers. As a still further incentive to exertion, a
reward of £20 was granted for every smuggler taken
and convicted. This was called "blood money” in
smuggling phraseology.
Seizure rewards were distributed in the following
fixed proportions:
160
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
REVENUE CRUISERS.
100 Shares.
45 -
35 99
...
Commander ...
Chief mate .
Second mate ...
Deputed mariners
Mariner
Boys ... ...
...
...
...
...
...
10
5
?
»
COASTGUARD STATIONS.
1
Chief officer ...
Chief boatman
Riding officer ... ..
Commissioned boatman
Boatman and extra men
.
...
10
It will be evident from what has been stated that
inducements of a high order were extended to officers
and men of all grades to exert themselves in the
service of the Crown; and yet it must be regretfully
confessed that collusion with smugglers was by no
means a rare offence at this particular period. The
temptations were certainly very great, especially to
poor men with large families, for the smugglers had
immense suris of money at disposal, and were uni-
tiring in their efforts to corrupt the men. It was an
easy matter for a coastguardman to connive at a
smuggling transaction without exciting suspicion,
and although conduct of this sort, if persevered in,
was almost sure to leak out in time, the risk did not
in every case deter men from "venturing."
1
7
161
CHAPTER V.
Sir James Graham's Minute -A New Departure -Withdrawal of the
Blockade Men-Extension of the Coastguard-Summer Drills-
Regularity of the Patrolling-Its Evil Consequences-When the Runs
took place.
We have now arrived at a period in the history of
the force which marks the first step in the direction
of bringing it into closer association with the Royal
Navy* In the year 1831 negotiations were entered
into between the Comptroller-general of Coastguard,
the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Lords of the
Treasury, which led to results of high importance.
The following extract from a Treasury minute of
May roth will show the direction in which the new
departure tended : “Read letter from Sir Jas. Graham,
dated March, 1831, enclosing letter from Comptroller-
general of Coastguard, and submitting suggestions for
improving the coastguard service in Great Britain
* In the “Vavy List” for March, 1831, we find the following officers
borne on the books of the guardships stationed in the Downs and at
Newhaven, respectively, for blockade duties :-
Downs.
Talavera—74 ... 65 lieutenants, 15 assistant-surgeons.
Newhaven.
Hyperion, 42 ... 65 lieutenants, 15 assistant-surgeons.
The “Navy List " for June, 1831, shows the following officers en-
ployed in the coastguard (the blockade having been abolished in April):-
STAFF IN LONDON.
i Comptroller. 1 Inspector-General. I Deputy-Comptroller.
i Deputy Inspector-General.
FOR INSPECTION OF DISTRICTS.
4 Captains. 43 Commanders. 10 Lieutenants.
282 Lieutenants employed as chief officers of stations.
162 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
and Ireland : “My lords concur with the First Lord of
the Admiralty in the expediency of remodelling the
system of the coastguard service in Great Britain and
Ireland, more especially as regards the appointments
and promotion of officers and boatmen ; and in the
opinion expressed by Sir Jas. Graham that in order
to increase its efficiency it may be desirable to render
it in all its branches essentially naval.'”
The changes thus shadowed forth were fraught
with important results to the service, and took im-
mediate effect in so far as the entry of men was con-
cerned. From this time forward “instead of the
nomination of the officers and boatmen of the coast-
guard of Scotland and Ireland and the boatmen in
England resting with the Lords of the Treasury, the
whole of such class was henceforth to be selected by
the Lords of the Admiralty.” And thus was a pretty
piece of patronage transferred, with great advantage
to the public service, from one department of state
to the other.
The shoemaker and tailor element was by this
means entirely eliminated, entries in the coastguard
being confined to the crews of revenue cruisers
and vessels of the royal navy ; every encouragement
at the same time being offered to the sons of men
serving in the coastguard to join the revenue cruisers.
The year 1831 was signalised by a still more im-
portant reform, namely, the break-up of the coast
blockade,* and its supersession by the now well-
In
* Apropos of this, the Sussex Advertiser, under date March 21st,
1831, makes the following observations:-“The coast blockade, it is
understood, will be abolished in April . . The measure is the re-
verse of calculated to excite regret in this part of Sussex.” And again,
under date April 4th, 1831, " the coastguard establishment under the
regulations of the customs has commenced its duties within the last
A New DEPARTURE.
matured coastguard force, which simply stepped into
the quarters of its predecessors as these were
gradually withdrawn, without causing any break in
the system of guard which had been so carefully
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built up. The officers who had been in command of
stations under the blockade were, as a rule, permitted
to retain their posts, the only change of importance
being the appointment of inspecting commanders
over the districts, so as to assimilate the system with
that already in vogue in other parts of the kingdom.
fortnight, and on Thurs:lay twelve of the horse-police* arrived as
Hastings for the performance of the interior duty for the prevention of
smuggling. They are rather well-looking men, and accoutred in a
inanner calculated for the service.
* The new mounted guard."
E 2
164 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Beyond the transference of the right of appoint-
ment of men and officers to the Admiralty depart-
ment, and the consolidation of the whole prevention
force, both afloat and ashore, under one head, every
preventive station on shore and every revenue cruiser
afloat still flew the Customs flag, and continued, so
far as administration was concerned, as a branch of
the Customs department. Smuggling, indeed, was
far too rife round the coast of the United Kingdom
to admit of any relaxation of vigilance for purposes
other than those for which the force had been
especially instituted, and for that reason nothing
special seems to have been attempted in the way of
drill for many years subsequently. It was not till
coastguard stations "to be drilled in common forma-
tions to enable them to move in bodies without con-
fusion."
The custom of utilising the coastguard in aid of
the civil power, for the preservation of order in times
of social disturbance which had been resorted to on
more than one occasion of late, notably the Chartist
riots, had doubtless suggested the propriety of an
order such as the one above named. To give effect
to it the crews of adjoining stations were frequently
assembled during the summer months at some con-
venient rendezvous for purposes of drill, the services
of the mounted guard being usually called into requi-
sition for instructional purposes on these occasions.
Although the activity of the smugglers had by this
time considerably abated, the withdrawal of the men
from their stations, even during the day-time, was not
altogether devoid of risk, and the authorities so far
recognised this as to enjoin on the officers of stations
the importance of maintaining secresy regarding the
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SYSTEM OF PATROLLING.. 165
time and place of assembly for drill. The short
nights of the summer months enabled these drills to
be gone through without unduly harassing the men,
or breaking into their much-needed repose; but with
the return of long nights the drills had, of course, to
be suspended, the whole energies of the crews being
required for the prevention smalinam
There is a tendency.
especially in the various brain
service, to crystallise into a systo
is complete and well-ordered. Sud
manifested itself in the coastgua malo
a danger, for, unfortunate
regularity which is
quently constit
code may be -------
ingenuity ; by
atthe mercy on
how elaborate w
ling, if the smuggler om
for, as a matter of course,
it at pleasure. The coastguaran.....
as he proved himself, was only hi
people, he was fond of regular hy
bed, for getting up, and for patrolh.
quence was that a system of patrolling
ference, which seemed perfect to the superficiar
observer, and as well calculated as any humanly
devised system could be to defy the efforts of an
cnterprising foe, was constantly being set at nought
and rendered of no avail.
The failure was brought about in this wise. The
smuggler was a keen, vigilant fellow, ever on the alert
to discover the weak points in the coastguard
defence, with his soul in his work, and grudging

166 SMUGGLING T
DAYS AND WAYS.
neither time nor money in the attainment of his
object. He well knew that if the “master-key” to
coastguard routine was once obtained, he could snap
his fingers at the patrols, and to this end would often
spend a week watching every movement of the
natrols from the time of their leaving the watch-room
ir return home the follow-
yrning, and venturing no-
cill he had mastered the
cire routine.
Now we all know that “rou-
time," or in other words, “custom,"
in the heart of man, and
king custom is in its
ho is generally
en a shrewd
nd certainly
1, tells us that
ake dotards of
refore, to obviate the
effects of custom on
Coastguard, it became neces-
ary again and again to attack
the routine of the stations, to
destroy the regularity so dear to
the hearts of the men, and thus
tnwart the machinations of the foe. Thus, so far
back as 1829, we meet with the following general
order :-“The patrolling in some districts having
become so regular and uniform, the smugglers take
advantage of it, and particularly of the way the
coast is left unguarded immediately after daylight.”
And from this time forward the order books of the
stations teem with injunctions to the crews to be on
their guard against the ever-varying tactics of the

