King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855
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Title: King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855
Author: E. Keble Chatterton
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Language: English
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KING'S CUTTERS AND SMUGGLERS 1700-1855
by
E. KEBLE CHATTERTON
Author of "Sailing Ships and Their Story," "The Romance of the Ship"
"The Story of the British Navy," "Fore and Aft," Etc.
With 33 Illustrations and Frontispiece in Colours
[Illustration: REVENUE CRUISER CHASING SMUGGLING LUGGER.
Before firing on a smuggler the cruiser was bound to hoist his Revenue
colours--both pennant and ensign--no matter whether day or night.
(_from the original painting by Charles Dixon, R.I._)]
London
George Allen & Company, Ltd.
44 & 45 Rathbone Place
1912
[All rights reserved]
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
PREFACE
I have in the following pages endeavoured to resist the temptation to
weave a web of pleasant but unreliable fiction round actual
occurrences. That which is here set forth has been derived from facts,
and in almost every case from manuscript records. It aims at telling
the story of an eventful and exciting period according to historical
and not imaginative occurrence. There are extant many novels and short
stories which have for their heroes the old-time smugglers. But the
present volume represents an effort to look at these exploits as they
were and not as a novelist likes to think they might have occurred.
Perhaps there is hardly an Englishman who was not thrilled in his
boyhood days by Marryat and others when they wrote of the King's
Cutters and their foes. It is hoped that the following pages will not
merely revive pleasant recollections but arouse a new interest in the
adventures of a species of sailing craft that is now, like the brig
and the fine old clipper-ship, past and done with.
The reader will note that in the Appendices a considerable amount of
interesting data has been collected. This has been rendered possible
only with great difficulty, but it is believed that in future years
the dimensions and details of a Revenue Cutter's construction, the
sizes of her spars, her tonnage, guns, &c., the number of her crew
carried, the names and dates of the fleets of cutters employed will
have an historical value which cannot easily be assessed in the
present age that is still familiar with sailing craft.
In making researches for the preparation of this volume I have to
express my deep sense of gratitude to the Honourable Commissioners of
the Board of Customs for granting me permission to make use of their
valuable records; to Mr. F.S. Parry C.B., Deputy Chairman of the Board
for his courtesy in placing a vast amount of data in my hands, and for
having elucidated a good many points of difficulty; and, finally, to
Mr. Henry Atton, Librarian of the Custom House, for his great
assistance in research.
E. KEBLE CHATTERTON.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE EARLIEST SMUGGLERS 14
III. THE GROWTH OF SMUGGLING 40
IV. THE SMUGGLERS' METHODS 56
V. THE HAWKHURST GANG 82
VI. THE REVENUE CRUISERS 94
VII. CUTTERS AND SLOOPS 121
VIII. PREVENTIVE ORGANISATION 138
IX. CUTTERS' EQUIPMENT 157
X. THE INCREASE IN SMUGGLING 182
XI. THE SMUGGLERS AT SEA 199
XII. THE WORK OF THE CUTTERS 215
XIII. THE PERIOD OF INGENUITY 239
XIV. SOME INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS 257
XV. A TRAGIC INCIDENT 276
XVI. ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 295
XVII. SMUGGLING BY CONCEALMENTS 320
XVIII. BY SEA AND LAND 339
XIX. ACTION AND COUNTER-ACTION 361
XX. FORCE AND CUNNING 379
APPENDICES 403
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
REVENUE CRUISER CHASING SMUGGLING LUGGER _Colour frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
A REPRESENTATION OF YE SMUGGLERS BREAKING OPEN YE KING'S
CUSTOM HOUSE AT POOLE 86
MR. GALLEY AND MR. CHATER PUT BY YE SMUGGLERS ON ONE
HORSE NEAR ROWLAND CASTLE 88
GALLEY AND CHATER FALLING OFF THEIR HORSE AT WOODASH 88A
CHATER CHAINED IN YE TURFF HOUSE AT OLD MILLS'S 89
CHATER HANGING AT THE WELL IN LADY HOLT PARK, THE )
BLOODY VILLAINS STANDING BY )
) 90
THE BLOODY SMUGGLERS FLINGING DOWN STONES AFTER THEY )
HAD FLUNG HIS DEAD BODY INTO THE WELL )
H.M. CUTTER "WICKHAM," COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN JOHN
FULLARTON, R.N. 178
H.M. CUTTER "WICKHAM" 179
IN TEXT
PAGE
"DOW SENT HIS MATE AND TEN MEN ON BOARD HER" 72
"CAME CHARGING DOWN ... STRIKING HER ON THE QUARTER" 102
"A GREAT CROWD OF INFURIATED PEOPLE CAME DOWN TO THE BEACH" 187
"THE 'FLORA' WITH THE 'FISGARD,' 'WASSO,' AND 'NYMPH'" 202
"THE 'CAROLINE' CONTINUED HER COURSE AND PROCEEDED TO LONDON" 211
HOW THE DEAL BOATMEN USED TO SMUGGLE TEA ASHORE 213
"THE 'BADGER' WAS HOISTING UP THE GALLEY IN THE RIGGING" 265
"FIRE AND BE DAMNED" 278
THE SANDWICH DEVICE 314
THE SLOOP "LUCY" SHOWING CONCEALMENTS 324
CASK FOR SMUGGLING CIDER 326
THE SMACK "TAM O'SHANTER" SHOWING METHOD OF CONCEALMENT 329
FLAT-BOTTOMED BOAT FOUND OFF SELSEY 332
PLAN OF THE SCHOONER "GOOD INTENT" SHOWING METHOD OF
SMUGGLING CASKS 334
THE SCHOONER "SPARTAN" 336
DECK PLAN AND LONGITUDINAL PLAN OF THE "LORD RIVERS" 337
"THE CRUISER'S GUNS HAD SHOT AWAY THE MIZZEN-MAST" 348
"THE 'ADMIRAL HOOD' WAS HEAVING TUBS OVERBOARD" 358
"GETTING A FIRM GRIP, PUSHED HIM ... INTO THE WATER" 365
"LET'S ... HAVE HIM OVER THE CLIFF" 373
"UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS TOOK ON BOARD ... FORTY BALES
OF SILK" 377
"ANOTHER SHOT WAS FIRED" 383
METHODS EMPLOYED BY SMUGGLERS FOR ANCHORING TUBS THROWN
OVERBOARD 385
THE "RIVAL'S" INGENIOUS DEVICE 392
"TAKEN COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE" 398
King's Cutters & Smugglers
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Outside pure Naval history it would be difficult to find any period so
full of incident and contest as that which is covered by the exploits
of the English Preventive Service in their efforts to deal with the
notorious and dangerous bands of smugglers which at one time were a
terrible menace to the trade and welfare of our nation.
As we shall see from the following pages, their activities covered
many decades, and indeed smuggling is not even to-day dead nor ever
will be so long as there are regulations which human ingenuity can
occasionally outwit. But the grand, adventurous epoch of the smugglers
covers little more than a century and a half, beginning about the year
1700 and ending about 1855 or 1860. Nevertheless, within that space of
time there are crowded in so much adventure, so many exciting escapes,
so many fierce encounters, such clever moves and counter-moves: there
are so many thousands of people concerned in the events, so many
craft employed, and so much money expended that the story of the
smugglers possesses a right to be ranked second only to those larger
battles between two or more nations.
Everyone has, even nowadays, a sneaking regard for the smugglers of
that bygone age, an instinct that is based partly on a curious human
failing and partly on a keen admiration for men of dash and daring.
There is a sympathy, somehow, with a class of men who succeeded not
once but hundreds of times in setting the law at defiance; who, in
spite of all the resources of the Government, were not easily beaten.
In the novels of James, Marryat, and a host of lesser writers the
smuggler and the Preventive man have become familiar and standard
types, and there are very few, surely, who in the days of their youth
have not enjoyed the breathless excitement of some story depicting the
chasing of a contraband lugger or watched vicariously the landing of
the tubs of spirits along the pebbly beach on a night when the moon
never showed herself. But most of these were fiction and little else.
Even Marryat, though he was for some time actually engaged in Revenue
duty, is now known to have been inaccurate and loose in some of his
stories. Those who have followed afterwards have been scarcely better.
However, there is nothing in the following pages which belongs to
fiction. Every effort has been made to set forth only actual
historical facts, which are capable of verification, so that what is
herein contained represents not what _might_ have happened but
actually did take place. To write a complete history of smuggling
would be well-nigh impossible, owing to the fact that, unhappily
through fire and destruction, many of the records, which to-day would
be invaluable, have long since perished. The burning down of the
Customs House by the side of the Thames in 1814 and the inappreciation
of the right value of certain documents by former officials have
caused so desirable a history to be impossible to be written. Still,
happily, there is even now a vast amount of material in existence, and
the present Commissioners of the Board of Customs are using every
effort to preserve for posterity a mass of data connected with this
service.
Owing to the courtesy of the Commissioners it has been my good fortune
to make careful researches through the documents which are concerned
with the old smuggling days, the Revenue cutters, and the Preventive
Service generally; and it is from these pages of the past and from
other sources that I have been enabled to put forth the story as it is
here presented; and as such it represents an attempt to afford an
authentic picture of an extremely interesting and an equally exciting
period of our national history, to show the conditions of the
smuggling industry from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, and
the efforts to put a stop to the same. We shall soon find that this
period in its glamour, romance, and adventure contains a good deal of
similarity to the great seafaring Elizabethan epoch. The ships were
different, but the courage of the English seamen was the same. Nor
must we forget that those rough, rude men who ran backwards and
forwards across the English Channel in cutters, yawls, luggers, and
sometimes open boats, stiffened with a rich ballast of tea, tobacco,
and brandy, were some of the finest seamen in the world, and certainly
the most skilful fore-and-aft sailors and efficient pilots to be found
anywhere on the seas which wash the coasts of the United Kingdom. They
were sturdy and strong of body, courageous and enterprising of nature,
who had "used" the sea all their lives. Consequently the English
Government wisely determined that in all cases of an encounter with
smugglers the first aim of the Preventive officers should be to
capture the smugglers themselves, for they could be promptly impressed
into the service of the Navy and be put to the good of the nation
instead of being to the latter's disadvantage.