THE DAY WATCHMAN,
167
smugglers. It was one long story of plot and
counterplot, each side trying to outwit the other-
with what success on either side will be seen as our
inquiry proceeds.
It may be as well to explain that the coastguard
patrols were always withdrawn from their guards at
daylight, the look-out duties being then taken over
by the day-watchman, who, from some prominent
position near the station, could observe the approach
of any vessel to the coast. The smugglers, being
well aware of this custom, frequently timed their run
immediately after the withdrawal of the patrols, who,
by way of saving time, were often in the habit of
closing into the station before it was really light
enough for the day-watchman to see what was going
on along the coast.
Smuggling operations on a large scale were
seldom attempted in the day-time, but on one
occasion on the Sussex coast the sinugglers, reckon-
ing on the absence of the crew of a station one
Sunday morning at church, attempted a run of goods
under the very shadow of the station. But whether
owing to the remissness of the men at their devotional
exercises, or for some other reason, the smugglers
were caught in flagrante delicto, and the goods
seized.
Following the custom that obtained under the
blockade, the coastguard patrols on the coast of Kent
and Sussex were all within hail of each other at
night, and yet, by either force or stratagem, the
smugglers were constantly breaking through the
chain of defence. Recognising the impossibility of
men remaining on their feet the whole night, the
patrols in many districts were permitted to provide
themselves with one-legged stools, called "rump-
168 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
N
stools,” or “donkeys.” By sticking this into the
loose shingle at a slight inclination, the men's own
legs with the leg of the stool formed a sort of tripod
for the body to rest on, any inclination of the body.
from the upright position caused by sleep at once
bringing the carefully-balanced structure to the
ground.
CHAPTER VI.
A Reserve for the Fleet-Conditions of Entry-Dual Capacity of the Force
—First Steps in Gun Drill-Value of the Force-A Revival of Smuggling
--Commander Sparshott-Abolition of the Custom House Flag-
Absorption into the Navy.
TIE idea of utilising the coastguard as a reserve for
the fleet in time of war is by no means of modern
origin. It was, indeed, but natural that, as smuggling
became suppressed, some attempt should be made to
render the large force of men engaged in protecting
the revenue available for purposes of national defence
in emergency, and it is interesting to watch the steps
by which this idea was gradually put into practical
shape.
To give effect to this policy some alteration in the
conditions of entry into the coastguard became neces-
sary, and accordingly in 1845 instructions were issued
that "no seaman is to be appointed in future to the
coastguard who will not enter into a written agree-
ment binding himself to serve on board any of her
Majesty's ships, in the event of his services being
required; but he is to be given to understand that he
will not be called upon to serve unless in cases of
TITA
The administration of the force was henceforward
GUN-DRILL.
169
based on a full and clear recognition of the dual
capacity it had now assumed, viz., first, as a preven-
tive service; secondly, as a reserve for the fleet in
war time; and just as its functions in the former
capacity receded in importance, so the force acquired
increased value as a reserve, and measures having for
their object an increase of its efficiency in a naval
sense were now being constantly introduced.
In the same year, 1845, we have the first proposal
to utilise the crews of coastguard stations for the
defence of the coast. This curious and little known
memorandum is dated May 2nd, 1845, and after
pointing out the desirability under certain conditions
of placing guns of large calibre on prominent points
of the coast, "not so much for the protection of land-
ing places, as in expectation that by their extensive
range with shot or shell they may deter the enemies'
steam vessels from approaching the coast, and afford
protection to the coasting trade," it is added that
“regard must also be had to the situation of the
coastguard stations, and on the force of each, as on
them will depend the working of the gun, though it
is probable that in the first instance the same,
together with the ammunition, will be placed in
charge of a seaman gunner from the Excellent." No
steps were taken to give effect to this proposal, and
nothing was attempted in the way of gun-drill till
three years later, 1848, when, as a preliminary
measure, orders were given for one man "young, and
likely to receive instruction,” to be sent from certain
stations to the nearest naval port for the purpose of
being “ instructed in the great gun exercise." But the
Comptroiler-general having expressed a wish that the
whole of the coastguardmen should be taught the
drill with as little delay as possible, the crews were
VY
170
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS:
sent up in relays for a week at the time, until the
whole force, including the crews of revenue cutters-
with the exception of men over fifty years of age,
had received instruction.
The zeal and intelligence evinced by the men on
this occasion elicited both from the Comptroller-
general and the Admiralty letters of warm commenda-
tion. Mention is made at this particular period for
the first time of the “gunnery department of
the coastguard,” under Commander Jernyngham,
R.N.
The following allusion to a somewhat novel addi- ·
tion to the armament of coastguard stations shows
how thoroughly the gun-drill had become a part of
coastguard training. Referring to the progress made
in this branch of instruction a general order of this
date observes that "the ingenuity displayed in fit-
ting the wooden guns now supplied to the respective
stations will be taken advantage of as a means of
perfecting the officers and men in the drill, and per-
fecting them for a satisfactory inspection by the
Comptroller-general.”
The wooden guns have long disappeared from the
economy of coastguard stations, but here and there
the tradition of their existence still survives, and
traces may even be seen in the shape of a "half-
port” in a watch-room window, or perhaps a training
tackle bolt in the floor. The gun-drill having become
a recognised part of a coastguardman's training, the
crews of stations were now sent up once a year to the
nearest naval port, battery, or man-of-war, for the
purpose of keeping them proficient, while small drill-
books were supplied to the stations to enable the
crews to refresh their knowledge of the subject, and
on all occasions of inspection the men were put
YS
A REVIVAL OF SMUGGLING. 171
through so much of the drill as could be achieved
with the limited appliances available.
At this stage of the force's history it may not be
amiss to quote the opinion entertained regarding its
value to the nation by an officer whose position
afforded the best opportunities of judging. In a
valedictory address issued by the Comptroller-general,
under date February 11th, 1850, the following passages
occur:-
“I believe that her Majesty has not a more re-
spectable body of officers and men in her dominions.
... I must always recollect with peculiar satisfaction
the patriotic readiness with which the sudden call for
service in Ireland was met, as well as the invariable
zeal and cheerful intelligence displayed throughout
those districts in which the great gun exercise has
been established.
“Should the time of trial come, I am convinced
that her Majesty may securely rely upon the loyal
efforts of the coastguard to aid in any operations,
offensive and defensive, which shall be undertaken
for the protection of the country. — HOUSTON
STEWART.”
About this time there seems to have been a partial
revival of smuggling, but whether owing to relaxed
vigilance on the part of the coastguard, or to an im-
pression amongst the smugglers that the occasional
withdrawal of the men for drill purposes offered
facilities for prosecuting their trade cannot now be
decided. The fact, however, remains, and drew forth
the following remarks from the Comptroller-general,
dated July 18th, 1850:- .
"It is with much regret I call the attention of
the officers and men of the coastguard, ashore and
afloat, to the fact that the contraband.trade has greatly
nTTITA
172
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
increased, and that the smugglers appear determined
to carry on their illicit practices with increased vigour
during the ensuing winter.”
This was the last flicker up of smuggling before
its final suppression, for although the trade was carried
on in a quiet, unobtrusive way for many years after
with varying success, the old methods had long been
extinct, and a run of goods in the old style was only
a curious matter of history; comparatively little
activity or daring was brought to the task, and, so far
as this history is concerned, “smuggling days” may
be said to have come to an end.
Singularly enough, this particular time was marked
by the death of Commander Sparshott, the Deputy
Comptroller-general, who, from his long and intimate
connection with the force might in truth have been
styled the Father of the Coastguard. Having been
associated with it almost from its inception, he
possessed a wider and more detailed knowledge of
this branch of the public service than any living per-
.son, and his death at this particular period of its
history was a singular coincidence.
The following allusion to this event occurs in a
general order, dated November 13th, 1851 :--
“The Board of Customs and Comptroller-general
of the Coastguard desire to record their sense of the
loss which the coastguard service has sustained in the
death of Commander Samuel Sparshott, R.N., which
took place on the roth inst., at ten a.m., and whose
long experience and zealous attention to the duties
of his office as Deputy Comptroller-general of the
Coastguard during a period of nearly twenty-five years
the Board of Customs and Comptroller-general have
fully appreciated.”
The subsequent history of the coastguard is of
ABSORPTION INTO THE Navy. 173
little interest to the general reader, from a smuggling
standpoint, and may be told in a very few words.
When the Crimean war broke out, and found the
country totally unprepared for a struggle with a
colossal power like Russia, the value of the coastguard
as a naval reserve was clearly shown, and every avail-
able man was drafted to the fleet, the vacancies thus
created being filled up with “extra men”* and old
pensioners. With the return of peace the absorption
of the force into the navy was very shortly accom-
plished.
Early in 1857 the Custom House ensign, which
had been the distinguishing badge of the service since
its inception, was discontinued afloat and on shore,
and the naval flags and signal code brought into use.
Closely following on this came the final ineasure,
on the lines originally shadowed forth in the Treasury
guard service, with all its traditions, historical asso-
ciations, and smuggling reminiscences, was rendered
complete. In May, 1857, the districts were placed
under the orders of captains of the royal navy-
district-captains, as they are now called the vessels
of which they were in command being stationed at
suitable points round the coasts of the United
Kingdom.
From this time forward the coastguard became
not only essentially naval, but so far as its adminis-
tration was concerned, a mere offshoot from the navy
itself. For its history during recent years the reader
porary service at stations, in the place of men incapacitated by sickness,
or other cause; and such men were officially termed “ extra men."
It was not an uncommon thing for these " casuals” to do a little
smuggling sub rosa when not protecting the revenue !
174
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
must be referred to those grand monuments of official
industry--the blue-books and literature of a kindred
nature, wherein, if he be blessed with an average
amount of health and the prospect of longevity, and
brings sufficient application to the task, he will find
every detail connected with the service set down with
astonishing precision, “even to the last button on the
gaiter.”
. One word before concluding the chapter. The
question is often asked by thoughtless people: “What
is the good of keeping up the coastguard when there
is no smuggling ?" Now, without pausing to demon-
strate the fallacy involved here, we would reply by
asking another question:“What is the good of keeping
up a fleet and army when the country is not at war?”
Si vis pacem para bellum applies with just as much
force to the question of maintaining a preventive force
for the protection of the revenue, as to the mainten-
ance of a fleet and army, for, while it is doubtful if
any nation would instantly seize the opportunity for
attacking us while our claws were clipped, there are
plenty of unscrupulous people whom only the fear of
detection now restrains from defrauding the revenue
on a gigantic scale, and who but for the existence of
the coastguard would instantly commence operations.
175
Part IV.
BLACK SHEEP.
A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES IN
THE COASTGUARD.
CHAPTER I.
Black Sheep in the Coastguard-Nature of Offences–Drunkenness-Con-
duct of Cutter's Men—Spiling Casks—A Regular Old Smuggler-
Collusion--A Coastguard Smuggler-Mistaken Vocations—The Looe
Case.
IN a force comprising some 4,000 men and officers
it was only natural that there should be a pro-
portion of black sheep, and the large number of
its history shows that the composition of the force
was not all that could be desired from a disciplinary
point of view. A brief notice of the offences which
figured most prominently at this particular time will
enable the reader to realise the peculiar temptations
to which the members of the force were exposed, and
by this means to form a truer conception of smug-
gling days than would otherwise be the case.
From careful inquiry it seems that during
the period, August, 1825 to February, 1829, there
were no less than 215 dismissals from the coast-
guard for various offences, the most common
being—first, drunkenness; second, “mutinous and
most outrageous conduct.” Of this large number,
176
SMUGGLING DAY'S AND WAYS.
however, it is only fair to state that by far the greater
proportion were from the revenue cutters, for mutinous
conduct and for desertion. As regards the first of
these offences there can be no doubt that the tempta-
tions to drink were exceedingly strong; indeed, with
so much cheap liquor about it was hardly to be
expected that temperance principles should be in the
ascendant. It was a practice, subsequently pro-
hibited, though winked at, whenever a seizure was
made to reserve one or two-usually two, possibly
three-tubs for the refreshment of the crew; in the
words of a quaint official order of those days “to
afford cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits.”
The evil consequences of such a practice were not
long in manifesting themselves, and in one instance,
at least, a very graphic picture of this particular
phase of coastguard life has been preserved as a
lesson and a warning. Thus it is recorded that in
1827 the chief officer of the Langston Harbour
Station was dismissed for allowing a flagon of spirits
to be broached by his crew which led to the death of
an “extra man” from excessive drinking, and then
ordering the flagon to be taken to his own residence.
But if half of what the writer has heard be true,
the drinking afloat was worse than on shore. The
revenue cruisers were constantly employed in convey-
ing seized spirits to the custom houses, and the
crews seldom allowed a crop to pass through their
hands without exacting toll, the modus operandi
being as follows:-A tub having been deftly
abstracted from the crop would be taken below, one
of the hoops knocked back, a small hole bored, and a
gallon run off; a “spile” would then be forced into
the hole, the hoop knocked up into place again, and
the tub returned. Watching the opportunity, the
CORRUPT CUTTERS' MEN.
177
same operations would be repeated, and so on, until
perhaps half a dozen gallons had been run off.*
Not content, however, with these minor depreda-
'tions, which did little harm to the revenue, we find
the crews on two occasions concerned in extensive
smuggling transactions on their own account. Thus,
in 1825, the entire crew of the Rose, revenue cruiser,
was dismissed for attempting to "run" a large
quantity of tobacco. And again in 1832, the
Nimble's crew were dismissed for being concerned in
the smuggling of a quantity of spirits at Exmouth.
The temptation was no doubt great, for the vessels
were constantly running across to the Channel
Islands, whence a considerable contraband trade
was still carried on with the English coast.
Said an old man to the writer :-" The Fox was
nothing but a regular old smuggler. I know that,
for my daughter married the mate, and the kitchen of
the house where they lived was hung all over with
loaves of sugar, and lots of other things which were
contraband in those days, that he brought across
from the Channel Islands."
After all, we must not judge these jolly mariners
too harshly on account of their bibulous tendencies,
for the duties of a preventive man in those days were
such as no free and enlightened Briton would volun-
tarily undertake at the present time for double the
pay, and it would have been thought poor fun
handling tubs all day without getting ever a sup.t
* That these depredations were not the result of "want” is evident
when it is stated that the daily spirit ration of each cutter's man was one
gill of rum.
+ One of the inost flagrant cases of "reversion” was that of the
first preventive boats' crew stationed at Gorran flaven, in Cornwall,
who, let us hope unknown to the "sitter," finding a difficulty possibly
178 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Collusion, in one form or another, was a contin-
gency which the authorities had ever to guard
against. Isolated as were the crews of coastguard
stations in many parts of the kingdom, there was an
ever-present temptation to the men, if not actually to
connive, to wink at the practices of the surrounding
population-practices in which it is well to remember
they had themselves most probably at one time
engaged, and with which they possibly still inwardly
sympathised. To ensure probity amongst the various
ranks of the preventive service under such conditions
was not always an easy task, and if a weak brother
succumbed to temptations now and again, the fact will
cause no surprise to the student of human nature.
Indeed, considering the unpopularity of the service
amongst the masses and the strong temptations that
were held out, the wonder is that a far greater num-
ber of defections are not recorded than is actually
the case.
During the period when the coasts of Kent and
Sussex were guarded by the blockade men, collusion
was notoriously rife, and it is a curious fact that after
the coastguard was substituted, the worst cases of the
same nature occurred on this portion of the seaboard.
Thus, the very year in which the blockade was
removed several runs took place in the Deal district,
and collusion being suspected, two of the mounted
guard, two chief boatmen, and two boatmen of the
coastguard were dismissed (1831).
- A flagrant case of bribery occurred the following
year in the same district, which is thus referred to
(October roth, 1832) :—"A big landing of goods is
in obtaining good liquor in this remote spot, or for lack of excitement,
"ventured” a cargo of spirits on their own account, were "bowled
out,” and promptly cashiered.
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.
179
the follow cunning had they
discovered to have taken place at Hope Point, Kings-
down station, on the guard of Henry Cogen, who
deserted. On inquiry it is found that the chief officer
was in the habit of telling the men overnight their
guards for the following morning, hence the smug-
glers with their usual cunning would not have trusted
so valuable a cargo to chance, had they not, owing to
this improper practice, known where and when to
find this corrupt character.” And again, the year
after, a boatman of the Walmer station in the same
district is dismissed for receiving a bribe of £20 from
a smuggler, and arranging for the landing of goods
on his guard.
That the practice of corrupting the men was still
largely and successfully resorted to in this district for
some time after the above cases were discovered, is
shown by instructions issued to the officers of stations
directing them to "try and discover a bribed man
amongst their crews, which can with ease be effected"
-the order goes on to say," by looking to the mode of
living of the men, and by ascertaining if the men off
watch are really in their beds, as a case lately came
to knowledge where a bribed character (a boatman in
the Deal district) actually assisted the smugglers in
working a cargo of fifty tubs upon the guard of one
of his messmates after he had been relieved from
day-watch, and, of course, supposed to be in bed, for
which he received a bribe of £10, and returned to
his quarters ready for midnight relief." *
In some instances even officers in charge of stations
.
* Apropos of this, the following order from the Brighton district
(1831) is worthy of note :--" There being reason to fear that an attempt
will be made to corrupt our men through the medium of females, it is
my direction that patrols hold no communication with any person,
either male or female."
L2
180
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS:
B
so far forgot their allegiance as to connive at the very
practices they were employed to suppress. At Lul-
worth, in Dorsetshire, for example (1827), the chief
officer, Lieutenant B--, R.N., was dismissed under
very suspicious circumstances, viz., allowing a run to
take place with every appearance of connivance on
his part; for not reporting the run, and denying that
such landing had taken place ; for not attempting to
secure the goods after they had been landed; for hav-
ing withdrawn a patrol from the place where the run
occurred, and sending him to another guard; and for
having been frequently at the house of, and in com-
pany with, a reputed smuggler.
The service was certainly to be congratulated on
having parted with Lieutenant Ben, who would
seem to have mistaken his vocation. This affair had
a sad sequel, for the officer who succeeded Lieutenant
a t Lulworth so exasperated the smugglers by
the activity with which he interfered with their illicit
practices, that they brutally murdered him and threw
his body over a cliff.
A somewhat similar case is that of Lieutenant
R .N., chief officer at Paignton, in Devon, who
was dismissed for releasing two smugglers who were
taken escorting a cart containing contraband goods;
for prevailing on his crew to sign a false seizure
report; and for concealing the fact that any men were
present when a seizure was made of a cart, two
horses, and forty-six tubs of spirits.
In Norfolk, at about the same time, Lieutenant
J- , R.N., was dismissed for continuing an
intimacy with a notorious smuggler, after having
bcen repeatedly cautioned by his inspecting com-
mander.
But perhaps the most singular case of this de-
P
NEGLIGEVCE OF PATROLS.
181
scription occurred at Looe, in Cornwall, from which
station during a very short space of time no less than
three chief officers in succession were dismissed under
circumstances which pointed in the most direct
manner to collusion.
The only other case of note in which an officer
was concerned is that of Lieutenant Samuel B-
R.N., in charge of a station in Ireland, who was dis-
missed for drawing his sword on the Rev. J. C-
and another gentleman, and thrusting it through the
waistcoat of the latter, and for grossly insulting a
respectable farmer.
CHAPTER II.
Vegligence of Patrols-Precautions Against Surprise-Assault on a Patrol
at Sandgate-Running with the Hare and Hunting with the Hounds
- Smuggler Recruits -- Improvements in Discipline — Comptroller-
General's Opinion of the Coastguard.
· AN offence, at one time rather frequent, and which
was visited with a severity that to the uninitiated might
seem uncalled for, was that of patrols allowing them-
selves to be secured by smugglers without offering a
proper resistance. It must be borne in mind, how-
ever, that the men were provided with firearms for
the express purpose of defending themselves against
sudden attacks, and the very fact of being surprised
and overpowered argued a want of vigilance in the
first place, and of courage in the second. There was
always a strong temptation to succumb to superior
numbers, instead of showing the bold front which was
often quite sufficient to check the attack of smugglers
until assistance arrived, and therefore, unless the
182
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
clearest evidence was forthcoming of the men having
used their arms in self-defence, and offered a proper
resistance, they were almost invariably punished by
dismissal.
The fact is collusion was apt to assume so many
sinister disguises, that it would never have done to
admit the plea of a surprise as a valid excuse for a
run. There was nothing easier for a corrupt man
than to allow himself to be surprised, secured, and his
arms taken from him while a run of goods was
accomplished-in consideration of favours received of
course—and this became so frequent at one period
that the authorities determined to put a stop to it by
the exercise of a severity which, but for a knowledge
of the facts above stated, might seem unwarrantable.
Thus, in 1822, we find the chief officer and riding
officer of Cromer station, in Norfolk, dismissed for
allowing themselves to be secured by smugglers, and
although in this particular instance it is difficult to
believe that corrupt motives were at work, it would
never have done to pass by lightly over such a want
of vigilance or courage as was here implied.
. There were cases, of course, when the utmost
vigilance on the part of the patrols was of no avail
against the machinations of the foe who was as
cunning as he was unscrupulous in the use of means
to his end, and every allowance was made for the
men under these conditions. Thus, in the Folkestone
district (1836), information was given to the coast-
guard of an intended run to be carried out as
follows :-"Four men of desperate character are
hired to secure two adjoining patrols—two to each,
and if they succeed, the boat is to come in im-
mediately, if they fail the run is to be forced ”
In the blockade days the smugglers usually
1
SURPRISES
183
gained their ends by bribing the sentries, but with the
establishment of the coastguard the difficulties con-
nected with the arrangements for a run of goods
increased every year, and the importance of securing
the patrols as a preliminary to a smuggling trans-
action on a large scale became more important as
time went on. This was, of course, well known to
the authorities, and on certain portions of the Kent
coast the patrols were specially cautioned to be on
their guard against surprise. In the Deal district, for
instance, the inspecting commander enjoined on all
chief officers “ to caution the men before going on
duty against surprise, by not allowing anyone to
approach their guard till satisfied it is their officer, as
I am persuaded the smugglers will attempt to seize
them at their posts by assuming a false character.
Chief officers are also to be properly armed and on
their guard when passing through plantations, turn-
ing corners, or near cliff edges, as I am informed on
the very best authority that each company of smug-
glers will be accompanied by a number of 'batmen,'
whose first and grand object will be to secure the
officer” (November, 1831).
That cautions of this nature were by no means
superfluous is shown by an occurrence in the Folke-
stone district so late as the year 1842, when on the
night of the 2nd October a patrol was seized by
smugglers at Sandgate, and had his arms taken from
him. The way this was effected was by whistling to
the man, who, on going to see what it was, found
himself tripped up by five men who held himn down
and tried to stop his mouth or choke him. His cries
gave the alarm, and the smugglers ran off, taking his
arms with them.
A curious case of running with the hare and
.
184
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
hunting with the hounds is that of James Rowatt,
boatman, and a native of Polperro, who was dis-
missed in the year 1827 for having purchased a boat
intended to be employed in smuggling.
In 1831 a mariner of the Tartar, revenue cruiser, is
dismissed for making known the means taken to dis-
guise the vessel when in chase of a smuggler.
A curious case was that of a boatman who had
contracted Oriental notions on the subject of matri-
mony, or, to quote from the official version of his
offence," for having two wives, and families by each.”
Though why, having taken unto himself. a second
wife, it should have been regarded as specially sinful
having "families by each" passeth understanding.
In many instances the men who were dismissed
from the coastguard service went over to the opposite
camp and became expert and active smugglers,
deriving no small advantage, doubtless, from their
knowledge of coastguard routine. Thus, two boys
belonging to the Rose, revenue cruiser, natives of
Cawsand in Cornwall, who were dism ssed in 1826,
took to smuggling, and eventually became some of
the most notorious smugglers in the place.
The same may be said of Richard S— , at one
time gunner of the Nimble, revenue cruiser—whose
crew, it will be remembered, were dismissed for being
concerned in a smuggling transaction at Exmouth
(1832). Also of Philip L--, at one time a boy in
the Fox, revenue cruiser.
The Mary, of Cawsand, a well-known smuggling
craft, was owned and commanded by John F- ,
formerly chief boatnan in the coastguard, dismissed
from his station in the Isle of Wight for refusing to
proceed with his crew to assist in preserving the
public peace on the occasion of a riot (1830). His
PERVERTS.
185
smuggling career was brief, however, for he was lost
in the vessel on her first trip
All the above belonged to Cawsand. Of others
may be mentioned Thomas H , at one time in
the Repulse, revenue cruiser, and afterwards in the
Daniel and William, one of the most notorious smug-
gling vessels on the south coast. Also George
Po native of Gorran Haven, Cornwall, dis-
missed from the Fox on suspicion of being concerned
in a run of goods which took place at Gorran Haven
while he was at home on leave, and who afterwards
took to smuggling.
Then we find a vessel engaged in smuggling on
the coast of Galway with Anthony M--, late
commander of the Nepean, revenue cruiser, on board
as pilot, and the names of many other men occur
from time to time in the same connection, only one
of whom need be mentioned here, viz., Richard
K-_*, a native of Yealm, in Devonshire, who,
after serving for a number of years in the coastguard,
turned smuggler, and for some twenty years gave
more trouble to the men of the preventive service
TY
became a shipbroker at Plymouth, in which capacity
he was able to indulge his tastes for illicit trading
with more profit and less risk than before, and
achieved a more enduring reputation as the “smuggler
broker” than he ever could have attained in his
original capacity as guardian of the revenue.
It would be easy, of course, to prolong the list of
offences, but enough has been said to give the reader
an idea of the peculiar temptations to which the force
was exposed, and those to which the men most readily
* A brother of this enterprising trader rose to the rank of admiral
in the Royal Navy.
186
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
SMUG
succumbed ; and if the dismissals were more numerous
at one time than might be expected in a branch of
the public service to which high responsibilities were
attached, there can be no doubt that as time went on
and the bonds of discipline were drawn tighter, a vast
improvement was to be noticed in the general tone
and conduct of the force, an improvement which it
may be observed did not pass unnoticed by those
whose position enabled them to realise the full sig-
nificance of this change.
Of the several officers charged with the adminis-
tration of this department of the public service, there
was no one whose opinion is entitled to more respect
than the Comptroller-general, who, from a connection
with the force extending over a long course of years,
commencing almost from its first inception, must
have acquired a pretty clear insight into its working,
as well as of the merits of the officers and men com-
posing it. In resigning his office on promotion in
January, 1842, Admiral Bowles issued a valedictory
address to the force, which will form a fitting conclu-
sion to this chapter :-
“ Coastguard Office,
"January 5th, 1842.
“The Comptroller-general cannot resign the
office he has so long held, and which the zeal,
obedience, and good conduct of the officers and men
under his orders have enabled him to fill with so
much pride and pleasure, without recording his most
sincere acknowledgments to those by whose cordial
co-operation, subordination, and fidelity, the revenue
has been protected, the danger and losses by ship-
wreck so materially diminished, and the public tranquil-
lity often preserved on emergency, when no other armed
force could be procured in aid of the civil power.

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188
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
“The Comptroller-general is fully aware of the
exemplary manner in which those various services
have been performed. He has, he trusts, always
endeavoured to do justice to the exertions, and to
reward the merits of those who have distinguished
themselves in the execution of such arduous and
laborious duties, and it is with the most heartfelt
satisfaction that he has assured his successor of the
full confidence with which he may rely on the
fidelity, discipline, and steadiness of the whole force
about to be placed under his orders, to which he him-
self now bids farewell with the sincerest wishes for
their future credit and welfare, and with the firmest
confidence that the coastguard will preserve unim-
paired the high character it has acquired and main-
tained.
WILLIAM BOWLES."
189
Part V.
THE SMUGGLER:
IIIS CHARACTERISTICS AND METHODS.
CHAPTER 1.
.
The Halcyon Days of Smuggling—An Unwelcome Change-Opposition of
the Masses-Nature of a Smuggling Transaction-Qualifications of a
Smuggler-A Fine School of Seamanship-Advantages of a Direct
Run-Method of Sinking a Cargo.
IN the old free-trade days the smuggler was
regarded, if not as the most respectable, certainly
as one of the most useful members of society, and
we have seen with what a delightful simplicity of
method he plied his vocation. It was, in fact, a
mere question of industry and numbers. But with
the establishment of the blockade, together with the
introduction of an efficient preventive service, a
wholly new range of conditions was developed, and
the smuggler observed with sorrow that the jolly
times he had hitherto enjoyed were drawing to a
close, and that he must either adapt himself to the
altered circumstances of the trade, or seek pas-
tures new. Being a practical man, however, he
experienced little difficulty in accommodating himself
to the times, and noting that science, cunning, and
resource were now the chief elements of success, he
threw himself heart and soul into the business, and
during the next twenty years displayed an amount
190
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
1
of skill, daring, and ingenuity which might well serve
as an example to toilers in more prosaic fields.
That the smugglers and their allies should regard
the new-fangled notions that were being promul-
gated by the authorities with contempt and aversion
was, of course, only natural ; and that they bitterly
resented the efforts of the executive to interfere with
their calling we can well understand. But, unfortu-
nately, they gave expression to these feelings in a
form which we must all condeinn, and which, indeed,
could never be tolerated in a country aspiring to the
title of civilised. The armed conflicts which had
taken place from time to time under the old régime
between the free-traders and the king's officers were
at first renewed with almost greater frequency than
of old, while a spirit of lawlessness and violent
antagonism to authority was displayed along a con-
siderable portion of the southern coast which it is
difficult now to realise.
It is always a troublesome task trying to inculcate
sound ideas on the subject of “duty” amongst people
who view all attempts to enforce a law which they
dislike as an act of coercion. The idea of there
being any reasonableness in the payment of taxes
on such necessaries of life as liquor and baccy was
quite beyond the comprehension of the simple folk
of old; and it was only after some twenty years
of conflict that they became unwilling converts to
the new doctrine.
We have seen what manner of man the smuggler
of free-trade days was; it now remains to give some
account of his representative of more recent times,
and his ways of doing business.
Smuggling methods were, of course, infinitely
varied, depending, as we shall see, upon a great variety
VA
A SMUGGLING TRANSACTION.
191
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of circumstances, as, for instance, the nature of the
coast, the distance to the opposite shore, the positions
of the preventive stations, and strength of the crews.
Speaking generally, there were three distinct opera-
tions to be provided for in a smuggling transaction-
first, bringing over the goods; second, landing them ;
third, running them in-
land, the primary and
principal object being
to elude, or, if neces-
sary, to break through
the triple line of de-
fence which encircled
the coast, and to con-
vey the goods with
- the utmost possible
despatch to safe depôts
pending their distribu-
tion.
The personnel en-
gaged in these opera-
tions may be divided
Carrying TVBS
into three classes --
first, the freighter, or principal ; second, the boatmen,
or agents employed for bringing over the goods ;
third, the tub-carriers, or porters, or land smugglers
as they were called in old times, whose duty it was
to clear the boats and convey the goods inland.
Of the three, the second was by far the nobler
calling-if, indeed, such a terın be permissible with
· reference to smuggling-involving endurance, presence
of mind, pluck, ready resource, besides being attended
with great risk, and often terrible hardship, the winter
as we have seen, being the favourite time of year for
plying the trade; in short, to be a successful sea-

.
Wie
of
192
SUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
smuggler, it was necessary to display the best charac-
teristics of British seamen ; and that the smuggling
trade was a matchless school of seamanship, and
produced a matchless class of seamen, we have
abundant evidence. “Almost every man was the
beau idéal of a British sailor," says the historian of
Guernsey in describing the smugglers who visited
this great entrepôt during the early years of the
century: "active, daring, and prodigal of their
dangerous gains, they forgot, in the pleasures of the
day, the risks of the morrow." *
The three lines of defence which had to be eluded
or overcome in a smuggling transaction consisted, as
previously explained, of the revenue cutters afloat,
and the coastguard and mounted guard on shore.
Of these, the coastguard was the one from which the
gravest danger was to be apprehended. The vigilance
of the men was so keen, and the chain of patrols so
complete, that it was useless now attempting a run
without first ascertaining, by careful observation, the
weak points in the defence, and making every pre-
paration beforehand.
In many respects the smugglers, being the attack-
ing party, enjoyed great advantages over the defence,
not only from their superior ingenuity and cunning,
but especially by reason of their power of massing
* Another Guernsey man, recording his youthful experiences, bears
the following high tribute to the attributes of the smugglers :-" There
was a class of vessels which, when a boy, were my admiration, and I
could never cease gazing at them-I mean the cutters and luggers ;
... and the smugglers with their athletic crews, who looked and
lived like gentlemen. How many happy hours they have made me
pass by merely looking at them. That hardy race is gone by, and is,
it would seem, extinct.. Smuggling, with all its faults, had its
advantages too, as it created and kept up a bold and active race of sea-
men.”—Tupper's “ History of Guernsey” (1840).
.. DIRECT RUNS.
193
their forces on a given point, without notice, on a
long attenuated line of coastguard patrols, and of
choosing their own time of attack.
Besides all this, the smugglers possessed a sur-
prising knowledge of the duties and routine of the
coastguard service, acquired partly by observation,
but often by means of "perverts” from the coast-
guard camp. As a matter of fact, the ranks of the
smugglers were constantly receiving accessions from
their opponents—men discharged for bad conduct,
as well as others, attracted, perhaps, by the large
profits that still, in their opinion, counterbalanced
the attendant risks. It is well known that some of
the most successful smugglers had served first in the
coastguard; while, on the other hand, the smugglers
contributed several valuable recruits to the ranks of
the coastguard.
If it was feasible, the smugglers greatly preferred
making one job of the business; though, of course,
this could only be managed when the distance to be
traversed by the boats was short, so that the time of
their arrival on the coast could be depended on with
some certainty, and the carriers be assembled, ready
to act on the moment. A direct run of this sort was
a common occurrence in Kent, and in many parts of
Sussex, while farther west, and north, it was rather
the exception than the rule, although the length of
the guards compensated, in some measure, for the
difficulties experienced in calculating the time of a
boat's arrival.
Where it was too risky to attempt a direct land-
ing, the business would be managed as follows :-On
the arrival of the smuggling boat off the coast, the
goods would be sunk to the bottom, on well-defined
bearings, the task of picking them up afterwards, and
194 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
"working" them-i.e., landing them—being entrusted
to local men, who, from their intimate knowledge of
the coastguard routine, were best fitted for this im-
portant and extremely hazardous duty.

.
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METHOD
Slinging tabs
The tub-sling consisted of a piece of small left-handed rope (French),
secured round each cnd of the tub, so as to leave two ends, or "tails,” of
equal length. If the cargo was sunk, one only of these tails would be
used for fastening ihe tub to the sinking-rope, so that if, as was usually
the case, this tail was cut off in the hurry of “working' the crop,
there would still be one left. The tub-carrier would then be able to
sling his pair of tubs by taking the tail from each tub over the shoulder
and securing it to the other tub, as shown in the drawing on page 191.
Along the Kent and Sussex shore, where direct
runs were in high favour, the goods were either
brought across in smuggling galleys-very fast boats
especially built for this purpose, rowing ten and
twelve oars, and making the passage in a few hours
or in “tub-boats," mere shells, run up of cheap
Y
MODE OF SINKING Goods. 195.
materials, roughly put together, and of little value.
These boats were towed across by French luggers,
dropped within a convenient distance of the appointed
spot, and then rowed on shore. Being worth little,
they were often broken up after a run; or, if sur-
prised, abandoned. It was, indeed, an axiom with
the preventive men “that the smugglers wholly dis-
regard the loss of their boats, provided they can run
their goods."
In sinking a cargo the modus operandi was as fol-
lows :—The tubs, which it must be premised were
always supplied by the merchants abroad ready
fitted with rope slings, were secured, at intervals of a
few feet, along a stout rope called the "sinking rope,"
or “drift line;" between each tub a stone, sufficiently
large to sink the tub, was attached to the same rope,
the whole being hung round the vessel outside by
slight fastenings from the gunwale, with stouter ones
at bow and stern, ready to be cut away and slipped
at a moment's notice. To reduce the risk as much
as possible, the preparations for sinking were usually
completed before the smuggling boat approached the
coast, so that in case of alarm the cargo could be
instantly slipped. * And here it may be as well to
explain that a smuggling boat usually timed its
departure from the foreign port so as to sight the
British coast just before dusk, veiling its movements
from the coastguard watchman by mixing with fish-
ing boats, or "dousing” its sails till darkness set in ;
and then, with all the stealth and power of seeing in
1
* In the event of meeting a contrary gale which threatened to
compromise the safety of the boat, it was the custom with the more
expert West country smugglers to “lighten ship” by putting all
the tubs out in a long string, and to ride by them until the weather
moderated. (See sketch, page 187.)
M 2
196 SMUGGLING DAYS AND W’AYS.
the dark which is associated with the cat, the boat
would stand in as close as she dare. A suitable spot

..
Art
METHOD OF SECURING TUBS AND STONES FOR SINKING.
-
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-----
--
--
:4
.
..
2
A CROP SUNK.
having been selected, down went the helm, the boat
shot up into the wind, and watching for the moment
when her “way” was lost, word would be passed to
“cut away," careful cross-bearings of prominent
points of land being simultaneously taken, and as
soon as “all clear” was given, the boat's head would
be "payed ” off, and an offing made as soon as
possible.
CHAPTER II.
Anchoring a Crop of Tubs- Stinkibus "-Working the Goods-Smuggling
Dodges—Precautions Before a Run—How a Run was Effected–The
Informer-Overpowering the Patrols-Forcing the Runs-Fighting
Gangs- Concealments for Run Goods.
To ensure a “crop of goods” from drifting from its
bearings an anchor was secured to one end of the
T
1
WORKING A CARGO.
197
drift line; and if the position was exposed, or the
goods likely to be long under water, they were further
secured by an anchor at the other end of the line.
A crop sunk in deep water, provided it was secured
in a workmanlike manner, would lie for several weeks
without damage ; but as goods were sometimes put
down hurriedly in bad situations tubs were often
“chafed” off the sinking rope, and by drifting about,
or washing ashore, betrayed the presence of the crop
to the ever-watchful coastguard.
As a rule the contents of the tubs suffered no
deterioration from submersion but occasionally-de-
pending, it is said, on the nature of the bottom-after
very long submersion the spirits turned bad, and a
crop of this sort was known amongst coastguardmen
in the West of England as “stinkibus," from the
offensive smell given off. . The feelings of the men
on hauling in a crop of“ stinkibus," after creeping for
several consecutive days, can be more easily imagined
than described !
The next thing to be arranged for after sinking a
crop was "working" it, an operation entrusted, as
already stated, to local smugglers. It was a delicate
and risky business, requiring nerve, resource, and
experience, and depending, in regard to the methods
employed, to a great extent on local conditions. For
instance, if sunk off the open coast, where no fishing
operations could be used as a cloak to the illicit pro-
ceedings, the entire crop would be worked and run in
one operation. In this case, the men entrusted with
the job would start off soon after dark, in one or
more boats, using every artifice to disguise their
movements and intentions, and usually, if there was
reason to suppose that their departure had been no-
ticed, rowing for some distance in a contrary direction
1
.
1
198
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
TA
to that of the goods. Then, when an offing had
been gained, the boat would be turned and rowed as
quickly as possible to the real spot. The cross-
bearings having been fixed, “creepers" would be
dropped and dragged backwards and forwards along
the bottom until “ brought up" by the goods. In
some instances, if, for example, the goods had drifted
from their position and could not be hooked, “sweep-
ing” was resorted to, a process already described in
connection with the coastguard.
The goods having been hooked, they were
promptly hauled up, cut from the drift line, and
stowed in the boat, the sinking line and anchors being
saved if possible, although, often enough, in the
hurry and excitement of the moment, these had to be
sacrificed to the safety of the men and goods; for it
was ten to one if the coastguard boat was not afloat,
and at the slightest sound it was a case of “cut and
run" and devil take the hindinost. Indeed, there were
few operations which more frequently afforded a
practical illustration of the truth of the old adage
that “there is many a slip," etc.
The next thing was to run the goods, an operation
which will be described in due course.
On many parts of the coast the sunken goods could
be worked with more deliberation and less risk. · In
places where crabbing was largely followed, for in-
stance, goods were sunk by choice on the crabbing
grounds, and while the other boats were working their
pots the smugglers would take the opportunity of
pulling up the end of the sinking line-probably
buoyed in this case in the same way as the crab-pots
were-cutting off three or four tubs, and stowing them
snugly underneath the pots in the bottom of the
boat, row quietly on shore, and, watching the oppor-
ANT
S
RUNNING THE GOODS. : 199
tunity, run the tubs in broad daylight. In other
places, again, where seaweed cutting was practised on
the rocks and islands off the coast, tubs would often
be run on shore under a load of weed. There was, in
fact, no limit to the number of dodges. in vogue, and
it would only weary the reader to enumerate the
various channels through which the patrons of the
trade drew their supplies of the good old cognac,
which they loved, not always wisely, but too well.
In the various operations of smuggling there was
no more dangerous or exciting an event than a run
of goods on a large scale. It was at this particular
stage of the proceedings that the smugglers incurred
the greatest risk of coming into collision with the
coastguard, and not only of losing their goods but of
forfeiting their liberty, for a time at least. To ensure
a successful run it was necessary to fix on a spot,
where, judging from a careful observation of the
patrols, there was least likelihood of discovery. The
time for the landing was another matter of the highest
importance. Before deciding on these points it was
a common practice with the smugglers to set a
watch for several consecutive days and nights on the
movements of the coastguard patrols, who would be
“shadowed” from the time they left the station till
their return next morning, special attention being
paid to the line of route they followed, going out and
coming in, the place and time of conference with the
patrols of flank stations, and the usual hour at which
the patrols were withdrawn and the coast left in
charge of the day watchman.
A careful study of the above data usually dis-
closed certain important facts, showing a degree of
regularity in the movements of the coastguardmen
which, however admirable from a disciplinary point of
200
SJUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
es for fun to avail t
ided on,
view, offered facilities for running a cargo which the
expert smuggler was not slow to avail himself of.
The time and place having been decided on, the
next thing to be considered was the collection of a
sufficiency of porters or tub-carriers, of whom any
number could be got together in those days without

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AN OLD TUB-CARRIER.
the slightest difficulty, consisting for the most part of
agricultural labourers and artisans, attracted by the
prospect of earning half-a-crown or five shillings for
the night's work. These men would be warned off
the day before that on which the run was intended,
with full directions where to rendezvous; and shortly
before the appointed hour they would flock in from
all directions, remaining quiet and well out of obser-
vation some little distance behind the guards—a barn,
cottage, or farm-building affording them shelter until
CALLING A HALT.
201
the critical moment arrived. It was impossible, of
course, in every case to guarantee the arrival of the
tub-boat at the precise hour named, but the time
usually selected for a run was in the early part of the
night, to avoid keeping a large body of men hanging
about with nothing to do for any length of time.
Long waiting not only made them restless and noisy,
but, as a matter of course, increased the risk of dis-
covery.
Everything being ready, the man in charge of the
party would be all eyes and ears, so to speak, to
detect not only the approach of the boat but the
presence of the patrols. At length a dark object
looms dimly through the gloom, the word is passed
along to the carriers to be ready, and almost before the
boat's keel grates on the beach, the party surround her,
seize and sling the tubs, every man a pair, and make off
with all despatch inland. The whole affair is over in
from three to five minutes, and all that remains the fol-
lowing morning to inform the coastguard of what has
occurred are some pieces of “sling-stuff” and the tracks
of the men's feet across the sand. The retreat of the
smuggling party inland was not, as may be supposed,
always a very orderly proceeding, and on a dark
night, over broken ground, the carriers had tough work
getting along with their tubs. It was customary, on
reaching what was considered safe distance inland, to
call a halt, when a flagon, or small cask of spirits-
which always found a place in a run cargo-would be
broached and passed around. It was on these occa-
sions, that by the indiscreet libations of the younger
hands, and the resultant exaltation of spirits, the
whereabouts of the party would sometimes be re-
vealed to the coastguard, and mischief ensued. "Eh!
dear me," said an old smuggler to the writer, “ I've
202 SMUGGLING DAYS. AND WAYS.
seen some pretty 'rigs' along o' they tub-carriers at
times, I can tell ye." And he would recount with
a merry chuckle the extraordinary scenes of drunken-
ness that often took place after a run of goods in the
old style.
A “run” was a risky thing at the best, and the
apprehensions of the smugglers were often increased
by the dread lest the informer had been plying his
insidious trade, in which case all the craft and vigi-
lance displayed would be of no avail. Old smugglers
later times, but there was always a pretty crop of
doublefaced scoundrels about in every age ready to
sell their souls for a share of “information money,"
and the informer was a factor that could never
be safely omitted from the smuggler's calcula-
tions.
It was quite possible, in the natural order of
things, that a patrol might light on the scene at an
unfortunate moment, and throw matters into con-
fusion, and it was on occasions such as this that the
nerve and resource of the older hands stood the
venturers in good stead, and often staved off a
disaster. For, as a rule, the tub-carriers-country
bumpkins mostly, with a fine regard for their own
skins-would cut and run at the first whisper of
alarm, “lightening ship" without the least hesitation,
and leaving their freight as a prize to the foe, and
thus, of course, forfeiting their night's wage. The
older men who had been out before would try
and save one at least of their tubs, and even show
fight rather than relinquish their freight or be
taken.
As an encouragement to the men to hold on to
their tubs when attacked, the venturers were ac-
FORCING A Run.
203
customed to pay ten shillings for every tub saved on
these occasions.
If the coast was too well guarded to admit of a
run being accomplished without discovery, it was a
common practice as a preliminary measure to seize
and overpower the patrols on the guard selected for
the attempt, especially along the Kent and Sussex
shore. In some instances the smugglers, rather than
run the risk themselves, would hire desperate charac-
ters for the job, and these ruffians, creeping up
behind the patrols on a stormy night, would watch
their oppcrtunity, and while the men were chatting
or having a quiet pipe, dash at them and have them
down and their arms removed before ever they could
raise an alarm. The boat would then be signalled in,
and the run accomplished.
A “forced run" was a run effected in spite of the
south-east coast during the first quarter of the
present century. It was, in fact, the rule, whenever a
large and valuable cargo was at stake. The ar-
rangements for forcing a run were necessarily more
elaborate and extensive than in other cases, the
essential difference being in the employment of an
armed party, or "fighting gang," as it was called, for
the protection of the “tub-carriers,” in the event of
attack. The weapons carried on these occasions were
swingles—instruments like a flail—“ bats” (the local
term for long ash bludgeons), and firearms, and many
very serious affrays took place between these
“gangs” and the revenue forces. The practice of
forcing the runs continued as late as the year 1833,
at which time one of the most desperate encounters
that ever disgraced the southern counties was con-
tinued through the greater part of a November night,
204 SMUGGLING MY
DAYS' AND WAYS.
and resulted in the death of four of the smuggling
party, their complete defeat, and the loss of nearly all
their goods. *
Far inland, out of harm's way, horses and carts
would usually be in waiting to relieve the carriers of
their tubs, and to carry them off to the smuggling
depôts, which, in those days, abounded in all the
maritime counties. But just as it is never safe to
halloo before you are out of the wood, so the smug-
glers could never reckon on the goods being safe
because the coastguard patrols had been evaded,
bearing in«mind that it was the special duty of the
mounted guard "to examine carefully the by-roads,
lanes, etc., for the purpose of discovering any prepara-
tions that might be made by the smugglers for effect-
ing a landing by assembling carts or men. . . and,
in the event of a run being effected, pursuing the
company and endeavouring to intercept the carts in
which they are conveying the goods."
Remembering, therefore, that “the best laid
schemes o'mice and men gang aft agley,” the smug-
glers, with a view to minimising the risks of capture,
were in the habit of excavating "private places” or
* Some curious details concerning smuggling in Sussex are fur-
nished in a report by Mr. Majendie on "the disturbed districts of East
Sussex” to her Majesty's commissioners, “as to the administration
and operations of the Poor Law” (1833), from which the following
extracts are made :-—“The smugglers are divided into two classes, the
carriers or bearers who receive from five shillings per night and up-
wards, according to the number of tubs they secure, and the “batmen,"
so called from the provincial term of bat ſor a bludgeon they use, who
consider themselves of a superior class. They go out in disguise, fre-
quently with their faces blackened, and now with firearms; they con-
fine their services to the protection of others, and are paid twenty
shillings or more per night, and many, perhaps most of them, are, at the
same time, in receipt of parish relief.”
CONCEALMENTS.
205
TY
concealments, in the shape of caves and underground
cellars in secluded places on the coast as well as
inland, where the goods could be deposited pending
favourable opportunities for conveying them to their
destinations. In some parts of England the coast
may almost be said to be honeycombed, figu-
ratively speaking, with these “cave dwellings" of
other days, and, notwithstanding the obliteration of
many by the action of water and other causes;
several are still pointed out by the old men who
knew their uses, while others, known only to those
who excavated them, remain undiscovered, the secret
of their whereabouts having died with their owners.
Besides these concealments, there was scarcely a
house along the coast, or a farmhouse, or inn within
easy distance, but had its cellar or “private place," or
“hide” as these receptacles were called, and the
ingenuity displayed in their construction was certainly
very wonderful. So admirably were they contrived
in many instances, that on change of ownership their
very existence has been unsuspected, until the sub-
sidence of a beam, or alterations in the house have
laid open cavities which doubtless held many a good
tub of brandy in their time.
CHAPTER III.
·Modern Developments-Collecting a Freight—The Cnannel Passage-
Duties of a Spotsman-Rafting a Cargo-Smuggling Signals-Honour
among Smugglers—Profits of the Trade—The Sea Smuggler-Land
Smugglers-Sea Rovers and Smugglers.
A FEW words concerning the method of procedure in
a smuggling transaction and the vocation will have
been made clear to the reader from beginning to end.
206
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
In the days of free-trade the business was cliefly
conducted by smuggling companies on a grand scale,
like any other commercial transaction, and a vast
amount of capital was embarked in the business.
Under the new conditions, however, the trade, though
enormous in the aggregate, had perforce drifted into.
more numerous and smaller channels, and was con-
ducted chiefly by individuals, who, as agents, niade
arrangements for the disposal of the funds entrusted
to them by their patrons in the manner that seemed
most suitable. These agents were the principals in
smuggling transactions, and were usually called
“freighters," from the fact that they collected the
freight-money, and chartered the vessels to bring
over the goods.
The procedure was somewhat as follows :—The
freighter having collected enough money for a cargo,
proceeded to engage a vessel, and having arranged
this matter would embark and set off without delay
for the port selected for the purchase of the spirits.
Before leaving, however, he would arrange with his
confederates the various details connected with the
intended run-time, place, etc.—usually naming one or
more alternative places in the event of being “put
off” from that decided on in the first instance. As
there were no telegraphs or steamers in those days,
by ineans of which alterations of plan could be
rapidly communicated to the parties concerned,
there was necessarily a considerable element of
chance in the matter, the uncertainty increasing
with the distance to be traversed from the opposite
coast.
To calculate the time of a vessel's arrival required,
therefore, very nice judgment, depending as it did on
a variety of causes beyond the control of man, such
NEARING THE COA57'.
207
as direction and strength of wind, set of tide, etc.;
but old smugglers could generally tell pretty nearly
when to expect the vessel, and during the afternoon
preceding the run would be anxiously scanning the
horizon for the well-known craft. We are speaking
now of cases in which the distance to be traversed
was considerable, and the size of boat large.
The movements of the smuggling boat, and pre-
parations usually made on board before approaching