As everyone familiar with the sea is aware, the seamanship of the
square-rigged vessel and of the fore-and-aft is very different. The
latter makes special demands of its own which, for the present, we
need not go into. But we may assert with perfect confidence that at
its best the handling of the King's cutters and the smuggling craft,
the chasing and eluding in all weathers, the strategy and tactics of
both parties form some of the best chapters in nautical lore. The
great risks that were run, the self-confidence and coolness displayed
indicated quite clearly that our national seafaring spirit was not yet
dead. To-day many descendants of these old smugglers remain our
foremost fore-and-aft sailors, yet engaged no longer in an illicit
trade but in the more peaceful pursuits of line fishermen, oyster
dredging, trawling during the winter, and often shipping as yachts'
hands during the summer.
But because we are to read fact and not fiction we shall scarcely find
the subject inferior in interest. Truth often enough is stranger, and
some of the tricks and devices employed by the smuggling communities
may well surprise us. And while we shall not make any vain attempt to
whitewash a class of men who were lawless, reckless, and sometimes
even brutal in their efforts, yet we shall not hesitate to give the
fullest prominence to the great skill and downright cleverness of a
singularly virile and unique kind of British manhood. In much the same
way as a spectator looks on at a fine sporting contest between two
able foes, we shall watch the clashing exploits of the King's men and
the smugglers. Sometimes the one side wins, sometimes the other, but
nearly always there is a splendidly exciting tussle before either
party can claim victory.
No one who has not examined the authentic records of this period can
appreciate how powerful the smugglers on sea and land had become. The
impudence and independence of some of the former were amazing. We
shall give instances in due course, but for the present we might take
the case of the Revenue cutter which, after giving chase to a
smuggling vessel, came up to the latter. Shots were exchanged, but the
smuggler turned his swivel guns on to the Government craft with such a
hot effect that the Revenue captain deemed it prudent to give up the
fight and hurry away as fast as possible, after which the positions
were reversed and the smuggler _actually chased the Revenue cutter!_
In fact during the year 1777 one of the Customs officials wrote sadly
to the Board that there was a large lugger off the coast, and so well
armed that she was "greatly an overmatch" for even two of the Revenue
cruisers. It seems almost ludicrous to notice a genuine and
unquestionable report of a smuggling vessel coming into a bay, finding
a Revenue cruiser lying quietly at anchor, and ordering the cruiser,
with a fine flow of oaths, immediately to cut his cable and clear out;
otherwise the smugglers promised to sink her. The Revenue cutter's
commander did not cut his cable, but in truth he had to get his
anchor up pretty promptly and clear out as he was told.
It was not till after the year 1815 that the Government began
seriously to make continuous headway in its efforts to cope with the
smuggling evil. Consider the times. Between the years 1652 and 1816
there were years and years of wars by land or by sea. There were the
three great Anglo-Dutch wars, the wars with France, with Spain, to say
nothing of the trouble with America. They were indeed anxious years
that ended only with the Battle of Waterloo, and it was not likely
that all this would in any way put a stop to that restlessness which
was unmistakable. Wages were low, provisions were high, and the poorer
classes of those days had by no means all the privileges possessed
to-day. Add to this the undoubted fact that literally for centuries
there had lived along the south coast of England, especially in the
neighbourhood of the old Cinque ports, a race of men who were always
ready for some piratical or semi-piratical sea exploit. It was in
their blood to undertake and long for such enterprises, and it only
wanted but the opportunity to send them roving the seas as privateers,
or running goods illegally from one coast to another. And it is not
true that time has altogether stifled that old spirit. When a liner
to-day has the misfortune to lose her way in a fog and pile up on rock
or sandbank, you read of the numbers of small craft which put out to
salvage her cargo. But not all this help comes out of hearts of
unfathomable pity. On the contrary, your beachman has an eye to
business. He cannot go roving nowadays; time has killed the smuggling
in which his ancestors distinguished themselves. But none the less he
can legally profit by another vessel's misfortune; and, as the local
families worked in syndicate fashion when they went smuggling, so now
they mutually arrange to get the cargo ashore and, incidentally, make
a very handsome profit as well.
We need not envy the Government the difficult and trying task that was
theirs during the height of the smuggling era. There was quite enough to
think of in regard to foreign affairs without wanting the additional
worry of these contraband runners. That must be borne in mind whenever
one feels inclined to smile at the apparently half-hearted manner in
which the authorities seemed to deal with the evil. Neither funds nor
seamen, nor ships nor adequate attention could be spared just then to
deal with these pests. And it was only after the wars had at last ended
and the Napoleonic bogey had been settled that this domestic worry could
be dealt with in the manner it required. There were waiting many evils
to be remedied, and this lawlessness along the coast of the country was
one of the greatest. But it was not a matter that could be adjusted in
a hurry, and it was not for another forty or fifty years, not, in fact,
until various administrative changes and improvements had taken place,
that at last the evil was practically stamped out. As one looks through
the existing records one cannot avoid noticing that there was scarcely a
bay or suitable landing-place along the whole English coast-line that
did not become notorious for these smuggling "runs": there is hardly a
cliff or piece of high ground that has not been employed for the purpose
of giving a signal to the approaching craft as they came on through the
night over the dark waters. There are indeed very few villages in
proximity to the sea that have not been concerned in these smuggling
ventures and taken active interest in the landing of bales and casks.
The sympathy of the country-side was with the smuggling fraternity.
Magistrates were at times terrorised, juries were too frightened to
convict. In short, the evil had grown to such an extent that it was a
most difficult problem for any Government to be asked to deal with,
needing as it did a very efficient service both of craft and men afloat,
and an equally able and incorruptible guard on land that could not be
turned from its purpose either by fear or bribery. We shall see from the
following chapters how these two organisations--by sea and land--worked.
If we exclude fiction, the amount of literature which has been
published on smuggling is exceedingly small. Practically the whole of
the following pages is the outcome of personal research among
original, authentic manuscripts and official documents. Included under
this head may be cited the Minutes of the Board of Customs, General
Letters of the Board to the Collectors and Controllers of the various
Out-ports, Out-port Letters to the Board, the transcripts from
shorthand notes of Assizes and Promiscuous Trials of Smugglers, a
large quantity of MSS. of remarkable incidents connected with
smuggling, miscellaneous notes collected on the subject in the Library
of the Customs House, instructions issued at different times to
Customs officers and commanders of cruisers, General Orders issued to
the Coastguard, together with a valuable précis (unpublished) of the
existing documents in the many Customs Houses along the English coast
made in the year 1911 by the Librarian to the Board of Customs on a
round of visits to the different ports for that purpose. These
researches have been further supplemented by other documents in the
British Museum and elsewhere.
This volume, therefore, contains within its pages a very large amount
of material hitherto unpublished, and, additional to the details
gathered together regarding smuggling methods, especial attention has
been paid to collect all possible information concerning the Revenue
sloops and cutters so frequently alluded to in those days as cruisers.
I have so often heard a desire expressed among those interested in the
literature of the sea to learn all about the King's cutters, how they
were rigged, manned, victualled, armed, and navigated, what were their
conditions of service at sea, and so on--finally, to obtain accounts
of their chasing of smuggling craft, accounts based on the narratives
of eye-witnesses of the incidents, the testimony of the commanders and
crews themselves, both captors and captives, that I have been here at
some pains to present the most complete picture of the subject that
has hitherto been attempted. These cutters were most interesting craft
by reason both of themselves and the chases and fights in which they
were engaged. The King's cutters were employed, as many people are
aware, as well in international warfare as in the Preventive Service.
There is an interesting letter, for instance, to be read from
Lieutenant Henry Rowed, commanding the Admiralty cutter _Sheerness_,
dated September 9, 1803, off Brest, in which her gallant commander
sends a notable account to Collingwood concerning the chasing of a
French _chasse-marée_. And cutters were also employed in connection
with the Walcheren expedition. The hired armed cutter _Stag_ was found
useful in 1804 as a despatch vessel.
But the King's cutters in the Revenue work were not always as active
as they might be. In one of his novels (_The Three Cutters_) Captain
Marryat gives the reader a very plain hint that there was a good deal
of slackness prevalent in this section of the service. Referring to
the midshipman of the Revenue cutter _Active_, the author speaks of
him as a lazy fellow, too inert even to mend his jacket which was out
at elbows, and adds, "He has been turned out of half the ships in the
service for laziness; but he was born so, and therefore it is not his
fault. A Revenue cutter suits him--she is half her time hove-to; and
he has no objection to boat-service, as he sits down in the
stern-sheets, which is not fatiguing. Creeping for tubs is his
delight, as he gets over so little ground."
But Marryat was, of course, intentionally sarcastic here. That this
lazy element was not always, and in every ship, prevalent is clear
from the facts at hand. It is also equally clear from the repeated
admonitions and exhortations of the Board of Customs, by the
holding-out of handsome rewards and the threatenings of dire
penalties, that the Revenue-cutter commanders were at any rate
periodically negligent of their duties. They were far too fond of
coming to a nice snug anchorage for the night or seeking shelter in
bad weather, and generally running into harbour with a frequence that
was unnecessary. The result was that the cutter, having left her
station unguarded, the smugglers were able to land their kegs with
impunity.
But we need not delay our story longer, and may proceed now to
consider the subject in greater detail.
CHAPTER II
THE EARLIEST SMUGGLERS
It is no part of our intention to trace the history of the levying of
customs through different reigns and in different ages, but it is
important to note briefly that the evading of these dues which we
designate smuggling, is one of the oldest offences on record.
The most ancient dues paid to the English sovereigns would seem to
have been those which were levied on the exportation and importation
of merchandise across the sea; and it is essential to emphasise at the
outset that though nowadays when we speak of smuggling we are
accustomed to think only of those acts concerned with imports, yet the
word applies equally to the unlawful manner of exporting commodities.
Before it is possible for any crime to be committed there must needs
be at hand the opportunity to carry out this intention; and throughout
the history of our nation--at any rate from the thirteenth
century--that portion of England, the counties of Kent and Sussex,
which is adjacent to the Continent, has always been at once the most
tempted and the most inclined towards this offence. Notwithstanding
that there are many other localities which were rendered notorious by
generations of smugglers, yet these two between them have been
responsible for more incidents of this nature than all the rest put
together.
What I am anxious at first to emphasise is the fact that, although
smuggling rose to unheard-of importance as a national danger during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (and this is the period to
which we shall especially address ourselves presently as affording the
fullest and the most interesting information on an ingenious phase of
human energy), yet it was not a practice which suddenly rose into
prominence during that period. Human nature is much the same under
various kings and later centuries. Under similar circumstances men and
women perform similar actions. Confronted with the temptation to cheat
the Crown of its dues, you will find persons in the time of George V.
repeating the very crimes of Edward I. The difference is not so much
in degree of guilt as in the nature of the articles and the manner in
which they have been smuggled. To-day it may be cigars--centuries ago
it was wool. Although the golden age (if we may use the term) of
smuggling has long since passed, I am by no means unconvinced that if
the occasions of temptation recurred to carry on this trade as it was
pursued during the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth
centuries, there would not be found many who would be ready to apply
themselves to such a task. To some extent the modern improvements in
living, in education, and increased respect for lofty ideals would
modify this tendency; and long years have awakened so keen a regard
for the benefits of law and order that the nefarious practice might
not break out immediately on a large scale. But when we speak of
smuggling it is perhaps more correct to speak of it as a disease which
has not been exterminated from the system, but is, as it were, a
microbe that is kept well under control and not allowed to spread.
Everyone who is familiar with English history is aware of the
important position which was occupied by the wool trade. Because of
the immense value to the nation of the fleece it was necessary that
this commodity should be kept in the country and not sent abroad. If
in the present day most of our iron and coal were to be despatched
abroad regardless of what was required by our manufacturers it would
not be long before the country would begin to suffer serious loss. So,
in the thirteenth century, it was with the wool. As a check to this a
tax was levied on that wool which was exported out of the country, and
during the reign of Edward III. attempts were made by the threat of
heavy penalties to prevent the Continent from becoming the receptacle
of our chief product. But the temptation was too great, the rewards
were too alluring for the practice to be stopped. The fleece was
carried across from England, made into cloth, and in this state sent
back to us. Even in those days the town of Middleburgh, which we shall
see later to have been the source of much of the goods smuggled into
our country in the grand period, was in the fourteenth century the
headquarters abroad of this clandestine trade. We need not weary the
reader with the details of the means which were periodically taken to
stop this trade by the English kings. It is enough to state that
practically all the ports of Sussex and Kent were busily engaged in
the illegal business. Neither the penalties of death, nor the fixing
of the price of wool, nor the regulating of the rate of duty availed
in the long-run. Licences to export this article were continually
evaded, creeks and quiet bays were the scenes where the fleece was
shipped for France and the Low Countries. Sometimes the price of wool
fell, sometimes it rose; sometimes the Crown received a greater amount
of duty, at other times the royal purse suffered very severely. In the
time of Elizabeth the encouragement of foreign weavers to make their
homes in England was likely to do much to keep the wool in the
country, especially as there began to be increased wealth in our land,
and families began to spend more money on personal comforts.
Even in the time of Charles I. proclamations were issued against
exporting wool, yet the mischief still went on. In the time of
Charles II. men readily "risked their necks for 12d. a day."[1] The
greatest part of the wool was sent from Romney Marsh, where, after
nightfall, it was put on board French shallops with ten or twenty men
to guard it, all well armed. And other parts of Sussex as well as Kent
and even Essex were also engaged in similar exportations.
But it is from the time of King Charles II. that the first serious
steps were taken to cope with the smuggling evil, and from here we
really take our starting-point in our present inquiry. Prior to his
time the Customs, as a subsidy of the king, were prone to much
variability. In the time of James I., for instance, they had been
granted to the sovereign for life, and he claimed to alter the rates
as he chose when pressed for money. When Charles I. came to the throne
the Commons, instead of voting them for the extent of the sovereign's
life, granted them for one year only. At a later date in the reign of
that unhappy king the grant was made only for a couple of months.
These dues were known as tonnage and poundage, the former being a duty
of 1s. 6d. to 3s. levied on every ton of wine and liquor exported and
imported. Poundage was a similar tax of 6d. to 1s. on every pound of
dry goods.
It was not till after the Restoration that the customs were settled
and more firmly established, a subsidy being "granted to the king of
tonnage and poundage and other sums of money payable upon merchandise
exported and imported." Nominally the customs were employed for
defraying the cost of "guarding and defending the seas against all
persons intending the disturbance of his subjects in the intercourse
of trade, and the invading of this realm." And so, also, there was
inaugurated a more systematic and efficient method of preventing this
export smuggling. So far as one can find any records from the existing
manuscripts of this early Preventive system, the chronological order
would seem to be as follows: The first mention of any kind of marine
service that I can trace is found in a manuscript of 1674, which shows
the establishment of the Custom House organisation in that year for
England and Wales. From this it is clear that there had been made a
beginning of that system which was later to develop into that of the
Revenue cutters. And when we recollect how extremely interested was
Charles II. in everything pertaining to the sea and to sloop-rigged
craft especially, it seems very natural to believe that this monarch
inspired, or at any rate very considerably encouraged, the formation
of a small fleet of Custom House sailing craft. Elsewhere I have
discussed this matter at length, therefore it may suffice if attention
is called to the fact that to Charles was due the first yacht into
England, presented to him by the Dutch; while from his encouragement
were born the sport of yachting and the building of English yachts. He
was very much concerned in the rig of sloops, and loved to sail in
such craft, and his yacht was also most probably the first vessel of
that rig which had ever been employed by English sailors. Further
still, he was something of a naval architect, the founder of the
Greenwich Royal Observatory and the _Nautical Almanac_, and under his
rule a fresh impulse was given to navigation and shipbuilding
generally.
At any rate by the year 1674 there were among the smaller sailing
craft of England a number of sloops and smacks employed doubtless for
fishing and coasting work. As a kind of marine police, the Custom
House authorities determined to hire some of these to keep a watch on
the "owlers," as the wool-smugglers were termed, so called, no doubt,
because they had to pursue their calling always by night. Whatever
efforts had been adopted prior to his reign probably had consisted for
the most part, if not entirely, of a land police. But under this
second Charles the very sensible and obvious idea of utilising a
number of sailing craft was started. In the above MS. volume the first
reference is to "Peter Knight, Master of ye smack for ye wages of him
self and five men and boy, and to bear all charges except wear and
tear ... £59." "For extraordinary wear and tear," he was to be paid
£59. His vessel was the Margate smack. In the same volume there is
also a reference to the "Graves End smack," and to "Thomas Symonds for
wages and dyett [diet] for himself, master and six men ... £56, 5s.
0d." And for the "wear and tear to be disposed as ye Commrs. direct
... £14, 15s. 0d." There was yet a third vessel stationed a few miles
away, the "Quinborrough smack," and a reference to "Nicholas Badcock
for hire of ye smack, two men, and to bear all charges ... £23." These
vessels were not known as Revenue cutters at this time, but as Custom
House smacks. They were hired by the Commissioners of the Customs from
private individuals to prevent the owlers from smuggling the wool from
Kent, Essex, and Sussex. But it would seem that these smacks, even if
they modified a little the activities of the owlers, did not succeed
in bringing about many convictions. Romney Marsh still sent its
contribution across to France and Holland, much as it had done for
generations.
But in 1698 the attack on the men of Kent and Sussex was strengthened
by legislation, for by 7 & 8 William III. cap. 28, it was enacted that
"for the better preventing the exportation of wool and correspondence
with France ... the Lord High Admiral of England, or Commissioners for
executing the office of Lord High Admiral for the time being, shall
from time to time direct and appoint one ship of the Fifth Rate, and
two ships of the Sixth Rate, and four armed sloops constantly to
cruise off the North Foreland to the Isle of Wight, with orders for
taking and seizing all ships, vessels, or boats which shall export any
wool or carry or bring any prohibited goods or any suspected persons."
It was due to William III.'s Government also that no person living
within fifteen miles of the sea in those counties should buy any wool
before he entered into a bond, with sureties, that all the wool he
might buy should be sold by him to no persons within fifteen miles of
the sea, and all growers of wool within ten miles of the sea in those
counties were obliged within three days of shearing to account for the
number of fleeces, and where they were lodged.
Instructions were duly issued to captains of sloops, and a scheme
drafted for surrounding the whole of the coast with sloops, the crews
consisting of master, mate, and mariners. But from an entry in the
Excise and Treasury Reports of 1685, it is clear that a careful regard
even at that date was being had for the import smuggling as well. The
reference belongs to September 24, and shows that a "boarding" boat
was desired for going alongside vessels in the Downs, and preventing
the running in of brandies along the coast in that vicinity. The
charge for building such a boat is to be £25. In another MS. touching
the Customs, there is under date of June 1695 an interesting reference
to "a Deale yoghall to be built," and that "such a boat will be here
of very good use." She is to be "fitt to go into ye roads for boarding
men or other ocations when ye sloops may be at sea."