Pmuggling
with y boat
tubs slung
- for sinking,
R
Vini
The sinking stones were always bent on, and kept on deck till just before
slipping.
the coast, have been already described. The running
of a cargo direct from the vessel or boat involved far
greater risks, and therefore required greater care and
preparation. In this case the boat, under cover of
darkness—the least suggestion of a moon heing fatal
to the chances of success—would stand in as near to
the spot as safety would admit, the utmost vigilance
being necessary to detect any symptoms of danger, or
the slightest signal from the party on shore, whose
duty it was to watch all the approaches to the landing
208 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
place, and instantly flash off a warning to the
boat in case of alarm. These signals consisted of a
fire lighted on a prominent point inland, a “flink"
with a flint and steel, which on a dark night was easily
discernible by the practised eye of a smuggler quite
a mile from the shore, and a flash from a dark
lantern, or peculiarly-constructed telescopic lantern,
which, while throwing a bright light seaward, con-
cealed the rays from observers on either side.
The smuggler who acted as pilot on these occa-
sions, guiding the vessel in with cat-like acuteness of
vision to the appointed spot, was known in smuggling
parlance as “spotsman," and the skill and intelligence
displayed by these men was little short of miraculous.
when the cargo was about to be run on a coast which
was strange to the master of the vessel, the freighter
often acting as his own “spotsman.”
On arrival at a suitable distance from the shore-
the coast being clear for the run—the sinking stones
would be hastily cut off from the sinking rope, a punt
or small boat would dash in with the end of a rope
the other end of which would be secured to the string
of tubs, and on reaching the beach the end of the
line would be seized by the tub-carriers, and the tubs
“rafted” ashore—as the operation of floating them
in was called.
As regards signals, it may be remarked that as
making signals of any sort-even "whooping” to
boats off the coast at night—was an indictable offence,
according to the "smuggling laws," the utmost cir-
cumspection was necessary to avoid detection.
Just picture the feelings of a free and independent
elector of Great Britain at the present day, who, when
taking his walks abroad on a fine night, and happening
HONOUR AMONGST SMUGGLERS.
209
to strike a match wherewith to light his pipe, is sud-
denly pounced on by a couple of burly coastguardmen
and marched off to the nearest station! And yet
such was the fate that awaited anyone who in the old
smuggling days was unguarded enough to make what
might be interpreted into a smuggling signal. There
will be more to say on this subject hereafter.
The goods having been landed, it was the object
of those on board the smuggling boat to get away
from the scene of operations as soon as possible ; the
crew in the meantime busying themselves in removing
every trace of their late cargo. The importance that
was attached to a piece of French bread, a bit of left-
handed rope, or a piece of “sling-stuff” in a boat,
must seem incomprchensible to the uninitiated ; but
it was by close attention to these details that success
in the smuggler's vocation was best ensured, and the
suspicions of the preventive men disarmed. The
smallest thing in those days was enough to supply a
clue to the business in which a boat had been engaged,
leading to arrest, with detention and all its vexatious
delays and anxieties, and for that reason the expert
smuggler would set to work, immediately after a run,
in removing everything likely to excite suspicion con-
cerning the illicit nature of his proceedings.
The saying that“there is honour amongst thieves"
was curiously illustrated in the dealings of the smug-
glers, their staunchness towards each other being cer-
tainly very remarkable, especially when the slender
nature of the tie which bound them together is con-
sidered. True, the informer, like the poor, is always
with us, a smuggler might complain, but when we
bear in mind the large number of men necessarily
engaged in a smuggling transaction, it was very much
to their credit that so few cases have been recorded of
LII
210
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
A
treachery on the part of accomplices. And even when
a humble tub-carrier was captured and sent to“ quod,”
there is no instance on record-so far, at least, as the
writer is aware of-in which this individual was known
to have “rounded” on his employers.
To what extent the smugglers ultimately profited
by their vocation can now only be matter of specula-
tion. Certainly, some of the “principals ” made large
sums—for a time, at least; but so far as the writer's
inquiries have extended, the case of a smuggler who
permanently and materially benefited himself by the
illicit trade was certainly exceptional. As a rule, it
was all the other way, and many curious instances
might be cited in proof of this statement.
After all, smuggling was only a species of gambling,
with the additional risk of imprisonment, or five
years in a man-of-war, and, like every other sort of
gambling, without doubt exercised a most demoralising
influence on all concerned in it. An immense amount
of capital was embarked in the trade, and an equally
large number of people were by its means afforded a
precarious sort of employment. Besides which, it
offered a field for adventurous spirits, attracted no less
by the large profits than the spice of danger involved,
and, so far as the sea smugglers were concerned, de-
veloped a magnificent class of seamen. There was a
fascination about smuggling, too, which possessed an
irresistible attraction to a large class—not of ne'er-do-
wells alone, but of individuals who, with no lack of
ability, had an unconquerable aversion to steady em-
ployment of any sort. The very ingenuity which
these people brought to their tasks shows that, but for
the unfortunate bent of their genius, they possessed
qualities which ought to have ensured success in more
honourable walks of life, in proof of which may be
YTY
. LAND SMUGGLERS.
2II
cited the fact that many of these men who, through
some occult means, had been brought to see the error
of their ways, and had entered the coastguard service,
rose subsequently to posts of honour and respon-
sibility.*
The “smuggler bold” was a product of the times,
and though a desperate fellow enough when driven to
bay, fighting was not his vocation ; it was rather an
accident of it. For the rest, he was a man of like
passions with ourselves, and if not the heroic creature
fervid imaginations are apt to depict, it would be
wrong to infer that he was the bloodthirsty ruffian
which some people are fond of picturing him.
Of the land smuggler, in distinction from the class
we have been describing, little can be said that is
favourable. Following too closely in the footsteps of
his predecessors of the last century, his proceedings
were not such as to provoke the slightest enthusiasm
in the breasts of right-minded Englishmen; rather,
indeed, by his reckless disregard for the lives of others,
* Of smugglers of the “pre-scientific period” who rose into promi-
nence, the gallant Thurot (Anglicé, O'Farrell), an Irish commodore
in the French service, whose name was a terror to the mercantile fleet
of this kingdom, is worthy of notice. He had been stationed in his
early days in the Isle of Man in the service of a Welsh smuggler, and
it was while thus engaged that he acquired the intimate knowledge
of the British coast that proved so useful to him in after years. By
a curious coincidence the action between his feet and that under Captain
Elliot, in which he met defeat and death, occurred off the Isle of Man
(176)). His end is thus noticed by the author of “Lands and their
Owners in Galloway":-“ Amongst the bodies that driſted to land
after the action was that of M. Thurot, dressed in uniform and sewed
up in a silk velvet carpet. His body, which was fully identified, was
found on the Monreith property, and was interred in the old kirk-yard
of Kirkmaiden, Sir Wm. Maxwell acting as chief mourner. Unfor-
tunately the spot where the remains of the brave Thurot were laid
cannot now be traced. He is stated to have been only twenty-seven.
years of age."
W 2
212
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
his readiness to shed blood and commit acts of base
ruffianism in pursuit of his ends—the total absence,
indeed, of anything approaching to chivalry in his
conduct or character, his adventures merely excite a
feeling of abhorrence, and every peace-loving citizen
must rejoice at the suppression of a trade which
afforded scope for his villainies.*
In a curious old document, which has drifted down
through some fourteen centuries, a Roman official of
high rank has drawn a picture for us of the sea rovers
who haunted the coasts of Britain during the fifth
century, as they appeared to his contemporaries,
which, with but slight alteration, might be accepted
as an accurate portrait of the contrabandists of later
days.
Addressing a friend, who, as an officer in the
Imperial service had recently embarked in one of the
vessels of the Channel fleet that was employed in
looking after the pirate boats of the Saxons, this
Roman provincial writes :-
TI
* In the Report on the “Disturbed Districts of Sussex," previously
quoted, the following noteworthy observations occur :-“ Since the
establishment of the preventive service smuggling is much diminished.
This diminution has had the effect of increasing the poor rate, or,
as was expressed by an overseer, who is supposed to have had formerly
a very accurate acquaintance with the business, 'the putting down of
smuggling is the ruin of the coast.' The labourers of Bexhill and of the
villages proceeding eastward towards Kent used to have plenty of
work in the summer, and had no difficulty in finding employment in
smuggling during the winter. . . . Large capitals have been in-
vested in the business, particularly at Bexhill. Many of the small
farmers, if they do not participate, certainly connive at these practices;
those who do not directly profit by smuggling consider that it is ad-
vantageous as finding employment for many who otherwise would be
thrown on their parishes” (1833). The reader will note how little the
habits and ideas of the Sussex people had altered with regard to smug-
gling during the hundred years intervening since the Hawkhurst gang
roamed unmolested through the county.
SEA ROVERS.
213
“I have to warn you to be more than ever on your
guard in this warfare. Your foe is of all foes the most
active. He attacks unexpectedly; if you expect him
he makes his escape; he despises those who wish to
block his path; he overthrows those who are off their
guard, while for himself he never fails to escape when
he is forced to fly. And more than this, to these
men a shipwreck is a school of seamanship rather
than a matter of dread. They know the dangers of
the deep like men who are every day in combat with
them. For since a storm throws those whom they
wish to surprise off their guard, while it hinders their
own coming onset from being seen from afar, they
gladly risk themselves in the midst of wrecks and surf-
beaten rocks in the hope of making profit out of the
very tempest.” (Letter from Sidonius Apollinaris,
quoted in Green's “Making of England.”)
214
Part VI.
PAINS AND PENALTIES;
A SKETCH OF THE
“ LAWS FOR THE PREVENTION OF
SMUGGLING.”
CHAPTER I.
Primitive Systems of Free Trade Days–A Barbarous Sentence-Laws for
the Prevention of Smuggling-Shipping Regulations—Harassing
Enactments-Armed Smugglers-Disguises Prohibited-Dangers of
Loitering—Rewards for Informers.
WHETHER the somewhat promiscuous hanging in-
dulged in by our forefathers was the most efficacious
method of inducing smugglers to recognise the errors
of their ways and to seek more honourable callings
seems a little doubtful, in view of certain facts which
have come down to us. Thus, many criminals on the
eve of their execution for highway robbery and other
questionable proceedings declared themselves to be
outlawed smugglers, who had been driven to commit
these crimes as a means of livelihood, in consequence
of every other channel of industry being closed to
them.
But if the more enlightened sense of the present
generation is inclined to blame the punitive systems
of the past, it is just as well to remember that the
country was in a very different state to what it is
now, and that if our progenitors displayed a shocking
YYY
A BRUTAL SENTENCE.
215
readiness to "string up” their erring brothers for
what may seem comparatively venial offences, the
criminal classes, and the smugglers especially, showed
an equal readiness to take life where their own safety
was concerned.
Still, we must admit that hanging was just a wee
bit overdone, more especially in regard to the crime
of smuggling. Writing in :1752.—the halcyon days of
free-trade-Horace Walpole remarks :—“ It is shock-
ing to think what a shambles this country is grown!
Seventeen were executed this morning."* Certainly
smuggling never languished for lack of martyrs to
the cause. So late as the end of last century we are
told of one of the crew of a smuggling vessel who
was sentenced to be hanged and “to be afterwards
anatomised” for the wilful murder of a boatswain in
the service of the Customs, who was shot while
endeavouring to board the vessel. By what means
this sentence was carried out we are not informed, as,
happily, no details of this sensational punishment
have been preserved for the benefit of the morbidly
curious.
A glance at the “Laws for the Prevention of
Smuggling” of the year 1816—the commencement of
the period with which we are especially concerned
—will give us some idea of the punitive measures
deemed necessary for coping with the contraband
trade at that particular time.
It will be impossible, of course, to give more than
the briefest résumé here, and for that reason, as well
* Horace Walpole to Mann, March 23rd, 1752.
It is further interesting to note that at this time fashionable ladies
belonging to the set denominated “smart,” for lack of the excitement
nowadays supplied by divorce court proceedings, and society " cases,"
were wont to visit these criminals in gaol, and hear them recount their
experiences.
216
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
SI
as to avoid the charge of tediousness, the chief points
only will be touched on.
To strike effectually at a traffic of the nature of
smuggling in an insular kingdom it was obviously
necessary to exercise a strict supervision over the
various craft that offered special facilities for the
conduct of the trade ; and to that end regulations of
the most intricate character were compiled with
regard to construction, tonnage, rig, equipment, num-
ber of crew, and the thousand and one things involved
in the successful conduct of a maritime trade; while
the penalties attaching to infringements of the smallest
of these matters were such as the modern Briton
would deem intolerable.
As the reader would probably resent being in-
flicted with verbatim extracts from these regulations,
which, being compiled in a species of legal jargon
distinct from the vulgar tongue, are somewhat difficult
of comprehension, the more salient points will be
explained in language understanded of the people.
First, then, it was enacted that any boat built to
row with more than four oars, found upon land or
water within the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent,
or Sussex, or in the river Thames, or within the limits
of the ports of London, Sandwich, or Ipswich, or any
other boat rowing with more than six oars, found
either upon land or water, in any other port, or within
two leagues of the coast of Great Britain, "shall be
forfeited with the tackle and furniture, and every
person using or rowing in such boat shall forfeit £40."
And any boat rowing with more than six oars,
found hovering, or within four leagues of that part of
the coast which is between the North Foreland and
Beachy Head, or within eight leagues of any other
part of the coast, “shall be forfeited.”
ITS
TA
1
SHIPPING LAWS.
217
Certain boats were exempted from these laws, as,
for instance, those belonging to merchant ships of a
certain tonnage, and such as held special licences
from the Admiralty or the Customs. But the regu-
lations were framed with a view to the fast-pulling
smuggling galleys that ran across to the French coast,
and were the source of endless worry to the pre-
ventive men.
Rules of a precise nature were laid down also with
regard to the equipment of sailing craft; thus, it was
enacted that any cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, sloop,
smack, or yawl, having a bowsprit which shall exceed
in length more than two-thirds of the length of such
craft found within 100 leagues of the coasts of Great
Britain or Ireland, shall be forfeited. Even the
“steave," or inclination of the bowsprit, together with
its method of fitment and securings were subject to
rule; while the size and lead of the jib-stay were
regulated to a nicety.
These details, unimportant as they may seem to
most of us, were so intimately connected with the
sailing qualities of a vessel where speed was a con-
sideration, that every effort was made by the authori-
ties to handicap every species of craft that might be
tempted to elude the vigilance of the revenue cruisers.
And, just for this reason, it was further enacted that
any vessel of over 50 tons burthen rigged as a
lugger, was liable to forfeiture.
Equally stringent were the regulations affecting
the method of construction, proportions, thickness of
planking, dimensions and positions of the timbers,
and their distance apart, non-compliance with which
entailed forfeiture and other penalties.
The number of crew was regulated in accordance
with tonnage, any excess over the proper complement
218
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
being regarded as prima facie evidence of an inten-
tion to engage in illicit proceedings, and entailing
severe penalties.
Restrictions such as those enumerated above,
when considered from a modern standpoint, may
seem harassing and arbitrary, and the indignant
clamour which an attempt to enforce them at the
present day would call forth can be more easily
imagined than described. Probably they were re-
garded as equally obnoxious by the free-and-easy
traders of old.
The law struck at everything concerned in a
smuggling transaction ; thus, all vessels and boats,
and all horses and carriages, made use of in the
landing or removal of contraband goods, were declared
forfeit to the Crown; and these, after due legal con-
demnation, were sold, and the proceeds, after deduc-
tion for legal expenses, were distributed, in certain
fixed proportions, amongst the seizing officers as
prize money.
The regulations under the head of “Smugglers”
give us a curious insight into the ways of the time.
Thus, if any persons to the number of three or
more, armed with firearms or other offensive weapons,
“shall be assembled in order to assist in the rescuing
of any goods, they shall, on being lawfully. con-
victed, be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer
death." '
Again, persons more than five in company, who
on being convicted, be adjudged guilty of felony, and
be transported as felons to his Majesty's colonies or
plantations in America for a term of five years.
For the same offence, committed with firearms, or
DISGUISES.
219
other weapons, or for dangerously wounding any
officer, “such person shall be adjudged guilty of
felony, and shall suffer death as in cases of felony,
without benefit of clergy."
In the event of the offender not being appre-
hended within six months, the Rapé, Lath, or
Hundred, where the offence was committed, was to
make satisfaction, not exceeding £40, for the damages
by wounding, and to pay to the executors, or ad-
ministrators, for each person killed, £100, to be levied
upon the inhabitants by a proportionate tax.
The wearing of disguises or masks while engaged
in a smuggling transaction was regarded as a par-
ticularly heinous offence, if the penalty attaching
thereto may be accepted as a criterion. Thus, if any
person “shall have his face blacked, or shall wear any
mask or other disguise when passing with prohibited
goods, and be convicted, he shall be adjudged guilty
of felony, and shall suffer death," to which the
following curious note is appended—“ That wearing
any disguise is to be deemned felony with benefit of
clergy."
The mere fact of loitering near the coast was
sufficient in those days to bring a person, however
innocent his intentions, within the law's grasp. Thus,
"any person loitering within five miles of the sea-coast
or any navigable river, with intent, as is suspected,
to assist in running goods, is to be brought before a
justice ; and if unable to give a satisfactory account
of his calling or employment, shall be committed to
the House of Correction, to be whipped and kept to
hard labour for any time not exceeding one month.
And if any person shall desire time for making it
clear that he was not concerned in any fraudulent
practices, the justice may commit him to gaol until
220
WAYS.
SMUGGLING TA
1.
DAYS AND he shall make proof to the satisfaction of the jus-
tice.”
In connection with the above, it was decreed that
the informer was to receive 20s. for every person so
arrested.
CHAPTER II.
The Navy as a Reformatory for Smugglers-Bravery of Smugglers in
Action-Prison versus Men-of-War-Smuggling Signals-Fate of
Smuggling Boats-Prohibited Imports.
THE army and navy being regarded by an enlightened
administration at this particular period as fit recep-
tacles for social rubbish of all sorts, they were largely
used as reformatories for the smuggling classes. Thus,
“Every person found assisting in unshipping any
goods may be arrested, and, if convicted, is to be
committed to hard labour in the House of Correction
for any term not exceeding three years, nor less than
one year;” but, the regulations add, “If any person
so convicted is approved of as fit to serve his
Majesty, the justices may adjudge him to serve as a
soldier or sailor for a term of five years."
The same penalty attached to persons found on
board any vessel or boat liable to seizure.
Apropos of the above, the following curious docu-
ment—which the writer chanced on-concerning the
without interest:-
12th February, 1807.
“Gentlemen,-
“I beg leave to inform you that James Harris
the person detained by me on board the Diana,
SMUGGLERS IN THE Navy. 221
smuggling cutter, in the act of running her cargo
of contraband goods, has been since released by the
magistrates, on his making his election to enter as a
seaman in his Majesty's navy. I herewith enclose a
certificate of his being received into H.M. naval
service from Lieut. Ellary of the impress service,
and beg you will crave of the Honorable Board the
reward allowed me under the Act.
“I am, etc.,
“JOHN CARTER,
“Commander."
[Enclosure.]
Poole Rendezvous,
5th February, 1807.
“Received from Mr. John Strong, Esquire, Mayor
of Poole :- James Harris, belonging to the Diana
smuggling cutter, captured by the Seagull, Jno.
Carter, Commander.
“ROBERT ELLARY,
“ Lieutenant."
In consequence of the above law there were few
ships in H.M. fleet but had a proportion of smugglers
on board, many of whoin, through the influence of
their captains, who usually proved sympathetic
gaolers-adopted the profession, and, by their sea-
manlike qualities marked themselves out for ad-
vancement to petty-officer's ratings. Others, again,
taking unkindly to the restraint and discipline of
a man-of-war prison-leave of absence to visit the
shore being often withheld by their captains, who
were personably responsible to Government for the
safe keeping of smugglers during the term of their
conviction-usually availed themselves of the first
opportunity of desertion.
222
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Lord Exmouth's ship at the battle of Algiers had
several smugglers on board ; and, according to the
statement of a friend of one of these men, the captain
called the smugglers on deck after the action and
complimented them greatly on the way they had
fought.
A curious confirmation of this story comes from
another quarter. An old man, who during his early
years took a very prominent part in smuggling, and
suffered martyrdom, in the shape of a term of en-
forced idleness in Bodmin gaol at Government
expense, told the writer that on one occasion Lord
Exmouth visited the gaol—the governor being a
personal friend or relative—and on being informed
that a party of fine active young fellows were
smugglers, Lord Exmouth told them he was sorry
to see them there, as he had several smugglers in
his ship at Algiers, and they were some of the best
men he had on board.
That the smugglers greatly preferred being sent
to prison instead of to a man-of-war is not surprising,
when it is stated that they were not always made to
work in gaol, and were very tenderly dealt with by
the prison officials, who, like everyone else, had a
“soft side" to their natures for smugglers. But the
chief reason for this preference was explained to the
writer by an old smuggler; namely, that after con-
viction, the friends and sympathisers of the delinquent
immediately set in motion all the interest they could
bring to bear on the Government, with a view to
obtaining a remission of the sentence; and unless
the smuggler was an old offender, they almost always
succeeded in getting him out of prison before the
expiration of his term ; while in the case of a man
sent afloat, the chances were extremely remote of his
Y
SMUGGLING SIGNALS.
223
gaining his liberty before the expiration of the term
of service, especially as the ship he was in was pro-
bably on a distant station. The evil consequences
arising from the practice of making H.M. ships re-
ceptacles for criminals and law-breakers having been
at length brought home to the authorities, smugglers
were henceforth sent to prison, and the naval service
knew them no more.
The explanation of this change, vouchsafed by
an old naval pensioner to the writer, has at least the
merit of originality. He said he believed the reason
why smugglers were no longer sent into the navy was
because they got on too well—that in some ships the
captains gave nearly all the ratings to smugglers. If
not strictly accurate, this was paying a high com-
pliment to the smugglers, and fully bears out what
has been stated elsewhere regarding their seamanlike
qualities.
Of the various regulations for the prevention of
smuggling, there are none so curiously suggestive of
other days as those relating to the making of signals
to boats and vessels off the coast.
The reader is probably aware of this custom, so
common in cld days, and which usually took the form
of fires lit on prominent points inland, by which the
smuggling vessel was warned off the coast, and the
vigilance of the revenue officers rendered of no avail.
The success of a smuggling transaction depended, in
fact, to a great extent, on the efficient working of
hese signals, and for this reason signalling was made
an indictable offence. Thus, it was enacted, that if
any person after sunset and before sunrise between
the 21st September and ist April, or after the hour
of eight in the evening and before six in the morning
between the last day of March and 22nd September,
224 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
11
shall make, or assist in making any light, fire, flash, or
blaze, or any signal by smoke, or by rocket, fireworks,
flags, firing of guns, or other firearms, or any other
contrivance, within six miles of the coast, for the
purpose of giving signal to any person on board any
smuggling vessel or boat, the offender, on conviction,
shall either forfeit £100, or be committed to prison
and kept to hard labour for a term not exceeding one
year.
So much for the smugglers.
Of the smuggling boats, suffice it to say, that on
condemnation they were sawn through in three