So much, then, for the present as to the guarding by sea against the
smugglers. Let us now turn to look into the means adopted by land. The
wool-owners of Romney Marsh were still hard at their game, and the
horses still came down to the beach ladened with the packs ready to be
shipped. If any one were sent with warrants to arrest the delinquents,
they were attacked, beaten, and forced to flee, followed by armed gangs
on horseback. But it was evident that the Crown was determined not to
let the matter rest, for a number of surveyors were appointed for
nineteen counties and 299 riding officers as well, though they made few
seizures, and obtained still fewer condemnations, but at great expense
to the State. In 1703 it was believed that the owling trade, especially
in Romney Marsh, was broken if not dead, although the smuggling by
import was on the increase, especially as regards silks, lace, and such
"fine" goods. At that time for the two hundred miles of coast-line
between the Isle of Sheppey and Emsworth--practically the whole of the
Kentish and Sussex shore--fifty officers were being employed at a
salary of £60 per annum, with an allowance to each of another £30
annually for a servant and horse to assist them during the night. And
there was authority also for the employment of dragoons to aid the
riding officers, especially in the neighbourhood of Romney Marsh; but
there was a number of "weak and superannuated" men among the latter, who
did not make for the efficiency of the service.
We need not say much more about the wool-exportation. In spite of all
the efforts of the Custom House smacks and the assistance of his
Majesty's ships of war, in spite, too, of further legislation, it
still continued. It went on merrily at any rate till the end of the
eighteenth century, by which time the smuggling by imports had long
since eclipsed its importance. It was the wars with France during the
time of William and Mary which increased and rendered more easy the
smuggling into England of silk and lace. And by means of the craft
which imported these goods there used to be smuggled also a good deal
of Jacobite correspondence. As Kent and Sussex had been famous for
their export smuggling, so these counties were again to distinguish
themselves by illicit importation. From now on till the middle of this
eighteenth century this newer form of smuggling rose gradually to
wondrous heights. And yet it was by no means new. In the time of
Edward III. steps had to be taken to prevent the importation of base
coin into the realm, and in succeeding reigns the king had been
cheated many a time of that which ought to have come to him through
the duties of goods entering the country.
It was impossible instantly to put down a practice which had been
pursued by so many families for so many hundreds of years. But the
existing force was not equal to coping with the increase. As a
consequence the daring of the smugglers knew no bounds--the more they
succeeded the more they ventured. A small gang of ten would blossom
forth into several hundreds of men, there would be no lack of arms nor
clubs, and adequate arrangements would be made for cellar-storage of
the goods when safely brought into the country. Consequently violence
became more frequent than ever--bloodshed and all sorts of crimes
occurred.
In the year 1723 several commissions or deputations were issued by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to captains of his Majesty's sloops to
make seizures, and the following year the Treasury authorised the
construction of seven sloops for service off the coast of Scotland.
The smugglers had in fact become so desperate, the English Channel was
so thoroughly infested with them, and the Revenue service was so
incapable of dealing with them in the manner that was obviously
essential for effectiveness, that the Admiralty ordered the captains
and commanders of His Majesty's ships to assist the Revenue officers
all they could in order to prevent the smuggling trade, and to look
out and seize all vessels employed in illegally exporting wool; for
the Admiralty had been informed by the Commissioners of Customs that
the Revenue officers frequently met with insults from French smuggling
luggers manned by armed crews, who carried on a brisk smuggling trade
by force and even dared the Revenue men to come aboard them.
But as the Revenue service afloat was assisted now by the Navy, so the
Revenue land guard was also aided by the Military. In 1713
arrangements had been made that dragoons should co-operate with the
riding officers in their operations against the owlers, and there are
plenty of skirmishes recorded showing that the dragoons were actually
so employed. Originally these soldiers were employed under the
direction of the riding officers, but, as can well be expected, there
was a good deal of jealousy and friction caused through the sharing of
the soldiers in the rewards for seizures, and after the year 1822 this
military assistance was not utilised to any great extent, although
legally Army officers can still be called upon to render assistance
against smuggling. And, in passing, one might mention that this
co-operation afloat between the Customs men and the Navy was equally
noticeable for a certain amount of ill-feeling, as we shall mention
on a later page.
Before the first quarter of the eighteenth century was completed,
smuggling between England and the Continent was proceeding at a brisk
pace, and by the middle of that century it had well-nigh reached its
climax for fearlessness. We have already alluded to the establishment
of hired smacks and sloops inaugurated towards the end of the
seventeenth century. The sloop rig, as I have shown in another
volume,[2] had probably been introduced into England from Holland soon
after the accession of Charles II., but from that date its merits of
handiness were so fully recognised that for yachts, for fishing craft,
for the carrying of passengers and cargo up and down the Thames and
along the coast as well as across to Ireland and the Continent, the
rig was adopted very readily in place of the lug-sails. The smack was
also a sloop-rigged vessel. We need not enter here into a discussion
as to the comparative merits of sloops and cutters and smacks. It is
enough if we state that when it was realised that a vessel of say 100
tons, sloop-rigged, with her one mast, mainsail, and two headsails and
square topsail (set forward of the mast on a yard) could be handled
with fewer men and therefore less expense than a lugger of similar
size; was also more suitable for manoeuvring in narrow channels,
and for entering and leaving small harbours, the fishermen, coasters,
and so on took to this improvement. Thus most naturally the larger
smuggling craft were till well on into the nineteenth century sloops
or cutters, and equally natural was it that the Revenue availed
themselves of this rig first by hiring smacks, and, later, by building
for themselves. These sloops, whether hired or owned, were given each
a particular station to guard, and that plan was followed by the
Revenue cruisers for many years to follow. Among the Exeter documents
of the Customs Department is included an interesting document dated
July 10, 1703, wherein the Board of Customs informs the collector at
the port of Dartmouth of the list of vessels appointed by the
Commissioners to cruise against owlers, the district comprised
extending from Pembroke in the west to the Downs in the east. The
following is the list of these vessels with their respective cruising
territories:--
NAME OF CRUISER LIMITS OF HER SPHERE
_Rye_ Pembroke to Lundy Island
_Discovery_ Milford to Swansea
_Dolphin_ Milford to Exmouth
_Hastings_ " " "
_Woolwich_ Downs to Falmouth
_Swan_ " " "
_Fly_ Off Folkestone
_Dispatch_ " "
This fairly well covered the region to which goods were likely to be
run from the Continent as well as that from which the owlers were wont
to export their wool. From an entry among the documents preserved in
the Custom House at Newcastle, dated September 1729, we can see that
also the north-east coast was guarded thus:--
NAME OF CRUISER LIMITS OF HER SPHERE
_Cruiser_ Flamborough Head to Newcastle
_Deal Castle_ Newcastle to Leith
_Spy_ Firth of Forth to Newcastle
And about the last-mentioned date the _Deal Castle_ had succeeded in
capturing four French smuggling craft and brought them into Shields.
To the other side of England the Isle of Man, which was a veritable
contraband depôt, used to send quantities of dutiable goods, Liverpool
being the favourite destination, and it was a more difficult matter
here to deal with than in many other ports. On October 9, 1713, the
Collector at Liverpool writes to the Board of Customs that he thinks a
sloop would be of little service for that port. Some time ago they had
one, which was not a success "by reason of ye dangerousness and
difficulty of the harbour and ye many shoales of sand, which often
shift in bad weather." The Manxmen were a thoroughly lawless,
desperate species of smugglers, who stopped at nothing, and were
especially irate towards all Revenue and public officials,
recognising no authority other than might and a certain respect for
the Duke of Atholl, the owner of the Isle of Man.
Among the letters to Southampton there is a record dated June 14, 1729,
which shows that a number of his Majesty's sloops were appointed by the
Admiralty to cruise off the coasts of the kingdom to prevent the
exporting of wool and the running of goods by the import-smugglers. For
instance, the Admiralty sloop _Swift_ was appointed to cruise between
Portland, Poole, and Jack-in-the-Basket off the entrance to Lymington
Harbour, Hants, her commander being a Captain Cockayne. Similarly the
sloop _Success_ (Captain Thomas Smith, commander) was to cruise between
Portland and Spithead, and the _Rye_ (Captain John Edwards) between the
Isle of Wight and Beachy Head to the eastward. It was part of the duty
of the Revenue officers at Southampton to see that these three ships
constantly cruised on their station, and if their commanders were found
negligent of this duty the matter was to be reported to the Board of
Customs. The Revenue craft were apparently not above suspicion, for in
November of 1729 the Southampton officers of the Customs reported to
headquarters that this very sloop, the _Swift_, every time she went
across to Guernsey in connection with her duties of prevention, used to
bring back quantities of wine, brandy, and other dutiable goods under
the pretence that they were the ship's stores. The intention, however,
was nothing less than that which dominated the actions of the smugglers
themselves--the very class against which the _Swift_ was employed--for
Captain Cockayne's men used to find it no very difficult matter to run
these goods ashore clandestinely under the very eyes of the unsuspecting
Customs officers. The Commissioners of the Customs therefore sent down
strict instructions that the _Swift_ was to be rummaged every time she
arrived at Southampton from Guernsey. We shall have reason presently to
refer more especially to the Channel Isles again, but it may suffice for
the present to state that they were in the south the counterpart of the
Isle of Man in the north as being a depôt whence the import smugglers
fetched their goods across to England.
Additional to the Naval sloops just mentioned, there were two other
cutters belonging to the Southampton station under the Revenue and
not, of course, Admiralty-owned craft. These vessels were respectively
the _Calshot_ and the _Hurst_, and it is worth noting that at the time
we are thinking of (1729) these vessels are referred to generally as
"yatchs" or "yachts." It was not quite seventy years since the first
yacht--that presented to Charles II., named the _Mary_--had arrived in
England, and it was only in 1720 that the first yacht club had been
established, not in England, but in Cork. If we may judge from
contemporary paintings of yachts we can visualise the _Hurst_ and
_Calshot_ as being very tubby, bluff-bowed craft with ample beam. But
what would especially strike us in these modern days would be the
exceptionally long bowsprit, the forward end of which was raised
considerably above the water than its after end, both jib and foresail
each working on a stay.
The commander of the _Calshot_ yacht was a Captain Mears, and there is
an entry in the Southampton documents to the effect that he was paid
the sum of £2, 12s. 6d. for piloting his vessel from Southampton to
Guernsey and back in connection with the Preventive duties. This trip
took him five days, his pay being half a guinea a day. It is clear
from a record of the following year that Mears was employed by special
arrangement, for on July 18, 1730, the Board of Customs decided that
it was necessary that Captain John Mears, commander of the _Calshot_
yacht at Southampton, should now be placed on the same footing as the
other commanders of the Revenue sloops and smacks in regard to the
matter of wear and tear. Henceforth the sum of 30s. per ton was to be
allowed him instead of £47 per annum. Both yacht and her boats were to
be kept in good repair, but the commander was first to give security
to have the vessel and her boats generally in good order and
reasonable repair, loss by violence of the sea or other unavoidable
accidents excepted. The commander was also to find the sloop and her
boats with all manner of necessaries and materials, so that the Crown
was to be at no charge on that account in the future; and every
quarter the Comptroller and Collector of the port were to certify to
the Board as to whether the yacht and boats were in good repair.
It would appear that these two vessels were not actually owned by the
Customs but hired from Captain Mears; and less than a month before the
above order the Surveyor-General of the Customs for Hampshire
represented to the Board that it would be necessary to allow the
commander of the _Hurst_ half-a-dozen muskets, two pairs of pistols,
half-a-dozen swords or cutlasses, and these were accordingly ordered
to be sent, together with two swivel guns, from Weymouth to Captain
Mears "by the first coast vessel bound to" Southampton. There was
certainly need for a strict vigilance to be kept in that
neighbourhood, for there was a good deal of smuggling then being
carried on along the Hampshire shore in the vicinity of Hurst Castle
and Beaulieu.
In another chapter we shall go into the important matter touching the
flags that were worn by the vessels employed in looking after
smuggling, but, in passing, we may call attention to a letter which
the Board sent to Southampton at this time referring to the
proclamation of December 18, 1702, by which no ships whatsoever were
allowed to wear a pendant excepting those engaged in the service of
the Royal Navy, but that the sloops employed in the several public
offices (as, for instance, the Customs and the Excise) should wear
Jacks, whereon was to be described the seal used in the respective
offices. And Captain John Mears, senior, of the _Calshot_, and Captain
John Mears, junior, of the _Hurst_, were to be informed that they must
deliver up their pendants to the Customs' office at Southampton and
for the future forbear wearing a pendant. Instead thereof they are to
wear a Jack and ensign with the seal of office therein, "but the mark
in the ensign is to be twice as large as that in the Jack; and if the
captain should hereafter find that the not wearing a pendant will be
any obstruction or hindrance to the service," the Board of Customs is
to be informed.[3]
We have now seen something of the sloops and cutters on the south, the
west, and the north-east coasts. Let us take a glance at the district
to the southward of Flamborough during this same period. From the Hull
letter book we find that in September of 1733 the Admiralty appointed
Captain Burrish of the _Blandford_ and Sir Roger Butler of the
_Bonetta_ to cruise between Flamborough and Newcastle; but Captain
Oates of the _Fly_ and Captain Rycant of the _Tryal_ were to cruise
between Flamborough and Yarmouth. There is also a reference to the
Revenue sloop _Humber_ employed in this neighbourhood on Preventive
work. She was a somewhat expensive craft to keep up, as she was
frequently needing repairs and renewals. First, she was to have a new
cable which was to cost £20, 14s. 3-1/2d.; and it is a striking
reminder of those days of hemp and sail that this bill was paid to the
"ropemakers." A few months later she had to undergo repairs which
amounted to £31, 10s. 6-1/4d., and less than six months afterwards she
had to be given a new anchor which cost £18, 8s. 9d. Three years later
she was given a new suit of sails which came to £25, 17s. 1d. but her
old suit was sold for the sum of eight guineas. And finally, in 1744,
as she had begun to cost so much for repairing, the Board determined
to sell her.
Notwithstanding that the south coast, by reason of its proximity to
the Continent and the Channel Isles, was a convenient and popular
objective for the smugglers running their goods from France and
Holland, yet the Yorkshire coast was by no means neglected. From
Dunkirk and Flushing especially goods poured into the county. There
was a small sloop, for instance, belonging to Bridlington, which was
accustomed to sail across the North Sea to one of the ports in
Zealand, where a cargo was taken aboard consisting of the usual
dutiable articles such as tea, tobacco, and gin. The return voyage was
then made and the goods landed clandestinely at some convenient spot
between the Spurn Lighthouse and Bridlington.
Similarly, farther south than the Humber smuggling by illegal
importation went on extensively in the early eighteenth century.
Sometimes a Dutch vessel would arrive in Grimsby Roads and succeed in
quietly running her goods to the shore. In the autumn of 1734 the
master of the Dutch schuyt _The Good Luck of Camphire_, alias _The
Brotherly Love_, had succeeded in running as many as 166
half-ankers[4] of brandy and 50 lbs. of tea on the coast near Great
Yarmouth, the skipper's name being Francis Coffee. He was a notorious
smuggler. But on this occasion both he and his vessel were captured.
Still, matters were not always satisfactory on board the Revenue
sloops and smacks, for whenever, at this time, there was an encounter
with the smugglers afloat the latter were so violent and desperate
that the captors went about their work with their lives in their
hands. Furthermore, it was not altogether a pleasing business to have
to fire at fellow-countrymen, many of whom they had known from
boyhood. Then, again, there was not the space on these sloops and
cutters, nor the amount of deck room to be found on the men-of-war;
and to be cooped up in these comparatively small vessels always on the
_qui vive_, usually near the shore but able to have shore-leave all
too rarely, was calculated to make for restlessness. Added to which a
very considerable portion of the crews of these Revenue craft was
composed of men who had spent years of their lives as smugglers
themselves. Consequently it was not altogether surprising that
mutinies and refusals to obey their commander's orders were of
frequent occurrence. After a time it was decided that those members of
the crew which had to be dismissed for such offences were to be handed
over to the commander of the next man-of-war that should come along,
and be pressed into the service of the Navy, though, it may be added,
this was not always a welcome gift to the Naval commander compelled to
receive a handful of recalcitrant men aboard his ship. Then, again,
when at last a handful of smugglers had been captured it was the duty
of the Revenue officers to prosecute them before the magistrate at
their own expense. This was regarded as an unfair hardship, and in
1736 the system was modified by the Treasury allowing an officer a
third of whatever amount was recovered, the prosecution to be carried
on at the King's expense. At the same time it was undeniable that some
commanders of these sloops and cutters were not quite as active as
they might be on their station. There was too ready an excuse to run
in from the sea and too great an inclination to spend valuable time in
port. They were accordingly now enjoined not to presume to lay up for
the purpose of giving the ship's bottom a scrub, or for a refit,
without previously giving the Collector and Comptroller of the port
ten days' notice. This was not to occur unless the cruiser really
needed such attention; but if it was essential then to prevent the
station remaining unguarded some other smack or vessel was to be sent
out to take her place for the time being. For the smugglers were kept
so well informed of the movements of the Revenue ships that a
contraband cargo of goods would soon be found approaching the shore
during the night when the watch had been relaxed.
But from an early date--at any rate as far back as 1694--the East
India ships were notorious also for smuggling into the country a
considerable amount of goods that ought to have paid duty. We shall
bring forward instances presently of East Indiamen, homeward bound,
being boarded as they come up Channel, or while waiting in the Downs
and putting some of their cargo on board smuggling cutters and Deal
boats, which was subsequently quietly and secretly brought into the
country. Silks were especially popular among the smugglers in this
connection. In those days, too, the more wealthy passengers coming
home by these East Indiamen used to leave the ship at Spithead, where
they came in for that purpose. These passengers would then be put
ashore at Portsmouth, and, proceeding by coach to London, thus
shortened their sea journey. But notwithstanding their ample means,
many of these travellers were constantly found endeavouring to land
dutiable articles. In short, rich and poor, high and low, there was no
class that did not endeavour to engage in smuggling either directly or
indirectly. Even if the party never ventured on the sea, he might be a
very active aider and abettor in meeting the boat as it brought the
casks ashore, or keeping a look out for the Preventive men, giving the
latter false information, thus throwing them on the wrong scent. Or
again, even if he did not act the part of signaller by showing warning
lights from the cliff, he could loan his cellars, his horses, or his
financial support. In fact there were many apparently respectable
citizens who, by keeping in the background, were never suspected of
having any interest in these nefarious practices, whereas they were in
fact the instigators and the capitalists of many a successful run. And
as such they were without doubt morally responsible for the deaths by
murder which occurred in those incidents, when violence was used after
the Revenue men had come on to the scene.
But as to morality, was there ever a period when the national
character was so slack and corrupt as in the eighteenth century?
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "Smuggling in Sussex," by William Durrant Cooper, F.S.A., in vol.
x. of the _Sussex Archæological Collection_, to which I am indebted.
[2] _Fore and Aft: The Story of the Fore-and-Aft Rig._ London, 1911.
[3] "Southampton Letters," November 6, 1730. But in 1719, the Customs
Commissioners had, _inter alia_, agreed to provide Captain Mears with
"a suit of colours" for the _Calshot_. This provision was, therefore,
now cancelled in the year 1730.
[4] A half-anker held 3-1/4 gallons.
CHAPTER III
THE GROWTH OF SMUGGLING
About the middle of the eighteenth century the smuggling of tea into
the country had reached such extensive limits that the revenue which
ought to have been expected from this source was sinking instead of
rising. In fact it came to this, that of all the tea that was consumed
in this country not one half had paid duty and the rest was smuggled.