places. In some instances, however, if suitable for
revenue purposes, they were taken into the service, and
owing to their good sailing qualities often proved
valuable acquisitions.
Of the various articles comprising the stock-in-
trade of the contrabandist spirits and tobacco figured
the most largely, not only because they were in the
greatest demand, but because large profits were to be
derived from a successful “ venture." The only other
article approaching to these in importance, from an
economic point of view, was salt, which, strange to
say, was dutiable during the first quarter of the
century. Smuggling in salt was extensively carried
on by old women, who obtained their supplies from
the fish-curing establishments, and secreting it in
ways familiar to the feminine mind, carried it about
the country for sale. Many were committed to gaol
for this offence.
The variety of articles on which an impecunious
Government laid its hand for the benefit of the Ex-
chequer was almost infinite. The difficulty, indeed,
was to find anything which was permitted to pass
the wistful gaze of the exciseman or revenue officer
HARASSING LAIVS.
225
.D
without payment of toll. Under these circumstances it
may not be without interest to enumerate the articles
which a free born Briton was forbidden to import or
use under any conditions whatever. The list is taken
from the “table of goods wholly prohibited to be
imported or to be worn, or to be used in Great
Britain.”
Gold or silver brocade.
Cocoanut shells, or husks without their nuts.
Foreign embroidery.
Manufactures of gold, or silver, or metal.
Ribbons, laces, and girdles.
Chocolate, or cocoa paste.
Calicoes, printed or dyed in Persia, China, or East Indies.
Gloves, or mits of silk or leather.
Foreign needlework.
Silks (wrought).
(All the above to be forfeited, and the importers fined.)
Judged from a modern standpoint, the “laws for
the prevention of smuggling” of 1816 seemed to
have been specially designed by some misdirected
genius for the express purpose of harassing his
fellow-creatures, and one can only marvel at the
much-enduring patience of a generation which put up
with it all. In these days, when Governments are
only tolerated on the condition of making things
pleasant all round, and the promise of large con-
cessions to popular clamour, it would be interesting
to note the effect of any attempt to enforce measures
involving the liberty of the subject to the extent
which was possible in the early years of the present
century.
The question arises how far these laws were
effective in securing the end for which they were
designed. This can only be satisfactorily answered
by a reference to the criminal statistics of this par-
ticular period.
But to judge by certain facts which have drifted to
the surface, it must be admitted that the pains and
penalties enumerated in the smuggling laws signally
failed in their object: nor is the reason hard to
divine. To quote a writer in the Edinburgh Review
(Vol. xxxvi.)—“To create by means of high duties an
overwhelming temptation to indulge in crimes, and
then to punish men for indulging in it, is a proceeding
wholly and completely subversive of every principle
of justice. It revolts the natural feelings of the
people, and teaches them to feel an interest in the
worst characters, to espouse their cause, and to avenge
their wrongs."
227
Part VII.
CURIOSITIES OF SMUGGLING
CHAPTER 1.
Good Liquor Pays Toll—A Wool-gathering Expedition - The Troubles of
a Riding Officer—The Tyneham Smugglers-H.M.'s Donkeys-Dog
Watches-A Smuggler's Letter—The Bold Venture of Looe.
IN pursuance of the object with which this work is
designed—to place before the reader a true and faith-
ful picture of smuggling days—the writer now pro-
poses to select from the mass of driftwood which has
floated down on the waves of time such specimens as
may best serve to illustrate the subject, and give life
and reality to other days.
Here, for example, is a quaint fragment from
Poole, in Dorsetshire, showing the capacity for stow-
ing away good liquor in a short time that distin-
guished the nien of Dorset in old days :-
X2
“ Poole, 26th September, 1806.
"By the enclosed report respecting some prize
wine and brandy brought coastwise to this port in the
Dove, Samuel Baker, master, from Weymouth, your
Honors will perceive that there are twenty-eight gal-
lons of brandy and ten gallons of wine short of the
quantity shipped at Weymouth.
"From the number of pegs driven into the casks
in different places, and the particular circumstances
of the seizure made by the surveyor, its being
O 2
228
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
(
delivered to him by the owner and supercargo, as
part of the cargo before mentioned, and embezzled
by the crew, we have recommended the surveyor to
report the whole of the matter to us.
“We are, etc.”
The Dove would scarcely maintain the reputation
of being a “dry” ship at sea after this !
We hear a great deal about the grievances of the
farming interest at the present day. What would
the British farmer think of the following :-
1
" Poole, 15th October, 1806.
“We most respectfully transmit an account of the
seizure of a quantity of wool, etc., by Mr. N.
Florence, riding officer at this port, for the prosecu-
tion of which we humbly pray your Honor's direc-
tions.
" Pursuant to your Honor's general order of 28th
January, 1796, we beg permission to report that the
wool is worth about £250, the waggon £20, and the
horses £48, making together £318.
“We are, etc."
“17th October.
“The wool appears to us to be forfeited under the
lith Sec. of Wool Act, for being found removing
within five miles of the sea coast without a permit, or
a certificate of such wool having been previously
entered at the Custom House, and the waggon and
horses for being used in removing the same.
“We are, etc.”
Worthy Mr. Florence had been "wool-gathering"
to some purpose. That he was an active officer of
the revenue we shall see in due course, though
A DORSETSHIRE RIDING OFFICER.
229
whether his lot had fallen in pleasant places is a
matter that must be left to the judgment of the
reader. Certainly he had to fish in very troubled
waters sometimes, and did not always land his catch
with the same agreeable facility that attended his
wool-gathering expedition. Take the following for
instance :-
"Warelain, 17th October, 1806.
“Gentlemen,-I think it my duty to inform you
in order that you may represent, to the Honorable
Board that a troop of the 14th Regiment of Light
Dragoons is stationed at Wareham Barracks. I have
called on the commanding officer to know if he could
assist me with a party of men and horses if there
should be occasion for them to help to take the
smugglers. He informed me that it will be necessary
for him to have an order from the War Office before
he can assist me. I have been informed that a good
deal of smuggling has taken place this winter, and
the smugglers have got so daring and impudent, that
they will not give up any quantity of goods except
an officer has got a military assistance with him.
It will be of great use to the service if the Honorable
Board will be pleased to get an order obtained from
the War Office for their assistance.
“I am, etc.,
“NATHANIEL FLORENCE."
And again on the 17th November, 1806–
“Gentlemen,-
“I beg to represent to you in order for you to
acquaint the Honble. Board that smuggling has
rapidly increased in this fortnight past. I have been
informed that the smugglers have landed a great
230 SMUGGLING TX
I
i
DAYS AND WAYS.
quantity of goods which they kept concealed in
caves, and sell it out to country people that come
for it twice and sometimes thrice a week. About
eight or ten of them come together in defiance to any
officer. I have applied to the commanding officer
of the 14th Regt. Light Dragoons at the Wareham
Barracks for assistance to help me take them. The
officer informed me that he cannot assist me with a
party without orders from the War Office or General.
Your application to the Honble. Board to get the
soldiers to assist me will be of very great use to
the service.—I am, etc.,
“NATHANIEL FLORENCE.”
Evidently this worthy officer had gone to the wrong
shop in search of sympathy with his efforts to check
the flow of good old cognac. There were no laurels
to be won by the gallant 14th Light Dragoons in the
pursuit of Dorset smugglers, who doubtless kept
these dashing troopers well supplied with liquor and
baccy, duty free. Meanwhile the riding officer and
his defiant free-traders were left to arrange matters as
best they could while this question of military assist-
ance was being "considered” at headquarters. Not
till February 4th, 1807, was an answer vouchsafed.
And then, oh pity the sorrows of a poor riding
officer! It was to “call upon the officer to state
whether in the cases alluded to by him in his report,
when the aid of the military was withheld, whether
he had any direct information either of the place
where the goods had been laid up, or where they
would be met with, etc. etc.” Three months nearly
of weary waiting, and then! Well it was a far cry in
those days from Wareham to the War Office, so Mr.
Florence has to suppress his feelings and sit down
and collect his thoughts, with the following result :-
D-
THE TYNEHAM SIIUGGLERS. 231
"6th February, 1807.
“Gentlemen,
“In answer to the Honble. Board's query I most
respectfully report that in the instance alluded to I
had an information of goods intended to be run in
Tyneham parish by a gang of smugglers on horse-
back, who had made a common practice for some
time of carrying goods from Tyneham across the
country, but in such large gangs that it was im-
possible for me to do anything without military
assistance. I have never applied for military assist-
ance without having a direct information, or some
great probability of making a seizure. And this
assertion, I trust, will appear reasonable, when it is
considered that the taking out of the military is
always attended with an expense, the soldiers ex-
pecting to be treated by the officer of Customs;
besides, the officers of the Customs, I presume, by
taking out the military without a probability of mak-
ing a seizure, would not only harass the soldiers but
unnecessarily harass themselves.
“Humbly submitted,
“NATHANIEL FLORENCE.”
This was certainly a clincher, but what effect it
produced in the circumlocution offices of the year
1807 we can only dimly surmise, the curtain drop-
ping at this point as suddenly as it rose, leaving us in
the dark so far as concerns the future of the Tyneham
smugglers and worthy Mr. Florence.
Foreign silks were contraband in old times, as above
mentioned, and many were the ingenious contrivances
for evading the vigilance of the Customs, but the follow-
ing strikes one as an altogether novel method of im-
portation :- Under date November, 1822, it is reported
232
SYUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
will ll.
2
that three Russian frigates are taking in large quan-
tities of French silks, laces, and other contraband
goods at Copenhagen for the purpose of landing
them in England.
Here is something that concerns the farming in-
terest :-June, 1824. “It having come to the know-
ledge of the authorities that a man called Calvert, an
Englishman, intends exporting a large quantity of
Leicester sheep to France, and the same being illegal,
instructions are given to the preventive officers to
prevent it."
One of the most momentous questions that ever
engaged the attention of a great department of State
is briefly touched on in the following extract. It
must be premised, by way of explanation, that at
some of the coastguard stations on the coast of Kent
donkeys were provided by a generous country for the
purpose of conveying water and stores. Here is an
extract from a general order in the Folkestone dis-
trict :-"January, 1839. The board have expressed
disapprobation at the amount hitherto charged for
forage for donkeys in this district, adding that in
their opinion the purchase of beans is wholly 1112-
necessary, and also that too many oats have been
given."
Why the poor cuddies should be debarred from
the mild dissipations of the “bean-feast" passeth
human understanding. Evidently the board was
not in sympathy with these hard-working servants of
the Crown. A chief officer in the Deal district having
been detectei by his inspecting commander going his
night rounds“ athwart” a Government jackass, is
brought severely to book by his said superior officer.
Once more, in the year 1847, the jackass ques-
tion crops up again, showing that the smallest
DOG WATCHES.
233
details are not beneath the notice of really great
minds.
" June 15th. The board having ordered the dis-
posal of the donkey at 27 Tower, I have to direct,
exchanged for one at Lydd station, as complaints of
the latter have been made to me of his being of
the commanding boatman at 27 Tower will sell the
Lydd donkey at Dymchurch by public auction."
It was a common practice in smuggling days for
the coastguard patrols to take dogs with them on
night duty, not only for companionship, but to give
warning of the approach of smugglers, and thus
minimise the risk of being overpowered unawares.
The practice had its drawbacks, as we shall see.
Thus, we find in November, 1835, an order from the
inspecting officer of the Folkestone district calling
attention to the excessive number of dogs at the sta-
tions—“ But as I conceive the dogs are certainly of
use on the beach during the night with the patrols,
I have no objection to their being kennelled near
the station during the day.”
The objections to the system of “dog watches”
are shown in an order in the Weymouth district, dated
the guards, either by land or water, that my approach
has generally been noticed by the dogs the men are
in the habit of taking with them, long before I could
sce the patrol, I wish to draw the attention of the
officers to this point-as it would be quite sufficient
warning to a smuggling boat to put off—and to
desire that unless they think it may be beneficial in
particular places, to order the men to discontinue
the practice of taking dogs with them."
234 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
V
Here is an interesting little relic from other days
under the heading “Dismissals from the Revenue
Service, September, 1839":-
Thomas Galway, mariner, of the Greyhound, age 23.
Offence.
Place of Nativity,
Absconded, taking with him two Near Waterloo (in which battle
hammocks and the boat his father was slain); his
swain's watch.
parents were Scotch.
Quite a touching little bit of family history. Born
one might almost say on the field of battle. Sad that
the virtues of acquisitiveness should have taken a
wrong turn. Truly Galway père was spared some
sorrow!
The following is in quite another vein. A smug-
gler's letter, to wit-anonymous—from near Ply-
mouth :-
“St. Germain's Point, July 27th, 1843.
“Dear Friend,
“I hope you will excuse the freedom I take in
addressing you with these few lines, but it is a great
respect which I have for you which cause me to do it.
I feel confident that you will not take it amiss. Dear
friend, I have lived in and near a very great smuggling
village this last twenty years, but never in my life
had I reason to notice so much intimacy between an
officer of the preventive station and some of the
head smugglers of this parish as I have at this time
with your officer, Mr. — I mean. I have written
this to you, and not to you alone, but to the whole of
the boat's crew that are with you, that you might
beware of yourselves, for this is and certainly will be
carried, and many things which not only prove a
loss to you but a very great injury.
"Likewise, and it is likely it will all be through
the intimacy that is carried on with those I have
TT
THE “ BULD VENTURE.”
235
mentioned. This, I trust, in love, hoping these few
lines will save you from great trouble. I beg to
remain a very great friend of yours, " –
“The above is a true copy of a letter received by
Peter Smith, boatman, of this station.
- -, Chief Officer."
As the services of Mr. Peter Smith, boatman, were
required elsewhere shortly after, there would seem to
have been something irregular about his "dear
friend's ” solicitude for the purity of the revenue
service.
Here is an interesting item from the same neigh-
bourhood, February, 1835:-“ Cornelius Roose and.
John Coast, who sailed in the Bold Venture on the
5th instant, returned to Looe on the 7th, and are
drinking and carousing on the money that was
gathered for a freight. The parties are most en-
raged at it.” We can well believe it, and although
the law will not give them satisfaction, no doubt the
“parties” will have their pound of flesh out of Messrs.
Cornelius and John when they get a chance.
In July, 1844, a general order was issued to the
coastguard on the subject of "certain men in the
service of the revenue in Ireland having joined an
association for the repeal of the Union of Great
Britain and Ireland.”
CHAPTER II.
Sympathisers on the Bench-A Deserter–Friends in Office-Gossiping
Coastguardmen-Sunday Smugglers-james Ellory and His Plan-
A Stout Man from Portloe-Coastguardmen and Wreckers.
THE difficulty of getting a conviction in the case of
smuggling, in old days, was a very real one, owing,
236 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
no doubt, to the numerous sympathisers to be found
on the magisterial bench; consequently, we meet
with seyeral orders, issued from to time, dealing with
the method to be pursued in bringing smugglers for
trial, as, for instance, “When more than one smuggler
is detained for the same offence, the parties are to be
proceeded against singly, so that in the event of an
acquittal on account of objection, the information
against the remaining parties may be amended”
(July, 1833).* And again the same year: '"A case
having occurred in which, out of five smugglers
brought before the Dorsetshire magistrates, the most
notorious of the party, who was tried first, escaped
conviction owing to scme technical flaw in the pro-
ceedings, it is ordered that in future the first one to
be tried should be one whose conviction is of the
least consequence.” The magisterial mind vas
doubtless hard to convince on these matters in old
times, and had a lynx eye for technical flaws. It
was hard to send one's best friend to prison !
Here is something that concerns a poor smuggler
who has managed to give the authorities the slip.
“ July, 1834. It is ascertained that the man who was
at Mevagissey lately in the Mary Ann smuggling
boat, of Cawsand, and called himself Chas. Chapple,
is young Jno, D , who was taken in the Susannah
and convicted for five years, and went out in H.M.S.
Conway to Havannah, where he deserted. If caught he
* Apropos of this may be mentioned an old order, to the effect that
when in chase of a smuggling boat, in the event of tubs being thrown
overboard to lighten ship, a “mark-buoy” is to be thrown as near
to the tubs as possible before continuing the chase. This or ler had its
origin in several cases of miscarriage of justice, in consequence of the
coastguard being unable to swear to the tubs produced in court as
having formed part of the cargo thrown over by the smuggling boat
they had chased.
GOSSIPING COASTGUARDMEN. 237
is to be sent to the flag-ship at Devonport as a
deserter.” From which it may be inferred that John
junior prefers the uncertain profits of the Mary Ann
to the hard work and small pay of a man-of-war.
Everyone to his hobby!
That the smugglers had friends in office goes
without saying. In 1831 we find an order calling
attention to the fact that "smugglers are in the habit
of gaining information contained in confidential
memos.," and by this means frustrating the good
intentions of the preventive men. Officers are there-
fore enjoined to keep an eye on their lock-up places.
Open pigeon-holing won't do with so many inquisitive
people about.
Foiled in this respect, we find the wary smuggler
trying it on by other means. "1834: Several
persons, in the interests of the Cawsand and other
smugglers, are using every means in their power to
find out the movements of the coastguard in the
Fowey district, both afloat and ashore, and that one
of their plans is to cndeavour to draw the men into
conversation. The officers and men are cautioned to
be on their guard accordingly.” The Scriptural in-
junction about bridling that unruly member, the
tongue, must be attended to in future. Indeed, there
is no knowing in these exciting times what damage
the revenue might suffer through a gossiping coast-
guardman-or his wife.
Wheth:r the coastguard were able to spare time
for church-going in those days seems a little open to
doubt, in view of what was expected of them ; but
from the frequency with which runs were attempted
on Sunday, it seems that the smugglers expected
some relaxation of vigilance on this day, and in
November, 1839, it is recorded that “the smugglers at
238
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
Kingston, Littlehampton, made a daring attempt to
run goods at noon on Sunday, under the impression
that the crew would be at rest," from which we
infer that the crew were found, on the contrary, very
much on the alert. “The better the day, the better
the deed," was the smuggler's motto.
In November, 1848, a correspondent, writing from
Guernsey, says that "he overheard a conversation
between a smuggler from Plymouth and a Frenchman,
in which the former described a new plan of working
goods successfully, by learning the extent of guards
when the men met to confer. The smuggler then
keeps watch on the place of conference to see when
the men part, one to go east and the other west,
thereby throwing the guards open, and then by
making a flash with a congreve match the boat comes
in without fear.” The “novelty," however, only lay
in the unguarded way in which the plan was commu-
nicated so that it was overheard by an interested
listener. It had been practised with vast success by
the leading “chevaliers d'industrie" for many a year
past, and was, in fact, the only plan by which goods
could be run with any prospect of success on a well-
guarded coast.
The practice of hiding a vessel's name, and of
using a noin de plume when taking in contraband
cargoes in foreign ports, has already been alluded to.
The reason is obvious, namely, to put spies or
Government agents who might be on the spot off
the scent, and thus prevent news of their movements
reaching the coastguard stationed where they pro-
posed running goods. There were always gossiping
folk about, and oftentimes on arrival at the pre-
arranged spot the spotsman found to his disgust and
indignation that news of his intentions had travelled
1
A SMUGGLER'S PLAN. : 239
“on the wings of the wind" in advance, and that the
coastguard were very much on the alert. For this
reason it was the great object of the experienced
smuggler to get in his goods and be off before
the informer or the Government agent could despatch
their news across Channel. Various and ingenious
were the means employed to effect this object. But
it was reserved for a very celebrated Cornish smuggler
—to wit, Jas. Ellory, of Probus—to elaborate a method
of doing business which, if it had been carried out in
the same spirit in which it had been devised, would
have successfully foiled all attempts to forestall his
movements. Unfortunately, however—or fortunately
for the sake of the honest trader—there was generally
a weak link in the smuggler's chain, and he, above all
men, was constantly, to his mortification, experiencing
the truth of the old adage that there's many a slip
'twixt the cup and the lip. Jas. Ellory's method, ac-
cording to “information,” was as follows:--
"1834, January 30th. -A person named Jas.
Ellory, of Probus, has made arrangements with a
spirit merchant and with the shipbrokers at Brest for
carrying on the smuggling trade to the coast of
Cornwall in such a manner as to prevent any infor-
mation. It is managed as follows :—He writes to the
broker to advise the day of his sailing from England
and the port he is coming to. On his arrival an
express is sent to Brest, the tubs of brandy are carted
to the outport, the broker goes there, enters and
clears the vessel (always under a false name); she
sails, and Ellory is on the English coast before any
others at Brest, except the shipbrokers and spirit
merchant, are aware that he has been in France.
This person has recently stated that he has succeeded
in safely landing his cargo, and has desired another
240
SMUGGLING DAYS AND Ways.
i
to be kept in readiness, as he would appear in a few
days, and has added that 36 hours after his arrival
on the coast he would go to Brest and have the cargo
taken to the coast. On the last occasion he took 10
tubs of crystal (cut glass) with him, and has ordered
more for the next.”.
Poor James, little dreamt he that his pretty
system had been “blown on ” almost before it had
been tried! The last mention of this smuggler
occurs in April, 1837, to the effect that “Ellory, of
Probus, has come to reside at Liskeard to carry on
smuggling more to the eastward, having been very
unsuccessful on the S.W. coast of Cornwall.” And
here the curtain drops on Ellory and his “plan."
We may at least indulge the hope that, like many
another smuggler, he discovered through bitter ex-
perience that after all honesty is the best policy.
Here is a curious entry having reference to an old
ally of our friend Mr. Ellory, of Probus : .
“Plymouth, February 4th, 1851.-A stout man
belonging to Portloe came across in the Jersey
packet yesterday, in a devil of a hurry to get ashore.
He has gone west as fast as coach can take him.* I
am informed that he is on business ”—of a pressing
nature, evidently. Look out for runs.
The duties pertaining to the coastguard when first
established, and for many subsequent years, were
solely and entirely for the prevention of smuggling.
The protection of the fisheries, and the multifarious
duties that belong to the force at the present time
are of comparatively recent origin, having been
* Cornishmen who are “in the know” will have no difficulty in
recognising from the above description a notorious smuggler-butcher
belonging to Grampound, who was in the habit of landing his cargoes
about Portloe.
WRECKING.
241
tacked on from time to time as the necessity arose.
Now, one of the most important of these duties is the
prevention of plunder on occasion of shipwreck, as
well as the protection of life and property. That this
was not regarded as coastguard duty in old times, is
evident from the fact that in the year 1826 à chief
boatman in Ireland was dismissed for “not prevent-
ing his crew from plundering a wreck;” and it was
not till 1837 that we find any active step taken to
place the question of "wrecking” en évidence. In
September of that year it is recorded that, in conse-
quence of evidence given before a commission in
London, to the effect that "considerable plunder and
disgraceful outrages take place frequently on the
the coastguard are directed to furnish information on
the subject.
CHAPTER III.
Methods of Smuggling Silk-Ingenuity of the Tea Smugglers-Hollow
Masts and Yards Tobacco Smuggling-Artful Dodges-Stinking
Fish-False Bottoms-A Pandora's Bux.
To the student of smuggling days few things are
more curious than the ingenuity brought to bear on
the various contrivances for eluding the vigilance of
the preventive men; and one cannot help thinking
that the amount of time, labour, and thought, which
many of these devices must have cost their authors,
might have been more advantageously bestowed on
some legitimate line of business.
A brief description of some of the most noted
smuggling contrivances will place the reader in a better
position for realising the amount of vigilance that was
required in those days for detecting the machinations .
of the contrabandist. Tobacco and spirits were the
chief staples of the trade, but from time to time we
meet with interesting accounts of devices for the
worth a passing notice.
So far back as 1821 the following ingenious system
of smuggling silk goods inside hams was discovered,