The bands of smugglers were well financed, were themselves hardy
sailors and skilful pilots. They had some of the best designed and
best built cutters and luggers of that time. They were able to
purchase from an almost inexhaustible market, and to make a quick
passage to the English shores. Arrived there they could rely on both
moral and physical support; for their friends were well mounted, well
armed, and exceedingly numerous, so that ordinarily the cargo could be
rapidly unshipped, and either hidden or run into the country with
despatch. Not once, but times without number the smuggling cutters had
evaded the Revenue cruisers at sea, showing them a clean pair of
heels. With equal frequency had the Preventive men on land been
outwitted, bribed, or overpowered. And inasmuch as the duties on the
smuggled articles were high, had they passed through the Customs, so,
when smuggled, they could always fetch a big price, and the share for
the smugglers themselves was by no means inconsiderable. But it is
always the case that, when large profits are made by lawless, reckless
people, these proceeds are as quickly dissipated in extravagance of
living. It is sad to think that these seafaring men, who possessed so
much grit and pluck, had such only been applied in a right direction,
actually died paupers. As one reads through the pitiful petitions,
written on odd scraps of paper in the most illiterate of hands begging
for clemency on behalf of a convicted smuggler, one can see all too
clearly that on the whole it was not the actual workers but the
middle-men who, as is usually the case, made the profits. A life of
such uncertainty and excitement, an existence full of so many
hairbreadth escapes did not fit them for the peaceful life either of
the fisherman or the farmer. With them money went as easily as it had
come, and taking into account the hardness of the life, the risks that
were undertaken, the possibility of losing their lives, or of being
transported after conviction, it cannot be said that these men were
any too well paid. Carelessness of danger led to recklessness;
recklessness led on to a life that was dissolute and thriftless. And
in spite of the fact that these tear-stained appeals were usually
signed by all the respectable inhabitants of the seaside village--the
rector, the local shipbuilder, Lloyds' shipping agent, the chief
landowners and so forth--many a wife and family had to starve or
become chargeable to the Union, while the breadwinner was spending his
time in prison, serving as an impressed sailor on board one of his
Majesty's ships against the enemy; or, if he had been found physically
unfit for such service, condemned to seven or more years of
transportation.
But by the year 1745 smuggling had reached such a pitch that something
had to be done. The country was in such a state of alarm and the
honest traders made such bitter complaints of the disastrous effect
which these illicit practices were having on their prosperity that, on
the 6th of February in that year, a Parliamentary Committee was formed
"to inquire into the causes of the most infamous practice of smuggling
and consider the most effectual methods to prevent the said practice."
For it was clear that in spite of all that had been done by the
Customs and Excise, by the Admiralty and the military, they had not
succeeded in obtaining the desired effect.
And during the course of this inquiry a great deal of interesting
evidence came out from expert witnesses, some of whom had not long
since been the greatest smugglers in existence, but had come forward
and received the pardon of the State. We may summarise the testimony
obtained by this Committee as follows. The smugglers, after sailing
away from England, used to purchase the tea abroad sometimes with
money but at other times with wool. That was a serious matter in
either alternative if, as was the case, the transactions were carried
on to any large extent; for the country simply could not afford to be
denuded either of its valuable wool--since that crippled the wool
manufactures--or of the coin of the realm, which made for bankruptcy.
But this was not all. England was at war with her neighbours, and the
French only too gladly admitted the smuggling vessels into her ports,
since these lawless and unpatriotic men were able to give information
of the state of affairs in England. There was in the Isle of Man at
this time no levying of Customs or other duties, so that between that
island and France there was kept up a constant trade especially in
teas, other East India goods and brandies, which were afterwards
conveyed clandestinely to English ports, especially to Liverpool, as
already we have noted, and also to Glasgow, Dumfries, as well as to
Ireland. In the days when there were sloops at Liverpool doing duty
for the Crown they used to set forth and do their best to stop this
running, "but as it is a very dangerous station, a seizure is scarce
heard of."
As illustrative of the achievements of smugglers at that time let us
mention that it was reported officially from Yarmouth that on July 11
fifty smugglers had run a cargo of tea and brandy at Benacre in
Suffolk, and only a fortnight later a band of sixty smugglers landed
another contraband cargo at the same place, while a gang of forty got
another cargo safely ashore at Kesland Haven. A week later a still
larger band, this time consisting of seventy, passed through Benacre
Street with a large quantity of goods, a cart and four horses. The
smugglers at Kesland Haven had been able to bring inland their cargo
of tea and brandy by means of fifty horses. In one month alone--and
this at the depth of the winter when cross-channel passages could not
be expected to be too safe for small sailing craft--nine smuggling
cutters had sailed from the port of Rye to Guernsey; and it was
estimated that during the last half of the year there had been run on
to the coast of Suffolk 1835 horse-loads of tea as well as certain
other goods, and 1689 horse-loads of wet and dry goods, to say nothing
of a large quantity of other articles that should have paid duty.
These were conveyed away up country by means of waggons and other
vehicles, guarded by a formidable band of smugglers and sympathisers
well armed. Notwithstanding that the Revenue officers were in some
cases aware of what was going on, yet they positively dared not
attempt any seizures. And in those instances where they had undertaken
the risk they had been frequently beaten and left cruelly wounded
with bleeding heads and broken limbs.
One reliable witness testified that whereas it was computed that at
this time about 4,000,000 lbs. of tea were consumed in this kingdom,
yet only about 800,000 lbs. of this had ever paid duty, so that there
was considerably over 3,000,000 lbs. weight of tea smuggled in.
Therefore on this one item of tea alone the loss to the Crown must
have been something enormous. Multiply this by the long years during
which the smuggling went on, add also the duties which ought to have
been paid on tobacco and spirits, even if you omit to include the
amount which should have accrued from lace and other commodities, and
you may begin to realise the seriousness of the smuggling evil as
viewed by the Revenue authorities.
It was noted that a great deal of this contraband stuff was fetched
over from Flushing and from Middleburgh, a few miles farther up on the
canal. The big merchant sailing ships brought the tea from the East to
Holland, France, Sweden, and Denmark. But the Dutch, the French, the
Swedes, and the Danes were not great tea drinkers, and certainly used
it in nothing like the quantities which were consumed in England. But
it was profitable to them to purchase this East Indian product and to
sell it again to the smugglers who were wont to run across from
England. It should be added, however, that the species of tea in
question were of the cheaper qualities. It was also frankly admitted
in evidence that many of the civil magistrates, whose duty it was to
grant warrants for the arrest of these delinquents, were intimidated
by the smugglers, while the officers of the Customs and Excise were
terrorised.
At this period of the smuggling era, that is to say prior to the
middle of the eighteenth century, most of the smuggled tea was brought
over to the south coast of England in Folkestone cutters of a size
ranging from fifty to forty tons burthen. These vessels usually came
within about three or four miles of the shore, when they were met by
the smaller boats of the locality and the goods unladened. Indeed the
trade was so successful that as many as twenty or thirty cargoes were
run in a week, and Flushing became so important a base that not merely
did the natives subsidise or purchase Folkestone craft, but
ship-builders actually migrated from that English port to Flushing and
pursued their calling in Dutch territory. As to the reward which the
smugglers themselves made out of the transaction, the rates of payment
varied at a later date, but about the years 1728 and 1729 the
tea-dealers paid the men eight shillings a pound for the commodity.
And in spite of the seizures which were made by the Revenue cutters
and the land guard, yet these losses, admitted a witness, were a mere
trifle to the smugglers. In fact he affirmed that sometimes one
tea-dealer never suffered a seizure in six or seven years. We can
therefore readily believe that the financiers netted a very handsome
profit on the whole, and there are still standing plenty of fine
mansions in different parts of our country which are generally
supposed to have been erected from the proceeds of this form of
activity.
There was a kind of local intelligence bureau in most of the smuggling
centres on the south coast, and so loyal and so watchful were these
craftsmen that the inhabitants of the coast-line managed to let their
_confreres_ know when the Custom House sloops had sailed out of port
or when they hauled up for repairs and refit. As a consequence the
smuggling craft commonly escaped capture. Animated by a natural hatred
of all Government officials in general, especially of all those whose
duty it was to collect taxes, dues, and any kind of tolls; disliking
most of all the men of the Customs and Excise, and, further, being
allied by sympathy and blood relationship to many of the smugglers
themselves, it was almost impossible for the representatives of the
Crown to make any steady progress in their work. We all know that when
a number of even average law-abiding people get together, that crowd
somehow tends towards becoming a mob. Each person, so to speak,
forfeits his own individuality, that becomes merged into the
personality and character of the mob, which all the time is being
impelled to break out into something unlawful of a minor or greater
degree. Whenever you have stood among crowds you must have noted this
for yourself. It gets restive at the least opposition with which it is
confronted, it boos and jeers with the smallest incitement; and,
finally, realising the full strength of its unity, breaks out into
some rash violence and rushes madly on, heedless of the results. Many
murders have been in this way committed by men who ordinarily and in
their individual capacity would shrink from such crimes. But having
become merely one of the limbs, as it were, of the crowd they have
moved with the latter and obeyed its impulses.
It was just the same when many of the dwellers of the country-side,
many of the fishermen, labourers, and farm-hands found themselves
assembled on the report of a pistol shot or the cry of angry voices
coming up from the beach below. Something was happening, some one was
in trouble, and the darkness of the night or the gloom of the fog
added a halo of mystery round the occasion. Men and women came out
from their cottages, some one got hit, and then a general affray
began. Clubs and pistols and cutlasses were busy, men were bellowing
forth oaths, women shrieking, and the galloping of horses heard
rapidly approaching. Amid such excitements we can readily understand
that a good many acts of violence and deep injury occurred which
afterwards, when the heat of the event had vaporised, were regretted.