8 3 3 3
*/4141414141414
1 Collar
2 Tiers
3 Mouths of Pockets 4 Pockels of Tea
METHODS OF SMUGGLING TEA.-1.
viz. : the meat and bones of liams were scooped out
very clean, except at the knuckle and the extremity
of the thick end. The skin was then lined with
calico, the silk packed very tight and hard in paper,
covered over with oiled silk, and deposited within;
the interstices between the packages being stuffed
with rags to plump it up, the orifice then very neatly
closed, and the whole rubbed with dirt and sawdust
so as effectually to conceal the aperture.
During the year 1831 an extensive system of
smuggling tea was discovered to be carried on from
Havre de Grâce, the cargoes being generally run in
TEA SMUGGLERS.
243
the Thames, at the back of the Isle of Wight, and on
the Hampshire coast. The tea was packed in cases
made to fit between the timbers of vessels, so as to
resemble the flooring.
A few years later, in 1833, another method was
discovered by means of which tea and dry goods
were often brought into the country, viz., inside of
a cape, or suspended from the shoulders under a great-
18 Rows in waislcoal holding &lbs


7 CLWBY
WL
Drawers stuffed with 18 lbs of Tea
METHODS OF SMUGGLING TEA. —-11.
coat, or under petticoat-trousers, such as were used
by fishermen and pilots (See opposite page).
And again, in 1834, we find another method, which
is said to have come into frequent use in consequence
of certain alterations about this time in the law
affecting the tea trade. (Sce drawing.)
A year later, 1835, a curious device was dis-
covered to be in use amongst the Deal boatnien,
P 2
244 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
concealed under their tarpaulin jackets and trousers.
(See drawing).
Of various contrivances for smuggling dry goods
the following are worth noticing :-
In 1820 three boats were seized on the coast of

UW

ca
A
udio
METHODS OF SMUGGLING TEA.—III.
I, Cotton bag to fit crown of hat; 2, Cotton stays or waistcoat; 3, Bustle
for lower part of back ; 4, Thigh pieces. N.B.—The whole contained
30 lbs of tea.
Kent with contraband goods concealed inside spare
masts and outriggers, which were hollowed out from
head to foot, and the ends neatly plugged up and
painted. Another boat was discovered with goods
concealed inside iron ballast, cast hollow for the pur-
pose; while yet another endeavoured to smuggle in-
side large ballast stones, hollowed out on the under-
side.
The year following a boat was seized at Dover
with a hollow keel and hollow yards, made of tin and
SMUGGLING DODGES.
245
painted to resemble wood, and containing spirits.
And about the same time several small casks of spirits
were discovered cased with cement and chalk, and
seaweed fastened thereon, having every appearance
of being chaik stones, in which state they had been
sunk amongst rocks, to be afterwards picked up and
smuggled on shore.
The year following another boat was seized with
a hollow mast, inside of which was a tin tube, and so
constructed as to be concealed from observation when
the mast was stepped; while a Deal boat was dis-
covered with silk goods packed in bales to represent
ballast bags.
In 1837 the following novel mode of smuggling
was discovered to have been very successfully prac-
tised in rivers, harbours, and roadsteads, by vessels
from abroad :-A cask, apparently empty, was sub-
stituted for a buoy, slung, fresh tarred, and fixed to
the buoy rope. This was filled with light and valuable
was taken to remove the buoy by persons on the
look-out.
Sundry and curious were the means adopted for
smuggling tobacco. So far back as 1820 we hear of
it concealed inside ships' hawsers. The tobacco was
first made up into a rope of two strands, and then a
hawser of three strands was laid over it, so that the
deception could not be detected without either cutting
or unlaying the hawser.
Two years later there was reported to be on sale
at Flushing, for the purpose of smuggling into
England, tobacco made up into ropes, varying in size
from "tyers," for sails, up to hawsers, and which, upon
being slightly washed with rum, had every appearance
of being hempen rope.
246
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
In 1842 some tobacco was seized at Portsmouth
which had been cut into the shape of a man's shoe.
And a large quantity was discovered to have been
brought over from Jersey con-
cealed in casks of bones. (See .
drawing.)
That our friends north of
Bones
the Tweed were not behindhand
in the smuggling art is evident
from the following methods, dis-
covered to have been practised
on the west coast of Scotland.
The tobacco was laid up so as
METHOD OF SMUGGLING
TOBACCO. to resemble a piece of old junk,
an eye was perhaps spliced in the end, and after being
"parcelled” and partially“served," was stowed amongst
the old rope, and on the vessel's arrival in dock was
landed without suspicion. About the same time (1844)
a seizure was made on board a vessel of several cases
containing tobacco, made of strong oak plank, one inch
thick, measuring two feet long by fourteen inches
square, having the appearance, when placed amongst
a raft of timbers, of a log end. The manufactured
tobacco was so tightly pressed in as to require chisel
and hammer to separate it from the wood. Some
years later a still more ingenious method was hit on,
viz., inside blocks, the sheaves of which were dis-
covered to be made of tobacco.
The concealment of large consignments of con-
traband goods underneath other descriptions of cargo,
such as fruit, lime, coal, and dung, was, of course, a
common occurrence, but the following device is worth
mentioning as having the merit of originality. In
1837 a vessel was reported to be taking in tubs of
spirits at Dunkirk, with the intention of covering

V
1
Y
FALSE BOTTOMS.
247
them with sprats, and delaying her arrival in England
until they stunk so much that she would not be
thoroughly examined !
But the most successful contrivances for smuggling,
by reason of the difficulty experienced in detecting
them, were by means of false bottoms, or ingeniously
contrived concealments inside the vessel itself.
Of the former description, the following are most
worthy of notice :-
The first recorded case is that of the Levant,
cutter, of Chichester, in 1820, which was discovered
to have brought over a large quantity of contraband
goods inside a double bottom, the outer one being
made of strong timbers, copper-fastened, leaving an
intervening space of about two feet. The next is
that of the Strawberry, of Deal, in the year following,
with this difference, however, that the false bottom
was built inside, thus: two leaden cases were fixed on
the timbers the entire length of the hold, one on each
side of the keelson, and “ceiled” over, the usual ceiling
having the ballast placed over it. These cases opened
one on each side of the hold by taking out a plank of
the ordinary ceiling.
At the same time the Flower of Rye, smack, was
seized with a false bow, holding from forty to fifty
half-ankers of spirits. The entrance to this conceal-
ment was discovered on the port side of the false bow,
where a small piece, which could be removed, was
fastened by two screws, the heads of which were
concealed by wooden plugs, imitating trenails. That
this system of smuggling was well thought of amongst
the craft is evident from the fact that the Mary, of
Plymouth, the Plough, of Hastings, and the Provi-
dence, of Rye, were discovered to have similar con-
cealments.
248
S.MUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
The next case is that of the smack Asp, in 1824,
which must have been something like a conjurer's
cabinet, so full was she of concealments, the in-
genuity of which would have done no discredit
to the proprietors of any “Home of Mystery."
They must have been designed by a past master of
the art, and a brief description of the vessel will be of
interest :-
I. A false bottom extended as far aft as the
ballast bulkhead, entrance to which was by means of
two scuttles, one on each side of her false keelson,
secured by screws so neatly fitted as to render them
scarcely perceptible.
2. There were also concealments on each side of
her cabin bed-places, so contrived as to deceive any
person who might judge from boring holes through
the lining and then trying the intervening space be-
tween this and the supposed side of the ship. That
such had actually been the case was evident from
several old gimlet marks through the lining. What
had been mistaken for her side was only an inter-
niediate planking, the actual concealment being be-
tween that and the vessel's side.
3. A false bow constructed on similar principles to
this had been already detected on board the same vessel.
To get at the concealment described above (No. 2),
it was necessary first of all to remove the bedding, so
as to come fairly at the lining, when two small pieces
of wood, about an inch square, appeared, let in to the
plank. These being removed with the point of a
knife, small circular pieces of cork were visible, which,
on being taken out, exposed to view the heads of bed-
screws, which, on being unscrewed, allowed two boards,
the whole length of the bed-places, to be taken up,
and discovered the concealment.
THE “ LIVELY LASS."
249
Two ycars later, 1826, the smacks Fox and
Lively Lass, of Portsmouth, were discovered to have a
quantity of kegs concealed under their bottom in a
temporary casing, extending from about two feet be-
low the water-line to the keel, and which could not be

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Longitudinal Section
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE RAMBLER
detected until the vessels were laid on shore, as there
was no communication between the concealments and
the interior of the vessels. The facility with which
this arrangement could be fitted on to a vessel, and
stripped off again afterwards, soon brought it into
250
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
favour; and we hear of it again in connection with
the Love, of Fowey, which vessel brought over seventy
tubs concealed in this manner, the planking having

IN
a
a
A Section of vessel, showing false boltom on
a Sixtimbers on cach side, fastened to the keel, and brige,1,4t, adore keel

B Transverse section, showing false boltom
(with tubs in position)
Ő nails through false timbers
c sheathing of'pinch planking nailed lo each limber, firely edged
abore, forward and aft; the lubs being built in and slowed fore -
and-aft in the chambers
NB The bottom was built on the ground in Barfleur, in two tides
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE CHARLES AND HANNAH.
LLOM ZOO
DULU
been fitted to her at Roscoff. And again in the
Daniel and William, of Portsmouth.
In 1834 we find the smack Rainbler, of Jersey,
seized in Langston harbour with 141 casks of spirits
concealed in a false bottom of peculiar construction
FALSE BEAMS.
251
(full particulars of which are shown on page 249);
and in the same year the Charles and Hannah, of
Portsmouth, was taken with a large number of casks of
spirits in a concealment of somewhat similar nature
to that of the Rambler, as will be seen from the
drawing on the opposite page.
T
T
II
CHAPTER IV.
A French Chasse-Marée - The Black Rover of Sandwich-A Capacious
Hold-The Good Intent of London-Cowes Pilot Cutters~ The Speed-
well of Colchester-Successful Runs at Poole—A Clever Discovery.
DOUBLE bottoms were excellent provisions in their
vessel was employed were not always such as to
admit of this system being successfully applied, while
the discovery of it in so many cases would incline
the more sagacious to regard it as in great measure
"played out," so to say. Hence from the earliest
times we find the ingenuity of the smuggler applied
in a variety of other ways to baffle the scrutiny of
the “rummaging” officer.
Here, for example, in 1821, we find a smack
seized which, on examination, was discovered to have
a large "trunk" underneath the ballast, divided into
four compartments, each fifteen feet long. One end
of the trunk was fixed against the cabin bulkhead, and
extended the entire length of the hold, opening at the
fore part of the hold, close to the keelson, by means of
two pieces of the bulkhead unshipping.
And the following year, on a French.chasse-marée
being broken up at Dartmouth, it was discovered 'to
have false beams fitted in the after-part, which were
hollow and capable of containing a quantity of dry
YA
252
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
goods. These beams were arranged in a most in-
genious manner, being dovetailed at one end, and,
by removing small wedges, neatly fitted, the beams

a. pieces of the upfrerelamu fitted under the false
Beams, which when taken out enable them to fall
b hollow beams
c the bolls in the knees fitted against the false beams
only henetrate the linees, to make the deception greater

halchi
way
A FRENCH CHASSE-MARÉE.
fell, and could again be replaced, as shown in the
drawing.
Next we find the Black Rover, of Sandwich, seized
for having a concealment containing spirits, discovered
as follows :-On taking up the "foot-layings" one of
THE BRIG “SPRIGHTLY."
253
the timbers was found not to be fitting as usual, and
on pricking through this with a knife, a small scuttle
hatch was discovered that took up on both sides of
the boat. On lifting this a concealment was dis-
closed, containing tin cases holding several gallons
of spirits. A concealment similar to this was also
discovered in the smack Isis, of Rye, which was fitted
with another capable of holding a large number of
casks, as follows:—The entrance to it was effected by
taking down part of the bulkhead, and discovery was
guarded against by the erection of a false stem in-
side, from which the false lining was spread so as to
make a complete bow, distinct from the original one.
A concealment of a totally different nature on a
very large scale was discovered in 1824 on board the
brig Sprightly, of London. It was capable of holding
from 400 to 500 tubs, and was thus arranged :—Two
shifting boards in the forecastle opened into the fore-
peak on to the coals; and down on the starboard
side in a bulkhead abaſt the foremast were three
shifting boards which admitted to a cavity in the
mainhold, six feet long, and the breadth of the ship.
A charming contrivance was discovered on board
the smack Good Intent, of London, which, in addition
to the same highly ingenious concealments as those
already described in the case of the Asp, had a false
stanchion abaft the fore-scuttle, through which a
leaden pipe was carried-after being brought up
through the keelson and garboard strakes, and through
the deck abaft. By this means a rope attached to a
raft of tubs could be introduced, the tubs then hauled
up, and thus confined directly under the bottom.
Covering the top of the pipe and flush with the
deck was a square piece of wood, tarred over, and
scarcely perceptible.
254
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
A boat was seized at Folkestone in 1828 with a
concealment running from the stern to the transom,
and from the keel up to the under-part of the thwarts.
The entrance was by means of four scuttles, very
neatly and ingeniously fitted with nails fore and aft
through the timbers, to secure them from moving,
one on each side of the keelson, about a foot before

Sectron at Fore Peak
a... Sliding door in thwartship bulkheard
Fig 1 6... Upperdeck beam
C... İnd new of Tubs as slowed in Irunks
d... Ironand shingle ballast in hold
e... Showing the scuttle to cover the ends of
tube, made of inch board, with wood lini -
angi and ironplate filling in rabbit of
bulkhead, with cloth nailed roundedges
Fig. 2
f... Ropes used io draw liebs inlo Fore Peak
9... Shifting bulkhead to form alockerforble).
1. Lockerunderaftcabin for ballast
k... Beam of lower deck.
Plan of libs slowed in trunks. 14. feet long:
12 liubs en each
.
CB

-
-
.
te
Peak
I
IM
TV
.
I,
II
Fig 2
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE ANT.
the stern-sheets, and one on each side of the keelson,
under the fore-thwart.
Another boat was taken at Shoreham with half-
ankers of spirits lashed fore and aft along her bottom
on each side of the keel, and fastened by small lines
passing through the garboard strake, and made fast
under the ballast. This could only be discovered by
“sweeping" under the boat's bottom.
The “ EMULATION” OF Cowes. 255
A Portsmouth boat, the Captain, was discovered
(1832) to have a “half-deck” made double, the inter-
vening space being capable of holding a quantity of
gloves and silk goods.
The next case of interest was that of the Ant, a
Cowes pilot vessel, which was seized in 1835 with
a conccalment containing forty-seven half-ankers of
spirits, description of which is given in the draw-
ing on the opposite page.
In the same year, the sloop Emulation, of Cowes, was
captured by the Adder, revenue cruiser, with 108 tubs
and 56 fiagons of spirits and some tea in a conceal-
ment which is described in the accompanying sketch.
Section

a. false boltom
6, kelson
e, divisions in conccalment
d, main kelson
No1. contained 22flaggons
3 . rytiebs
2 . lol .
Sand ballast
با با
Plan
Port side
s+lubs 28 flaggons


ST
ZAINA
-
Starboard sido
$4 tubs 28 Flaggong
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE IMULATION.
The vessel had been “rummaged” and her ballast
“spitted” by a boat's crew from the Adder the day
previous, without discovering her false bottom, and
she would most probably have succeeded in running
256
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
her cargo, had not her subsequent proceedings excited
suspicion and led to further examination. From a
number of similar seizures made at this time it seems
that this mode of smuggling had become very general,
and in vessels least open to suspicion.


Fig i
a
falso bottom
Fora bulkead

ceo
Fig 2
2112
SAW
SW
CONCEALMENT ON BOARD THE SPEEDWELL,
Fig. 2.—The scuttle, which is cut out of the original planking and has
three shifting timbers over it, is secured, so as to appear fixed, by
means of screws at the points marked O. The black dots denote
timbers, and covered with cork to represent trenails. The scuttle
is concealed forward by passing a short distance under a fixed timber
(as shown by dotted line in Fig. 1), and aft, in the same way under
the fore-bulkhead, and when the shifting timbers are unscrewed from
the planking and the scuttle, the latter admits of being moved aft to
liberate thë fore end, when it can be lifted by the hand-screw (No. 5)
and inserted into one of the screw-holes of No. 3.
No. 4. --Key fitting the head of No. 3, for the purpose of unscrewing the
timbers.
Note.--Nos. 3, 4, and 5 were given up by the smugglers after the con-
cealment was discovered and the seizure made.
An ingenious method of getting rid of a cargo
in the event of chase was discovered at this time in
a fishing-smack, by means of sinking the tubs through
THE “ TA11-oʻ-SHANTER.”
257
a hole made by taking out three planks from the
bottom of her well. .
During this year another smack, the Speedwell, of
Colchester, was seized at Littlehampton with a con-
cealment containing 133 casks of spirits of various
sizes, concealed in four divisions on each side, ex-
tending fore and aft the run,
and were stowed by means of
a scuttle (Fig. 2) on each side
of the fore-peak, as shown in
La na
Fig. 1, page 256, to which the
reader must be referred.
These concealments were
not always discovered before it
was too late to prevent their
contents from being run, as we
find in January of this year
the chief officer of the Poole
station (Dorsetshire) dismissed
for allowing a vessel to pro-
ceed up Poole harbour with-
out examining her, although
informed that she had a false
bottom, whereby a considerable
run of goods took place. And
again, in July, the Mary Ann, a, Fore-bulkhead; b, False
of Poole, entered the harbour,
supposed to be laden with coal, under Cabins ; e, Con-
but with 800 tubs of spirits
Cargo of Coal.

IT
PLAN OF THE TAM-O.
SHANTER.
bulkhead ; 6, After-bulk-
ceeded in “running" before any discovery was made.
Next year the Tam-o'-Shanter, 72 tons, of
Plymouth, was seized at Padstow with a concealment
containing a large number of tubs, as shown in the
above plan; and in 1837, the French schooner Auguste
258 SMUGGLING YN
LIV
DAYS AND WAYS.
and schooner Good Intent, of Newport, were cap-
tured with concealments, as shown in the drawing.

fure peak
-
THE GOOD INTENT.
ki, Sail and Store-room; b, Concealment behind bed-place on port side,
containing 26 kegs ; , Space under cabin deck, containing coal and
26 kegs; d, Space between after-bulkhead and a false one, containing
138 kegs; e, Limestone ballast in hold; f, Space between fore-bulk-
head and a false one, containing 148 kegs; g, 21 kegs under fore-peak.
Note.—'The false bulkheads had been freshly coal-tarred, the smell
from which completely overpowered that from the spirits.
Two years later (1839) another description of con-
cealment was discovered in the schooner Maria
Victoria, taken at St. Mawes, Cornwall.
About this time a method of smuggling in tin
cases became common. The first was a Deal fish-
ing boat, fitted with tin cases, sixteen in number,
between the timbers, from the one under the after-
part of the fore-thwart to that under the after-thwart,
the depth of the cases being about a quarter of an
inch less than the thickness of the timbers, and
extending the distance the bottom boards usually
run. These cases contained about eight gallons of
spirits. The other was that of a vessel in which a
large quantity of tobacco was smuggled by means of
tin cases sunk to the bottom of the water-tank, and with
a line attached, which was fastened to a small buoy.
Next we come to a concealment discovered in
THE “HOLD ON," OF Ryde.
259
1852 by the Mermaid, revenue cruiser, on board the
wherry Hold On, of Ryde, sketch of which is annexed.

e
Bu
za
The shaded portion represents the lin cases of spirits, 32 in number, fitted
delreen the timbers
Sectional view

6 Iin cases of sprozis the centre case 167. long 1077,wide
in deep Wing cases, 22 in long and tin square at
Me largerend.
Aplatform d.comes close arer the cases, b, on which
the ballast rests, and the bottom-board's, c, carer
the balast, d,
23
PRIITTIMETTIIN
ZITULUI
Tala a at
TRIOTITULINISTITUT TILSULOnun
THE HOLD ON.
1
And, in the same year, the fishing smack Elisabeth, of
Lynn, was captured by the Defence, revenue cruiser,
with concealments capable of containing 200 gallons
of spirits in bulk. (See plan next page.)
In March, 1838, a concealment was discovered in
the Mary Ann, fishing boat, of Rye. It was so con-
structed, that no "sweep-rope" would touch it, nor
could it be discovered whilst the vessel was afloat, or
lying on soft mud ; it could be ripped off in a few
Q2
260
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
moments. The drawing on the opposite page is some-
what exaggerated, the better to show the concealment.