At the same time, notwithstanding that one is aware that the men were
engaged in an unlawful pursuit and that they themselves fully
appreciated their degree of guilt, yet we cannot but feel some sort of
sympathy with a crew who, after a long and exciting passage through
bad weather all the way across the Channel, after perhaps a breathless
race against the Government cruisers, had finally succeeded in landing
their tubs on the shore only to be pounced on immediately by the
riding officers and a _posse_ of dragoons. It must have been
heart-breaking that all their carefully laid plans, all their
hardships and trials should end in disaster. Realising this and that
their craft as well as their persons would be seized, it was but
natural that they would fight like the most desperate of men. And, at
the same time, those their relatives on shore who largely depended on
them for their bread and butter would rush to their aid with a spirit
and an impetuosity that could only end in one way. The pity of it all
was that so much fine daring and enthusiasm were not being employed
for a better cause and for more worthy results.
But the smugglers found that, contrary to what one would expect, their
greatest risk was not when landing the goods, but when bringing them
across from the Continent. A seizure on land was, at any rate during
the first half of the eighteenth century, comparatively rare if they
had been able to get away from the sloops and cutters. For the
bodyguard of armed men on horseback who promptly met and escorted the
contraband into the country frequently did as they had planned. And
when once the tea has arrived inland it was easily sold to people who
bought it not in small quantities but took as much as 1000 lbs. at a
time. In addition, there were a number of men called "duffers," who
used to walk inland wearing coats in which a hundred-weight of tea was
concealed between two layers of cloth stitched together. They were
accordingly said to "quilt" so much of this commodity. These duffers,
having set forth on their walk, would eventually arrive in London and
dispose of the tea to hawkers who, in turn, carried it about the town
and sold it to the consumers, who, even if they had possessed any
scruples, could not possibly know that the leaves had been smuggled in
without paying the Crown's levy.
But it was not merely by exercising the strictest vigilance on the
activities of the Government sloops and land officers, nor entirely by
resort to trickery and violence, to threats and intimidation that the
smugglers managed to keep out of the hands of justice. They even
advanced one step further still, for there was a man named Norton
whom they employed as their agent to defend them against prosecutions.
This Norton at one time had actually been in the employ of the Crown
as clerk of the late Solicitor to the Customs. And it was generally
believed that Norton by some means--most probably by offering tempting
bribes--obtained news from the clerks of the Customs' solicitor when a
smuggler was likely to be arrested and a warrant was about to be
issued. Norton was then supposed to give the smuggler an immediate
warning and the man was able to make himself scarce. It was quite an
easy operation, for in those days when there was no telegraph and no
steamboat service across the Channel, all the "wanted" man had to do
was instantly to board his cutter, set sail, and hurry across to
France or Holland, where he was sure of a welcome, where also he could
employ himself in arranging for cargoes to be run into England perhaps
in the very vessel which had brought him across. There were plenty of
his compatriots resident in Flushing, so he need not feel homesick,
and when at last the incident had blown over he could find his way
back to Kent or Sussex.
It was reckoned that about this time there were at least 20,000 people
in England employed in smuggling, and in some parts (as, for instance,
the village of Hawkhurst, about which we shall have more to say
presently) gangs of large numbers could be got together in a very
short time. In Hawkhurst alone 500 smugglers could be collected within
an hour. Folkestone, however, ran Hawkhurst fairly close with a
similar notoriety. Such gangs, well armed as they were, went about
with impunity, for notwithstanding that they were well known, yet no
one dared to molest them.
We mentioned just now that the danger to the State of this import
smuggling was not merely that goods were brought into the country
without payment being made to the Customs, but that inasmuch as the
contraband goods were purchased abroad partly by wool and partly by
actual coin England was being robbed both ways. And as the wool
exportation declined and the import smuggling rose, so the amount of
gold that passed out of the country seriously increased. At least
£1,000,000 sterling were carried out of the kingdom each year to
purchase these goods, and of this amount somewhere about £800,000 were
paid for tea alone. At a later date the price of tea often went up,
but the dealer still made a profit of 40s. on every 100 lbs. We
alluded just now also to the dangers of seizure, and it is worth
remarking that these were recognised by the smugglers as being greater
in one district than in another. For instance, it was much more
difficult to run goods into the counties of Kent and Sussex than into
Suffolk, owing to the fleet at sea and the troops on the coast. And
as to the amount of support which could be relied on it was an
admitted fact that there was not one person in ten in the country but
would give the smugglers assistance, and even lend them horses and
carts. For the use of these the smugglers made payment at an increased
rate.
There was one witness before this Commission who stated that he knew
of about sixty English cutters of from thirty to forty tons burthen
each, and five or six vessels of the same burthen belonging to
merchants at Flushing which were employed constantly in running goods
across to England, and several of those who gave evidence confessed
that they had for years been actively engaged in smuggling, but had
taken advantage of the late Act of Indemnity. One reason alleged for
smuggling tea was that the East India Company did not sufficiently
supply the dealers with the low-priced kinds, whereas the Dutch did.
And it was further contended that if the price of tea were lessened
sixpence per lb. it would put a stop to smuggling of the commodity,
for at this date, although other articles such as spirits and tobacco
were brought in, yet there was far more tea run than anything else.
But at the same time the smugglers rather liked to include a quantity
of brandy casks among their cargo for the reason that they were heavy
and made very good ballast. And as to the ships themselves, it was
agreed that those of the smugglers were the best sailing
fore-and-afters that were built in those days, and could easily
out-sail both the King's ships and the Custom House sloops. Finally,
it was shown that in spite of the large and tempting rewards that were
offered by advertisement for the apprehension of those persons who had
been concerned in smuggling, no one had come forward to give
information for the reason that, even if he would, he dared not. And
so fascinating was the call of smuggling, that although there were
those who had willingly embraced the pardon granted them by the recent
Act, forsaken this illegal trade and settled down on farms or devoted
themselves to other occupations which were within the law, yet there
were many others who had returned to their former practices.
After accumulating this evidence, the Committee issued their first
report on March 24, 1745, and expressed themselves of the opinion that
the high duties charged on tea and other commodities had certainly
been one cause of smuggling. But they also added that the exposing for
sale of those boats and vessels which had been seized from the
smugglers was certainly another potent reason, for these craft were
frequently bought back by the men; they therefore recommended that all
captured craft should be burned. Furthermore, the Commission condemned
the custom of allowing penalties to be compounded so easily. As an
instance of this last-mentioned custom we might call attention to
three smugglers belonging to the county of Hampshire. There is a
reference to them in the Southampton Letters under date of April 28,
1730, from which it appears that Matthew Barton, John Gibort, and
William Moadon of Fordingbridge were under prosecution for running
goods ashore. They subsequently offered to compound for the said
offence on the following terms: Barton to pay the sum of £35, Gibort
to pay £25, and Moadon £15. But before allowing the matter to be
settled straight away the Collector and Comptroller at Southampton
were ordered to look carefully into the affair and to inquire what
these men were generally esteemed to be worth.
CHAPTER IV
THE SMUGGLERS' METHODS
It was not till June of 1746 that the Committee issued their second
report, and the evidence therein contained is even more interesting to
us than any which had hitherto been given. After the Solicitor to the
Commissioners had shown how biassed juries frequently were towards
prisoners brought up on charges connected with smuggling, how they
declined to bring in a verdict against them even in spite of the
clearest of evidence, another official (the Surveyor of the Searchers
in the Port of London) stated that when he had received information
that there had been a run of goods in a certain locality and had even
received information as to the road along which they would be brought,
he had been compelled to travel by night and carefully to avoid all
the beaten paths. Indeed, if people whom they might meet on the road
noticed a Custom House officer and any soldiers together, their design
would immediately be suspected and warning would promptly be sent to
the smugglers, who would hide their goods. He added, also, that he
remembered on one occasion that a couple of vessels landed in the
Isle of Thanet as much tea as could be loaded on the backs of two
hundred horses.
But it was when the ex-smugglers came to give their evidence that the
real secrets of the trade were unfolded. Robert Hanning, who for years
had been one of the most distinguished members of the industry,
informed the Commission that formerly he was the principal dealer with
the smugglers when he resided at Dunkirk. Some idea of the colossal
business which he had carried on may be gathered from his admission
that he had sold teas, brandies, and wines to be run into England _to
the extent of_ £40,000 _per annum_. And let us not forget to bear in
mind that of course this probably represented the value of the goods
when they were put on board. What they actually realised after they
were smuggled into the English market must have been something
considerable.
Hanning was followed by a certain Captain Joseph Cockburn, who had a
very instructive story to tell, which must have amazed even the
Commissioners. This gallant skipper was now commanding one of his
Majesty's sloops, but prior to that he had been engaged in
privateering, and before that had commanded several vessels employed
in smuggling. From his very infancy he had been concerned in the
practice of running goods, and his apprenticeship had been served to
a smuggler at Rochester, who was nominally a fisherman. Consequently,
with an accumulated knowledge obtained first as a smuggler and
subsequently as a pursuer of smugglers, there was not much, if
anything at all, in connection with the work which could have missed
his attention. He proved himself a veritable encyclopædia of smuggling
information, and even the following brief summary will show that his
experience was something exceptional.
First of all, he instanced the case of five cutters which he knew were
constantly employed in running tea and brandy from Boulogne into Kent
and Sussex. They imported at least six tons of tea and two thousand
half-ankers of brandy _every week_. He estimated that the six tons of
tea would be purchased abroad for £1920. The two thousand half-ankers
of brandy, even if they cost but ten shillings apiece, would represent
the sum of £1000; so altogether there was a total of nearly £3000
being carried out of the country in specie every week by these five
cutters alone. But he also knew of five other cutters which were
constantly employed in fetching brandy and tea from Middleburgh and
Flushing, and he reckoned that these ten cutters in the aggregate
smuggled into the United Kingdom each year goods to the value of
£303,680. Possibly there was no living person who possessed so perfect
and exact a knowledge of the smuggling trade, so we can have little
reason to doubt for a moment the veracity of his figures.