Hathly way
Ballas?
Ballast //
Well for
Fish
THE ELIZABETH,
Q, Concealment 9 feet long, lo inches deep, 6 feet broad, lined with lead,
and capable of holding 200 gallons of spirits in bulk; b, Lock to let
water into well; d., Plug to fit in pipe f, and confine water in well ; C,
Hole to start spirits into concealment, secured by a pipe; e, Cock
under the cabin store to draw off spirits from the concealment; f,
Cock and pipe leading from well through concealment to let out water.
N.B.—This contrivance was not discovered till the water had been let
off from the well, when the cock b and plug c were observed.
I
Very ingenious was the concealment discovered
on board the French ship St. Antoine, at Shoreham
(April, 1823). The upper part of the cabin was fitted
with two cupboards with shelves to take down, the
back of which might be supposed to be the lining of
the transom; on taking this up, the timbers appeared,
and the planks, on close inspection, were found to
overlap each other, and the timbers made to act as
fastenings. By striking the lower end of the false
timbers on one side it moved round on a bolt, and
one plank with the timber was made to shift on each
THE “ALBION," OF LONDON.
261
side of the false stern-post, and formed a stern frame
within. The other, below the cupboards down to the
run of the vessel, was on the same principle—the en-
trance to which was gained by taking down the seats
and lockers in the cabin, when a false post appeared

Hei
L
Mars Aprove
Marchicad no
1838

ORE
THE MARY ANN, OF RYE.
I, False keel, 12 in. deep; 2, Pieces of 2 in. plank, three on each side,
secured at right angles to the keel to keep the tubs in position, and to
which the covering was nailed; 3, Section of concealment which was
covered in with 2 in. elm plank, closely fitted but not water-tight.
to be fastened with a forelock and ring; by unfasten-
ing the same, the false stern-post and middle plank
might be taken down.
At Sandwich, the Albion, of London, was seized
(1822), with the following concealments :—First, a
false bow, access to which was obtained through the
bed cabin, the entrance being secured by screws
covered with false trenails ; second, a complete false
stern frame, entrance being gained through a small
262
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
locker on the port and starboard sides of an apparent
stern-post fastened by false trenails, and on removing
the timbers a scuttle-board, 16 inches x 12, took out.
Few concealments were more cleverly contrived
to deceive the ever-suspicious Customs searcher than
those fitted on board the brig Badajoz, of London,
taken at Kilrush, Ireland (1822). In reality, she
might have been described as two vessels, one within
the other, about eighteen inches apart at the bottom,
and closing together at a point under the beams.
The bows between the two vessels were rather fuller
and extended to the deck. Within, the vessel was as
substantial and complete as on the outside, being
framed and trenailed, and with scantlings of timber,
keelson, bilge, ceiling, and every appearance inside
indicating the perfect vessel in every respect; but
the contrivance to admit goods into the concealment
was the most ingenious possible-small trap scuttles
being at each end of the false keelson just before and
abaft the ballast, lined and framed the same as any
other part of the vessel, and two scantlings of the
ceiling boards covered the traps and a broken joint, and
were fastened in the centre by screw-bolts, the heads of
which were hid by corks representing trenails, and the
planks were secured by false trenails, for deception.
The vigilant officer of the Customs who detected
this fraud thus describes the way in which it was
discovered :-" It was at the head of one of these
planks I made the first attempt at discovery, and so
confident were the crew of the vessel, that one of
them handed a marline-spike and gave every assistance
to explore the particular place, trusting that nothing
would start the screws; and I am sure the heads of
the planks were left without being nailed, that the
minds of the persons searching might be the sooner
THE “BADAJOZ."
263
satisfied, for so it was with persons that accompanied
me. After prizing up the heads of the planks about
an inch or two, the timbers and perfect vessel, as it
were, showed themselves, and what was near satisfy-
ing my own mind, was natural decay in the side of
one of the planks, which I found afterwards to be
also intended for deception. Three times did we
come and leave this place, satisfied that all was
crept up in
-
June 1823
Ransgate Harbour

IS
*
S
OR
4
.
.
E
1
trs
IO
The tubs were secured to a
long inon bar hung under
a boat.
correct there, until, wearied from searching, I made
the last effort at the same place, and succeeded in
forcing one of the planks out of its berth. My sus-
picions were immediately aroused by the dryness and
huskiness of the lower planks and screws, never
having seen even a copper-bottomed vessel that did
not show an oozing of some kind through the outside
plank. I therefore persevered and got the next plank
forced out of its place, and the screw-holes shortly
led to a trap scuttle and the concealments. In the
sides of the forecastle berths were openings exactly on
the same principle as that described, but it was not
264 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
till after the concealment was emptied that the
other traps were discovered from the inside, so com-
pletely concealed were the whole, which a person
knowing the secret would have unravelled in a minute
or two. There was no boy on board, for fear he should
disclose the secret.”
CHAPTER V.
Rafting—A Curious Light-buoy-Extraordinary Ingenuity of the Langston
Harbour Smugglers-A Novel Boat–Deceptions Practised by Smug-
glers—The Daniel and William--A Complete Disguise-Smuggling
at Woolwich—The Liverpool Lighter- The Rival, of Chichester.
But by far the greatest ingenuity was brought to
bear on the system of smuggling known as rafting,
which in some notable instances was carried to such
perfection that it may well be dignified by the name
of “science.” This system was used for the purpose
of floating cargoes, by means of the natural current,
up tidal harbours and estuaries at night, and the most
famous of those which came under the observation of
the preventive men are well worth describing.
“There is a tide which, taken at the flood, leads
on to fortune," might well have been adopted as the
motto of the successful smuggler in this particular line
of trade.
The first recorded case was in 1826, when a raſt
consisting of forty-one tubs was seized, with a
curiously contrived light-buoy attached to it. This
buoy was so constructed with a false bottom and
double lamp, that it would not be illuminated until
such portion of the candle as the smugglers might
think sufficient to last the time necessary for floating
265
RAFTING CARGOES.
the tubs to the intended spot, was consumed in the
upper part. The tubs were all attached to a warp,
and the buoy, which being very small and painted
white, could not be seen at any distance, was lashed
on the top of them. They floated with the buoy
darkened until they had got some distance beyond
the coastguard station, when, the candle having burnt
down in one of the sockets, illuminated the lamp
beneath.
At the same time (November, 1826) another very
curious smuggling contrivance was thus described :-
“ The boat containing tubs approaches the coast near
enough to be still beyond the observation of the
coastguard; some flints are then fastened to the half-
ankers (which are lashed together and put overboard)
of sufficient weight to keep them just under the sur-
face of the water, and the end of a line, which is
wound on a reel under the boat's bottom, is fastened
to the tubs, so that when the boat pulls in upon the
flood-tide, the twine runs off the reel. The smug-
glers then watch their opportunity, and haul in the
line with the tubs attached. The reel is capable of
holding about 1,200 fathoms (600 yards) of twine."
The next case was at Langston Harbour, Hants,
in March, 1829, when a seizure was made of a raft of
tubs drifting in with the flood-tide having a curiously-
constructed lantern--on somewhat the same principle
as that already described, affixed to a piece of board
measuring 31 feet x 11 feet, with four holes, and
lashed upon the top of the raft. There were two
candles burning in the lantern at the time, but no
light was visible, the lantern being so contrived that
after the candles had been completely burnt down,
they would instantly communicate to two lamps of
oil in the lower part, which were intended to show
266
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
at
114
}
11..18
AV
PANY
.
L24
IT
.
VI.
the smugglers in waiting an excellent light from six
small panes of glass, two in front, and one on each
side.
Nothing further of interest is mentioned till
July, 1833, when the following contrivance was dis-
covered :—“Each tub,
with a bag of ballast, c,
attached, is suspended
by a line from a piece
of cork, a, which floats
on the surface. The
tubs thus arranged are
set floating with the
flood-tide at the
mouth of a river, or
creek, and are carried
by the current to a
point where persons
are on the look-out for
them.”
The same year we
the cos no
find the Langston
A CLEVER CONTRIVANCE.
smugglers busy again
with a new contrivance of equal ingenuity to the
last, which, however, did not succeed in escaping
the lynx-eyed vigilance of the coastguard. The
method was as follows :—The tubs, sixty-three in
number, were firmly lashed together in a form re-
sembling a pile of shot. To the slings of each tub
was seized a plate of cast-iron, 14 inches long, 2 inches
broad, and 1 inch thick, weighing from 71 to 8 lbs.,
cast for the purpose, with a stop-shoulder at each end
for the seizing. The tops of the tubs were all painted
white. The raft drew, and grounded in seven feet of
water, and only three of the tubs were ever visible

VA
EFT
15
centrs
THE LANGSTON SMUGGLERS. 267
on the surface. Two small grapnels were fast to the
tubs for the purpose of bringing them up-it is
supposed, when the tide had carried them to the
intended spot, and where, no doubt, a sweep-line was
ready to stop them. (See drawing.)

SES
.
LCUNI
-
-
--
HEN
TYY
2
UR
LT
NA
ALA
21
A4
4
.
222
UCATIVO2
AXY
w
Ek
2
19
NI
YUNU
Y
INKLUDE
RY
TO
W
LUXTI
VALTAV
WEZA
EUNIOXLAMALIA
MAT
LES
SETTORE
r
Toy
VIRAL
9
W
TY
11
lu
AM
TUGIH
14
CE
AYU
OUT?
99
SP
RAFT DISCOVERED IN
LANGSTON HARBOUR, 1833.
Shewing
Tub slung with cast
Iron pate (lbs
iro
But perhaps the most curious and masterly con-
trivance that ever emanated from the fertile brains of
the Langston Harbour smugglers was that dis-
covered by the coastguard of the Langston station in
August, 1835, which will be better understood by a
reference to the drawing on the next page.
The next case recorded is in 1838, at Poole,
Dorset, where a system very similar to that already
described was discovered, viz., a cast-iron plate of the
length of a half-anker, corresponding in shape with
the curve of the bilge, and evidently made for the
purpose, was secured to each tub. The plate, which
weighed 7 lbs., was just sufficient to sink a half-anker
268 SMUGGLING TU
DAYS AND WAYS.
below the surface. The tubs thus arranged were drifted
by the tide up the harbour, and afterwards landed.
The last mention of this method of smuggling
occurs in 1845, when a raft of 38 tubs was found

water line
MS
PER
vy
.. .
.
..
.
.
.
2
RAFT DISCOVERED IN LANGSTON HARBOUR, 1835.
a, Showing the tubs (19) at the bottom in ten fathoms of water, fastened
with small line to a piece of 2-inch shroud hawser; b, Pieces of cast-
iron, each weighing 8 lbs., fastened to the slings of the tubs to sink
them; 6, 17 fathoms of $ inch double line; d, 63 fathoms of 1 inch
single line; e, 45 fathoms of double twine, very strong; f, 55 fathoms
of single twine, .. Hand-lead of 7 lbs. ; h, Floating mark under
water ; ,, Iron weight of i} lbs.; k, Floating mark with a small blue
flag, the upper part of the staff just showing above water when in the
eddy tide, but not showing when in the strength of the tide.
Note.-The quantity of the line and the weights appeared to have been
calculated with great nicety, so as to run the marks h and k under water
when in the strength of the tides in the part of the harbour always guarded
near the entrance, and when arrived in the eddies, or the slack water at
the upper part of the harbour, they would rise to the surface.
floating near the Nab Light, off Portsmouth by the
Cameleon, revenue cruiser. The tubs were ballasted
with cast-iron plates, exactly similar to those just
described, and had evidently been drifted out to sea
instead of to their intended destination, showing once
more how “the best laid schemes," etc.
A NOVEL TUB BOAT.
269
Though not exactly apropos to the subject of
rafting, a peculiarly-constructed flat-bottomed boat
which was driven on shore during a gale at Bognor in
1837 is worth noticing. From its curious design it
was supposed to have been entirely calculated for
towing under the surface of the water so as to escape
detection on entering harbours. The sides being
composed simply of three wide deal planks without
!

O
o
Srdes made of three cleal planks
wa grummets
length.1647 breadth -458
depth.2ft 2in

Bottom made of three deal planks 666, large holes. 6. 2014 decl.
Soction

No thwarts, but ask timbers secured with common French nails.
N.B the holes in the ginwale were used forlacinganet across, when the
lubs were in the boat; the net berng made ofline, the size of tub-slings
CURIOUS BOAT FOUND AT BOGNOR.
thwarts, were easily broken up and disposed of after
landing the goods. (See drawing.)
Besides the various systems of concealments
already described, sundry devices were resorted to for
disguising the identity of the vessels employed, or
270
SAIUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
1
suspected of being employed in the contraband trade.
For instance, painting and numbering to resemble
pilot cutters was of frequent occurrencé. In 1829 we
find the smuggling lugger Maria discovered to have
on board a pendant marked with the Crown and
R. Y. C., similar to what was flown by vessels of the
Royal Yacht Club, which one of the crew admitted
was for use if required. Feigned names were often
adopted on the visits of the vessels to foreign ports
for the purpose of getting contraband cargoes, so that
information of their movements could not be obtained
from correspondents on the spot.
Another device was that of having two complete
sets of sails of different cut and colour. For instance,
the sloop Daniel and William, 30 tons, of Portsmouth
-a most notorious smuggling craft, whose operations
were usually conducted on the coast of Cornwall-
used always to be seen with white sails, but had a
tanried set on board, which she occasionally set for
disguise when on a smuggling trip. Her gaff topsail
had a square head, but she would sometimes set a
jib for a gaff top-sail, and when on smuggling trips
would set one one day and the other the next.
The most complete system of disguise was that
adopted by the Sarah Jacohe, a Dutch smuggling
cutter, of 70 tons, captured in October, 1843, off
Ardglass, in Ireland, by the Chance, revenue cruiser.
She was supplied with spars, crosstrees, stump top-
mast, and all fittings to turn her into a cutter, sloop,
dandy, or trawler, at will in a few moments. She
was also provided with shifting quarterpieces to ship
and unship for disguise. The name of the vessel
was on a shifting board to fasten on with staples and
toggles, and the white streak, which was still wet, had
evidently been painted on her at sea.
SMUGGLING AT WOOLWICH. 271.
The crew of the Chance,* revenue cutter, must have
blessed their good luck when they dropped on to the
Sarah Jacobe of smuggling fame. Lucky chance !
Reference has already been made in the course of
this history to the smuggling by the East India ships.
A curious case occurred at Woolwich' in 1816, on
which occasion advantage was taken of condemned
Government stores for the purpose of introducing
contraband goods of immense value. In one packet
alone, marked “Returned Congreve rockets,” were
goods value £7,000 for one man. “In the mortars
were laces, gloves, cambrics, etc.; in the tumbrils were
claret, champagne, etc. Many people had long
supplied themselves and friends with wines in this
way, and their wives with finery.” This was the only
vessel which had been detected, but the trade had long
and successfully been carried on to a great extent.
The secret was discovered by a carpenter on the
voyage home in securing the packages. He informed
the Custom House on arrival, but ten days elapsed
before any inspection took place, and then much had
been landed. The informer got about £1,000 reward.
In 1817 a large lighter was fitted out at Liverpool
on the model of a foreign merchantman, with false
keel, decks, sides, masts, sails, and rigging, complete
in all respects, to outward appearance. She was
entered out at the Custom House for a foreign
country, with a valuable cargo of goods, on which
there was the largest drawback—the whole duties
being returned. She sailed into the Irish Channel,
where a metamorphosis took place; her false sides
y
* This vessel was captured as a smuggling cutter on the coast of
Scotland in October, 1827, and, like several others, was taken into the
revenue service.
272 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
were knocked in, her masts struck, and with the
appearance of an ordinary Liverpool lighter she sailed
again up to Runcorn, where her cargo was landed,
and despatched by various routes and conveyances to
agents in London. The ruse was discovered by
pure accident, a lighterman saying, on the quay at
Liverpool, that pepper and other Colonial produce
was being landed at Runcorn, and that he should like
a job of that sort. Inquiry having shown that no
lighters had left Liverpool, the fraud was detected,
and several seizures of the goods were made in

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273
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THE RIVAL, OF CHICHESTER.
b, Shows the line of tubs (thirteen) contained inside two cloths of No. I
canvas, fifteen feet long, turned in, wrapped round and with lacing
holes worked all round, and blacked over. Flat bars and small pieces
of iron were placed in ide for ballast-about 56lbs. altogether and one
end contained a half-hundred weight, with the ring outwards, and a
shackle to secure the chain to; c, The proper pintle bolt to secure the
rudder, of solid iron, nine feet long, and resting in the socket of the
iron shoe, on the keel of the vessel ; d, The false pintle, hollow, one
inch diameter, with a stopper on the head to represent the proper one,
cie, The same with stopper out, chain rove, and a small iron pin,
through a top link, ready to let slip; f, The rudder with false pintle
and chain rove, resting on socket of the shoe, which has a hole the size
of the bore of the pipe, so that when the vessel is on shore it could
never be discovered ; , The tubs, when towing, about two or three
feet under water; k, Iron shoe.
N.B.-In the drawing the rudder is made to stand off from the stern-
post, so as to show the bolt better. There is a notch in the under part of
the tiller, to allow the top links of the chain to be turned into the rudder-
head, and that it may be used as a “compressor," when the pin is with-
drawn in time of danger.
R
274 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
London. The parties concerned were believed to
have carried this on for some time.
In 1832 the day watchman at Number Two Tower,
Dungeness, observed a feather floating at some little
distance from the shore, and, noticing that it remained
stationary, his suspicions were aroused. He accord-
ingly stripped and swam out to it, and found the feather
fixed to a small piece of cork, to which some twine
was attached, and on hauling on it he soon got hold
of a piece of three-quarter inch rope, by means of
which he drew on shore thirty-two tubs of spirits.
Of various ingenious contrivances for towing into
harbour tubs of spirits, without exciting the suspicions
of the coastguard, that discovered on board the smack
Industry, of Cowes, by the Rose, revenue cutter, in
December, 1827, is worthy of notice. A reference to
the drawing (p. 272)—which shows the stern of the
vessel and the mode of attaching the tubs—will make
the contrivance clear to the reader. The tubs and their
sinking stones were fastened to the hawser, com-
mencing at the knot A, the length from which to the
securing part at b was about ten fathoms. Supposing,
then, the raft of tubs to be lowered into the water,
and that danger is apprehended—and providing time
would allow the smugglers on board would then
have to haul up the hawser by the small lead line, C,
fastened to the securing knot at b; then by cutting
off the securing knot they would discharge their
illegal cargo, as the hawser would then readily slide
away through the hole in the stern-post at B.
A contrivance, somewhat similar in principle to
the above, though differing in the details, was found
on board the Rival, taken in Chichester Harbour,
October, 1850, which will be better understood by an
examination of the drawing on page 273.
275
CHAPTER VI.
An Old Lydd Smuggler-English Gold and French Armaments—Smugglers
in War-time- Johnson, the Hampshire Smuggler-Harry Paulet and
Lord Hawke-Napoleon's Patronage of Smuggling–Clandestine Inter-
course with France—Injurious Effects of Smuggling.
“WHEN I joined the Folkestone Division in 1831,"
said an old coastguard pensioner to the writer, “there
was a very old man living at Lydd who often told
me how he smuggled gold over to France during the
war. He would run across in one of the smuggling
galleys, taking a quantity of guineas with him-you
see, he could get twenty-five or thirty shillings for
each English guinea over there. I've heard him say
he was employed by the R- /s. When he was
over in France he would get information about the
French fleet, and on his way back call alongside the
English men-of-war to let them know what he'd heard
over there.” *
When first this was told to the writer, he thought
that his informant's memory must be at fault, or that
very possibly he had confused matters ; but the follow-
ing passage from Barry O'Meara's “Napoleon at St.
Helena” throws quite a new light on the matter :-
" Explaining how he raised money for carrying
on his wars, Napoleon said, “I did not receive money
* From further inquiries it seems that this old man-who was
seventy years of age when he imparted this information, and a fisher-
man by trade—was master of a 12-oared galley during the war, and
usually crossed from either Dover or Folkestone to Calais. Having a
pass from both English and French he was never stopped by the
men-of-war of either nation. “He often told me," added my in-
formant, “that guineas were so plentiful with the smugglers in those
days that they used to play pitch and toss with them.”
R 2
276
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
direct from Spain. I got bills upon Vera Cruz, which
certain agents sent by circuitous routes, by Amster-
dam, Hamburg, and other places, to London, as I
had no direct communication. The bills were dis-
counted by merchants in London, to whom ten per
cent., and sometimes a premium, was paid as their
reward. Bills were then given by them upon different
bankers in Europe for the greatest part of the
amount, and the remainder in gold, which last was
brought over to France by the smugglers. Even for the
equipping my last expedition after my return from
Elba a great part of the money was raised in
London.'"
The smugglers of the south coast of England
played a far more important part in our several wars
with France than is generally known, and the adven-
turous careers of some of the most famous of these
men- could the details only be rescued from the
oblivion into which most of them have fallen-would
form a volume of thrilling interest.
Johnson, the Hampshire smuggler, was one of the
most remarkable of these men. He flourished in the
very early years of the present century, and con-
temporary papers are full of his exploits. Though a
smuggler, he proved staunch enough when the honour
of his country was at stake. Thus, on one occasion,
when offered a large reward by Napoleon if he would
pilot a French fleet to the English coast, he replied,
“I am a sinuggler, but a true lover of my country,
and no traitor." He was then imprisoned at Flushing,
but escaped ; and offering his services to the Govern-
ment, was appointed to the Fox, revenue cutter, where,
from his wide knowledge of smuggling he proved of
great use, and he served the Government so well that
when at Plymouth he scarcely dared venture out of
277
FAMOUS SMUGGLERS.
the ship. He was in several engagements with
French privateers, and during the Walcheren expe-
dition performed a daring and brilliant feat, swim-
ming with a rope to the ramparts and causing a
terrible explosion of an infernal machine.
As an instance of the fertility of invention dis-
played by smugglers, the submarine boats contrived
by Johnson are worthy of mention. The author of .
the article on “Submarine Warfare” in Whitaker's
Almanack (1890) observes :—“The remarkable in-
vention of the celebrated smuggler, Johnson, had for
its object the carrying off the ex-Emperor Napoleon
from St. Helena to the United States, and had it
succeeded the history of Europe would have been
changed. The boat was 100 feet long, with masts
and sails that could be doused and stowed away
handily when diving became necessary. Johnson
was to have been rewarded munificently after the
exile's escape, besides receiving £40,000 on the day
when his boat was ready for sea. The death of
Napoleon, however, put an end to the scheme."
In one of the early volumes of the “ Annual
Register" there is mention of another famous Hamp-
shire smuggler, Harry Paulet, who made his escape
from a French vessel with a bag of despatches he
saw hanging up in the cabin. On another occasion,
when bringing over a cargo of brandy, he sighted the
French fleet, and, preferring patriotism to his cargo,
sailed direct to Lord Hawke in a neighbouring bay
with the news. Lord Hawke vowed to hang him if
his information proved false, or to make his fortune if
it was true. The result was Lord Hawke's victory,
and Harry Paulet in consequence lived and died a
well-known publican in London.
But perhaps the most interesting and striking
VY
TY
278
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
testimony to the courage and enterprise of English
smugglers is that supplied by the ex-Emperor himself
-testimony, however, which says more for the greed
and recklessness of these men than for their patriotism.
Observations coming from such a curious and alto-
gether unexpected quarter are of special interest.
“During the war," said Napoleon, “all the infor-
mation I received from England came through the
smugglers. They are people who have courage and
ability to do anything for money. They had at first
a part of Dunkirk allotted to them, to which they
were restricted ; but as they latterly went out of their
limits, committed riots, and insulted everybody, I
ordered Gravelines to be prepared for their reception,
where they had a little camp for their accommo-
dation. At one time there were upwards of 500
of them in Dunkirk. I had every information I
wanted through them. They brought over news-
papers and despatches from the spies that we had
in London. They took over spies from France,
landed and kept them in their houses for some days,
then dispersed them over the country, and brought
them back when wanted. They came over in boats
not broader than this bath. It was really astonishing
to see them passing your seventy-four-gun ships in
defiance.
In reply to the remark that they were double
spies, and brought intelligence from France to the
British Government, Napoleon said, “That is very
likely; they brought you newspapers, but I believe
that, as spies, they did -not convey much intelligence
to you. They are genti terribili, and did great mis-
chief to your Government. They assisted the French
prisoners to escape from England. The relations of
Frenchmen, prisoners in your country, were accus-
TRAITORQUS INTERCOURSE. 279
tomed to go to Dunkirk, and to make a bargain with
them to bring over a certain prisoner. All that they
wanted was the name, age, and a private token, by
means of which the prisoners might repose confidence
in them. Generally, in a short time afterwards they
effected it, as, for men like them, they had a great
deal of honour in their dealings. They offered
several times to bring over Louis and the rest of the
Bourbons for a sum of money ; but they wanted to
stipulate that if they met with an accident, or inter-
ruption to their design, they might be allowed to
massacre them. This I would not consent to."
These observations are not less remarkable for
their agreement with evidence derived from other
sources than for the proof they afford of Napoleon's
profound knowledge of everything connected with his
régiine.
This character for straightforward dealing was
not always, however, maintained by the smugglers,
for, if report be true, there were instances in which,
after receiving payment for the escape of prisoners,
they overpowered them when-in a double sense-
“half seas over," and handed the fugitives over to
English cruisers. *
Apropos of the system of carrying on a traitorous
intercourse with the enemy in war-time, we have it
on record that all through the last war with France
the daily newspapers and correspondence were
regularly carried to Bonaparte by a family then
resident at Bexhill, in Sussex. In plain English, the
majority of the smugglers seem to have been ready to
turn their hands to any dirty job by way of raising
the wind.
* For an interesting account of an episode of this nature see “Mes
Pontons,” by Louis Garneray.
280
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
So far back as the beginning of last century the
public records supply evidence of the calling to which
smugglers betook themselves in time of war. Thus,
in January, 1703, the capture of a man called William
Snipp, at Lydd, is reported, together with two other
men, "part of the old gang of those who were owlers
(smugglers of wool) in the late war," all of whom
were openly in communication with French sloops
which came to the coast.
Some idea of the activity with which these clan-
destine communications with the enemy were carr ed
on may be gathered from the following extracts from
the public records of this period :-
July 25th, 1702.—Some French letters sent from a
privateer and others found on the beach near Seaford;
all delivered to the Secretary Hedge's office.
October 8th.- Near Seaford two persons seized
and sent to the secretary,
January 4th, 1703.-At Newhaven, five Frenchmen
and a boy taken.
March 5th.--At Felpiam, two French prisoners.
May 3rd.—A Frenchinan, from Calais, with letters
and papers, under Beachy Head in the night.
May 6th.-Three French prisoners at Pagham.
May 27th.-Five or six French prisoners near
Shoreham, Captain Joosloe set on shore from Dieppe.
Shoreham, three French prisoners more; three came
on shore in long-boat, and made their escape through
the country.
October 2nd.-Mr. Herne seized; brought up per
messenger.
December 12th.-Major Boucher, Captain Ogilby,
and five more out of France seized at Beachy Head
by express; brought up by messengers. Out of a
small hoy, near Selsea, seized five Frenchmen; com-
SMUGGLERS IN WAR TIME:
281
mitted to Chichester gaol, broke prison, and retaken
by J. Field.*
It may not be out of place to remind our readers
that at the consultation of smugglers at Rowland's
Castle, previous to the murder of Galley and Chater,
it was proposed to have them secretly conveyed to
France, notwithstanding that the two countries were
then at war with each other, a fact which presupposes
the existence of a clandestine intercourse unknown to
the authorities.
At the trial of the men concerned in the brutal
murder of Hawkins on Slindon Common it was
elicited that one of the murderers had crossed to
Gravelines, in France, and entered himself into the
corps of the Irish brigade, thus affording further proof
of these clandestine communications between the two
countries.
So notorious were these facts at the time that
many patriotic men sought a means of preventing the
mischief to the country which was wrought by the
smugglers. In the course of a speech in the House
of Commons, in January, 1749, advocating a substitute
for impressment as a means of manning the fleet, the
following observations on this subject were made :-
“The smugglers not only exhaust our national
wealth, and carry it to our enemies, but at the same
time—what is of infinitely worse consequence—they
carry them intelligence of every step that is taken in
this kingdom ; so that they at once destroy our
wealth and our honour, producing at once beggary
and defeats. Nor can they bring back intelligence
from our enemies, for as soon as they land at the
French ports, they are carried before the Intendant,
* Egerton MS. 929, quoted in “Smuggling in Sussex "--Sussex
Archæological Collection, Vol. X.
282 SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
and examined upon oath concerning the situation of
vessels on the English coasts, and at the same time
sworn not to discover what they see there."
In the month of April, the same year, James
Toby, an old smuggler, was convicted for carrying
wool to France. It was also proved that he held a
correspondence with the French during the late re-
bellion (1745), and furnished them with swivel guns
for their privateers.
CHAPTER VII.
Profits on Smuggling-Trade Secrets—Methods of Procedure-Collecting
a Freight—Engaging a Vessel-Cost of Tubs-Customs of the Trade--
Causes of the Decline of Smuggling-Definition of Smuggling.
HAVING followed the author thus far, the reader may
possibly be curious to know what the actual profits
amounted to on a branch of trading which offered
such irresistible attractions to our forefathers, and
tempted men of all classes to risk life, limb, and
liberty in its pursuit.
In the preceding pages it has been more than
once remarked that amongst the smuggling fra-
ternity it was an axiom that if they could save
one cargo out of three they considered themselves
fairly well recouped for all their labour and ex-
pense. This, however, supplies no clue to the
actual money value of the goods on delivery, their
first cost, or the various expenses necessarily in-
curred in transit from one port to another.
The information that follows, and which must
be regarded in the light of "trade secrets”-com-
municated to the writer from time to time by a very
TRADE SECRETS.
283
celebrated, and, in his day, successful smuggler,
will help to throw a light on certain points, re-
garding which information has so far been with-
held, and may be accepted as perfectly reliable.
The writer's informant, moreover, is a remarkable
exception to the rule which governed the career
of most contraband traders, in so far that instead
of ending his days in pinching poverty or the poor-
house, he succeeded in carving out for himself during
the later half of his life an honourable career, which
brought a competency for old age in the shape of a
pension from his former employers, which he is still
enjoying.
It must be premised that the information applies
to the trade in spirits alone, and refers to the busiest
days of the "scientific period” of smuggling, viz.,
from about 1825 to 1840 :-
"If I intended bringing over a cargo, I would
arrange for all the likely parties I knew of to meet me
on a certain day for the purpose of deciding on the
number of tubs. Each person would'venture' so
many, paying down to me, on the spot, £i for each
tub ventured. Another £i per tub would be lodged
in the bank to pay expenses. Supposing we arranged
for a hundred and fifty tubs, I would take the £ 150
advanced, look out for a likely boat, and make a bar-
gain with the owner for the trip across. If the cap-
tain preferred it he would be paid a lump sum, say
£100, out of which he paid the crew, arranging with
them as best he could—there were always plenty of
chaps ready to chance a run across in those days,
and then, you see, they could always venture a few
tubs themselves, if they liked.
"Sometimes the freighter would pay down half the
amount agreed on before starting, say £50, besides
ID
ITTY
284
S.MUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
which he would agree for £25 per man of the crew,
of which £20 would be paid down. If times were
bad, of course men could be got for less, £15 or £10
may-be. The captain would then engage a crew on
his own terms, paying, perhaps, £3 or £5 per man
down,
“In buying the tubs over in France, £I would
fetch twenty-one shillings, while the tubs would cost
generally 18s. each, according to the bargain you
made with the merchant, who, in addition, always
allowed one tub in a score, and two in a hundred,
which was called 'scorage' tubs, and always went to
the owner of the boat, who, before sharing profits,
would deduct so much for 'freight and average.'
“Sometimes the tubs could be bought for as low
as 16s. each, the difference going into the pocket of
the purchaser, to cover small expenses, such as
'sinking-stones, food, etc., for the crew.
"A tub—or half-anker, as it used to be called
before my time, weighed about fifty-six pounds
when full, and contained four gallons of brandy,
costing from four to five shillings per gallon in
France; the same costing in England thirty-six
shillings, duty paid. So, by getting the stuff 'run'
clear of duty-thirty-two shillings a gallon it was in
those days—a pretty good profit could be made on a
cargo of a hundred tubs.
“Each tub cost the venturers £2, the same, if
charged duty, costing about £6.
“Of course, if the cargo was lost, the venturers
just lost the £ I paid down, the other pound being
only paid to the freighter after the tubs had been
delivered, and if they were lost the money was drawn
out of the bank again and paid back to the venturers.
"The tubs were always supplied by the merchant
COST OF A CARGO.
285
ready "slung. I generally bought my cargoes at
Roscoff, though I have been to Cherbourg and other
ports for goods. The spirit you got in those days
was beautiful stuff-mild, and fine-flavoured ; indeed,
you can't get anything like it now.
“The spirit was almost always supplied un-
coloured—white brandy it was called—a tub of
colouring mixture being supplied with the tubs by
the merchant for the purpose of colouring the spirit
after it had been run. I sometimes made my own
colouring mixture with burnt sugar, and it was just as
good as that supplied by the merchant.
“The average strength of the liquor supplied was
70° above proof, but I have known cargoes brought
over as much as 180° above proof. You see, it could
be brought over at less expense like that, a hundred
tubs making three hundred when mixed to the right
strength ; besides, brandy of this strength was sold
cheaper in proportion, or at about thirty shillings the
four-gallon tub. Of course it required fewer tubs
and caused less trouble to the merchant. But if
cheaper to buy—costing to the venturer, when re-
duced to its proper strength, about 2s. 6d. a gallon-
the mixing gave a lot of trouble. It had to be done
after landing, and oftentimes there was a difficulty in
getting enough tubs to put the liquor into after it was
mixed, so that, on the whole, it gave more trouble than
it was worth, in my mind.”
So far, the successful smuggler. No doubt “trade
customs” varied somewhat in the different counties,
but the above particulars will quite sufficiently enable
the reader to understand why the temptation to
smuggle proved in so many instances stronger than
frail humanity of sixty years ago was able to with-
stand.
286
SMUGGLING DAYS AND WAYS.
What, it will naturally be asked, chiefly con-
tributed to put down the contraband trade? Opinions
differ somewhat widely on this point. The truth is
that various causes, all tending in the same direction,
worked to this end. Old smugglers, who are natur-
ally a little disinclined to see any virtue in a preventive
man, will tell you that the informer did more than
anything else to destroy the trade ; and there can be
no doubt that the treachery of men, who were nothing
loth, sometimes, to sacrifice their own kith and kin for
the sake of lucre, very greatly increased the risks.
Others, again, who, though possibly interested in the
trade, were never brought into contact with the pre-
ventive men, and therefore, less prejudiced, declare
that after the establishment of the coastguard the
beach was too well watched to admit of a landing
without almost certain detection. Then, again, there
are those who attribute the decadence of smuggling
to the “limit laws," under which boats were liable to
seizure and detention—if not forfeiture—when dis-
covered outside of their limits. But what certainly
put the final touch to all the contributory causes was
the large reduction in the duties—especially on
spirits; and when the possible profits bore no pro-
portion to the risks, smuggling, on the scale, and
according to the methods of old, died a natural death.
That smuggling is extinct no one will venture to
assert, in view of the frequent prosecutions that occur;*
* The following extract from a “ Statement concerning Smuggling"
in the Customs Report for the year ended 31st March, 1891, is worthy
of notice :--
Year.
Quantities Seized. Number of
Convictions.
Tobacco.
Spirits.
1882 25,653 lbs. 432 gallons. 1,516
£3,529
1891 16,756 ,
239 ,
Penalties
Recovered.
U
£8,126
The larger seizures occurred for the most part on the shores of the river
Humber.
4,704
CONCLUSION.
287
but that it will ever again be conducted in the
manner and with the audacity described in these
pages, seems in the highest degree improbable.
Finally, after a full and impartial consideration
of the matter, and with a complete knowledge of the
facts, we may appropriately conclude our survey of
smuggling days in the words of an Italian writer
of the last century, whose “Treatise on Crimes and
Punishments," published in 1764, earned for him a
European reputation :-“Smuggling, though a real
offence, is owing to the laws themselves : for the
higher the duties, the greater is the advantage and,
consequently, the temptation, which temptation is
increased by the facility of perpetration, when the
circumference that is guarded is of great extent, and
the merchandise prohibited small in bulk” (Bec-
caria).
THE END.
Panorto ao Cantina Coman, Loro, La Deus savas, Lamo, e.
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Readers for Infant Schools, Coloured. Three Books. 4d. each.
Readers, The Modern Geographical. Illustrated throughout. (List on application.j
Readers, The Modern School. Illustrated. (List on application.)
Reading and Spelling Book, Cassell's Illustrated. IS.
Round the Empire. By G. R. PARKIN. With a Preface by the Rt. Hon, the
Earl of Rosebery, K.T. Fully Illustrated. IS. 6d.
School Bank Manual, A. By AGNES LAMBERT. 6d.
School Certificates, Cassell's. Three Colours, 64x48 in., Id. ; Five Colours,
IIB x g1 in., 3d. ; Seven Colours and Gold, g x 677 in., 3d.
Science Applied to Work. By J. A. BOWER. Illustrated. IS.
Science of Every-Day Life. By J. A. BOWER. Illustrated. IS.
Sculpture, A Primer of. By E. Roscoe MULLINS. Illustrated. 25. 6d.
Shade from Models, Common Objects, and Casts of Ornament, How to. By
W. E. SPARKES. With 25 Plates by the Author. 35.
Shakspere Reading Book, The By H. COURTHOPE BOWEN, M.A. Illustrated:
35. 6d. Also issued in Three Books, is, each.
Shakspere's Plays for School Use. Illustrated. 5 Books. 6d, each.
Spelling, A Complete Manual of. By J. D. MORELL, LL.D. IS.
Technical Educator, Cassell's. Illustrated throughout. New and Revised
Edition. Four Vols. 55. each.
Technical Manuals, Cassell's. Illustrated throughout. 16 Vols., from 2s. to 4s. 6d.
(List free on application.)
Technology, Manuals . of. Edited by Prof. AYRTON, F.R.S., and RICHARD
WORMELL, D.Sc., M.A. Illustrated throughout.
The Dyeing of Textile Fabrics. By Prof. Design in Textile Fabrics. By T. R. Ashen.
Hummel. 55.
hurst. 45. 60.
Watch and Clock Making. By D. Glasgow,
Spinning Woollen and Worsted. By W.
Vice-President of the British Horological
S. McLaren, M.P. 45, 6d.
Institute. 45. 6d.
Practical Mechanics. By Prof. Perry, M.E.
35. 6d.
Steel and Iron By Prof. W. H. Greenwood, Cutting Tools Worked by Hand and Mar
F.C.S., M.I.C.E., &c. 55.
chine, By Prof. Smith. 35. 6.
Test Cards, Cassell's Combination. In sets, Is. each.
Test Cards, Cassell's Modern School - In sets, Is. each.
World of Ours, This. By H. O. ARNOLD-FORSTER. Fully Illustrated. 35. 6d.

Selections from Cassell & Company's Publications.
Books for Young People.
"Little Folks" Half-Yearly Volume. Containing 432 pages of Letterpress, with
Pictures on nearly every page, together with Two Full-page Plates printed in Colours
and Four Tinted Plates. Coloured boards, 3s. 6d.; or cloth gilt, gilt edges, 5s.
Bo-Peep. A Book for the Little Ones. With Original Stories and Verses.
Illustrated with beautiful Pictures on nearly every page, and Coloured Frontispiece.
Yearly Volume. Elegant picture boards, 2s. 6d.; cloth, 3s. 6d.
Story Poems for Young and old. By E. DAVENPORT. 6s.
Pleasant Work for Busy Fingers. By MAGGIE BROWNE. Illustrated. Ss.
Born a King. By FRANCES and MARY ARNOLD-FORSTER, Illustrated. IS.
The Marvellous Budget: being 65,536 Stories of Jack and Jill. By the
* Rev. F. BENNETT. Illustrated. Cloth gilt, 25. 6d.
Magic at Home. By Prof. HOFFMAN. Fully Illustrated. A Series of easy
and startling Conjuring Tricks for Beginners. Cloth gilt, 5s.
Schoolroom and Home Theatricals. By ARTHUR WAUGH. With Illustra-
tions by H. A. J. Miles. Cloth, 2s. 6d.
Little Mother Bunch. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH. Illustrated. Cloth, 35. 6d.
Heroes of Every-Day Life. By LAURA LANE. With about 20 Full-page
Illustrations. 256 pages, crown 8vo, cloth, 28. 6d.
Ships, Sailors, and the Sea. By R. J. CORNEWALL-JONES. Illustrated
throughout, and containing a Coloured Plate of Naval Flags. Cheap Edition, 2s. 6d.
The Tales of the Sixty Mandarins. By P. V. RAMASWAMI RAJU. 55.
Gift Books for Young People. By Popular Authors. With Four Original
Illustrations in each. Cloth gilt, Is. 6d, each.
The Boy Hunters of Kentucky By Jack Marston's Anchor.
Edward S. Ellis.
Frank's Life-Battle.
Red Feather: a Tale of the American Major Monk's Motto; or, “Look Before
Frontier. By Edward S. Ellis.
you Leap."
Fritters; or," It's a Long Lane that has Tim Thomson's Trial; or, “All is not Gold
no Turning."
that Glitters."
Trixy; or, “Those who Live 'in Glass Ursula's Stumbling-Block.
Houses shouldn't throw Stones."
Ruth's Life-Work; or,"No Pains, no Gains."
The Two Hardcastles.
Rags and Rainbows.
Seeking a City.
Uncle William's Charge.
Rhoda's Reward.
Pretty Pink's Purposē.

"Golden Mottoes” Series, The. Each Book containing 208 pages, with Four
full-page Original Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 25. each.
“Nil Desperandum.” By the Rev. F. Lang- “Honour is my Guide." By Jeanie Hering
bridge, M.A.
(Mrs. Adams-Acton).
“Aim at a Sure End.” By Emily Searchfield,
“Bear and Forbear.” By Sarah Pitt.
“He Conquers who Endures." By the Author
"Foremost if I Can.” By Helen Atteridge.
of “May Cunningham's Trial," &c.
“Cross and Crown" Series, The. With Four Illustrations in each Book. Crown
8vo, 256 pages, 25. 6d. each.
Heroes of the Indian Empire; or, Stories of | By Fire and Sword; a Story of the Hugue-
Valour and Victory. By Ernest Foster.
nots. By Thomas Archer,
Through Trial to Triumph; or, “The
Adam Hepburn's Vow: A Tale of Kirk and
Royal Way.” By Madeline Bonavia Hunt.
Covenant. By Annie S. Swan.
In Letters of Flame: A Story of the
No. XIII.; or, the Story of the Lost Vestal.
Waldenses. By C. L. Matéaux
A Tale of Early Christian Days. By Emma
Marshall.
Strong to Suffer; A Story of the Jews. By Freedom's Sword; A Story of the Days of
E. Wynne.
Wallace and Bruce. By Annie S. Swan.

Five Shilling Books for Young People. With Original Illustrations. Cloth
gilt, 5s. each.
Under Bayard's Banner. By Henry Frith. Bound by a Spell; or, the Hunted Witon
The Champion of Odin; or, Viking Life
of the Forest. By the Hon. Mrs. Greene.
in the Days of Old. By J. Fred. Hodgetts. The Romance of Invention. By Jas. Burnley.
Albums for Children. Price 3s. 6d. each.
The Chit-Chat Album. Illustrated.
My Own Album of Animals. Illustrated.
The Album for Home, School, and Play.
Set in bold type, and illustrated throughout
Picture Album of All Sorts. Illustrated.
“Wanted-a King" Sertes. Illustrated. 35. 6d. each.
Robin's Ride. By Ellinor Davenport Adams. Wanted-a King; or, How Merle set the
Great - Grandmamma. By Georgina M.
Nursery Rhymes to Rights. By Maggie
Synge.
Browne.
-:;.::.

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