Passing, then, to describe the methods employed by these men, he
divided them into two classes. Firstly, there were those adopted by
the cutters and smacks which did little else than smuggle, and,
secondly, there were the British ships which primarily carried on a
legitimate trade to foreign parts. As to the first class, the practice
of these cutters and smacks was to put to sea from whatever port to
which they belonged--London, Dover, Rye, Folkestone, or wherever it
might be--having on board a small number of hands, their professed
object being to fish. Having stood some distance away from the land,
they would be met during the night by a number of smaller craft, and
under cover of darkness would take on board from the latter large
crews, much merchandise, and a considerable amount of money. The
smaller craft rowed or sailed back to the beach before daylight, and
the bigger craft, now well supplied with men, money, and merchandise,
stood on their course for some Dutch or French port. There they
purchased such goods as they required, disposed of those which they
had brought, and again set sail for home. The vessel was again met at
a convenient distance from the English shore by smaller boats if a
favourable signal had been flashed from the land; and, using the
darkness of the night, once more both the cargo and the supernumerary
men were put into the boats, after which the latter ran the stuff
ashore in casks already slung and in bales, while the smack headed for
her harbour whence she had set out. As she had just the same small
crew as before no suspicions were aroused, and it was presumed she had
been out fishing.
But additional to these comparatively large vessels there were smaller
craft--open boats, yawls, and little sloops--which in fine weather
were wont to run across from the south coast of England to Boulogne,
Guernsey, and from the west of England to the Isle of Man. They also
loaded up with as much cargo as they could carry, and, since they were
able to be beached, the process of discharging their contents as soon
as they returned was much simpler. These smaller craft also were in
the habit of running out well clear of the land and meeting Dutch
vessels, from which they would purchase similar kinds of goods and run
them in by the usual methods. In these lesser craft were frequently
carried a great many stones, anchors, and heavy weights by means of
which the half-ankers of brandy could be sunk near the shore and
afterwards taken up as required. The exact way in which this was done
we shall discuss fully in a later chapter.
Some of the cobbles, "hovelings," and small fishing craft that were
accustomed to run out to big sailing merchantmen under pretence of
shipping pilots to take them into the next port, were actually engaged
in smuggling all sorts of goods out of these ships. Perhaps it was a
lurking sympathy with the men engaged in a trade with which his
earlier years had been so intimately associated that made Captain
Cockburn suggest that it was because the Dutchmen brought such large
quantities of fish into Billingsgate that the English fishermen found
their work unprofitable, and were accordingly driven to devote
themselves to smuggling. But from evidence in other documents it would
certainly seem that Cockburn was speaking the truth and that the
fishing industry was not a very good livelihood at that time.
Then, secondly, there was the smuggling that was carried on by the
trading sailing ships from abroad. Great quantities of goods were
being run into the country by colliers--they were usually
brig-rigged--by corn-ships, packet-boats from the Continent and other
vessels trading with Holland. At least, one thousand five hundred
vessels were engaged in this trade, "and," added Cockburn, "he
scarcely ever knew one of them return without some prohibited or high
duty goods." The smuggling from these vessels was done in various
ways. There were the pilot-boats and fishing craft which frequently
met them near the coast, as already explained. Another way was for the
merchantmen to put into harbours, roadsteads, and rivers, where they
lay at anchor under pretence of waiting for orders. Another method
still, that was as simple as it was successful, consisted of landing
their goods at outports on such holidays as the King's birthday, &c.,
when the Revenue officers were absent. Cockburn admitted that he had
done this himself and had run great quantities of brandies, teas, and
Spanish liquorice even as much as nearly a ton of the latter at a
time. But besides these two classes there was a third. The whole of
the coasting trade in those days was of course done in sailing ships;
and inasmuch as there were no railways for carrying merchandise there
was a good deal more encouragement for the sailing ship owner than
there is to-day. The methods of smuggling adopted by these coasters
was a little more complicated, and this was done by such means as
fraudulently obtaining permits, by cockets clandestinely obtained, by
false entry of one sort of goods for another, and by corrupting the
Customs' officers. To prove his case the captain gave the following
examples, _all of which he had himself employed since the year 1738!_
As regards the obtaining of permits fraudulently, he said that he had
gone to Dunkirk, taken aboard 2040 gallons of French brandy and
cleared for North Bergen in Norway. Of course he had no intention
whatever of steering for that port, but in case he met any of the
Custom House sloops as he approached the English coast, it would be
convenient to show this clearance and so prevent his brandy being
seized. From Dunkirk, then, he sailed across the North Sea and ran up
the river Humber. There, by previous arrangement, one of those keels
which are so well known in the neighbourhood of the Humber and Trent
met him. The keel had been sent from York down the Ouse with permits
to cover the brandy. The keel was cleared by a merchant at York, who
obtained permits for conveying to Gainsborough a quantity of French
brandy equal to that which Cockburn had on board his ship, though in
fact the keel, notwithstanding that she obtained these permits, set
forth with no brandy in her at all.
It was the point where the Ouse crosses the Trent at right angles that
had been arranged as the trysting-place, and there the keel took on
board from Cockburn the brandy which had come from Dunkirk. Cockburn
himself nailed the permits on to the heads of the casks, which in due
course were taken by the keel, when the flood tide made again, to
Gainsborough some distance up the Trent. Arrived there the casks were
properly taken into stock and entered in the Custom House books as if
the brandy had been actually brought down from York and had previously
paid duty. On this one venture the garrulous skipper admitted that he
cleared a profit by the brandy of £250 per cent., which was a
remarkably handsome reward for so short a voyage as from Dunkirk.
Port wines, he said, were purchasable at Dunkirk because these had
been taken from English merchantmen by privateers; and since there was
little or no market for such wines in Spain they were brought into
Dunkirk, whither resorted the smugglers eager to buy them. He
proceeded also to explain another method of cheating the customs.
Large quantities of very inferior British brandy were taken on board a
ship and clearance was obtained for some other English port, but
instead of proceeding to the latter the vessel would run across to
Dunkirk or Holland, where she would unload the cheap brandy, and in
its place take on board some high-priced French brandy equal in
quantity to the British commodity which had been put ashore at the
French port. After this, with now a much more valuable cargo, the
vessel would put to sea again and make for that British port for which
originally she had cleared. And as to the practice of bribery, he
himself had several times bought permits from the Excise officers to
cover smuggled brandy and tea. On one occasion he had paid an officer
fifty guineas for a permit to cover a certain quantity of tea and
brandy about to be run into the country.
Next came Captain Ebenezer Hartley, who had also formerly commanded a
ship that was engaged in smuggling. He had known of large quantities
of muslins and silks brought into the country on board East Indiamen.
These goods were smuggled by throwing them through the port-holes at
night into boats waiting below, alongside the ship, or whilst the
Custom officer was being entertained on board with food and drink.
Sometimes, he said, this was even done under the very eyes of the
Revenue officer, who took no notice of it. He recalled an incident in
an earlier part of his life when he had sailed from England to
Holland, in which country he had filled up with twenty-six casks of
oil. After that his orders were to cross the North Sea and meet a
certain vessel which would await him off Aldborough. This
last-mentioned craft would give Hartley's vessel the signal by
lowering her jib three times.
A more tragic story was related by George Bridges, a tidesman of the
Port of London. He showed that it did not always "pay" to be diligent
in one's duty, for he quoted the case of a Captain Mercer, in the
employ of the Custom House, who did now and then make a seizure, but
he "was broke for doing his duty"; and when Mercer came into Cork on
the occasion in question, the mob set upon him so that he was
compelled to escape into the sheriff's house. The mob then surrounded
the house in their thousands until the sheriff interceded with them.
They were wild with fury and threatened to pull the house down, until
the sheriff gave them his oath that Captain Mercer should never again
be guilty of seizing the wool which the smugglers had endeavoured to
export. But the mob afterwards went to Passage and took hold of a
Custom House officer named May. They brought him forth from his house,
cut out his tongue, and cut off his ears, one of which the witness
said he remembered seeing nailed on to the Cork Exchange. They dragged
the man with a rope round his neck, gave him several blows, hurled him
into the river, and finally the poor fellow died of his ill-treatment.
Although handsome rewards were offered for the discovery of the
offenders, yet no one ever came forward.
One could quote similar instances of the vehemence of the smugglers
from other sources. For instance, on February 2, 1748-49, the
Collector of the Port of Penzance wrote to the Board to give them some
idea of the people among whom he had to work. "The insolence," he
said, "of some of the smuglers [_sic_] and wreckers in this
neighbourhood is run to such a heighth, that tho our officers have
from time to time secured severall Hogsheads, it has been by force
taken from them [again], 'and the officers forced to save their
lives.'" Writing again on the 14th December, the same correspondent
added that "the smugglers never behaved with more insolence than at
present, or was it ever known to be carried on with more
audaciousness," mentioning also that the previous night the snow[5]
_Squirrel_ of North Yarmouth had driven ashore loaded with a cargo of
brandy. The country-folk had immediately boarded her, stripped the
master of everything valuable, and then carried off all the brandy
they could lay their hands on, and, in their haste, had set fire to
the rest of the cargo, so that at the time of writing the whole ship
was in flames. He mentioned also a couple of months later the
difficulty he had to secure arrests of smugglers, for even when he had
obtained warrants for the apprehension of eight most notorious men,
the constables excused themselves from doing their duty in serving the
warrants, and pretended that the eight men had absconded.
And anyone who cares to examine the Treasury Books and Papers for this
period will find similar cases. In July of 1743 some smugglers had
seized the Custom House boat at Dover and coolly employed her for
their own purposes in running tea. The Custom officers deemed matters
to be in such a state that they begged that a man-of-war might be
stationed on that coast to prevent smuggling. Similarly in January of
1743-44, during a skirmish near Arundel between the preventive men
assisted by some dragoons against a band of smugglers, the latter had
wounded three of the soldiers and carried off an officer and two other
dragoons on board the smugglers' cutter. This was no unique
occurrence, for sometimes the contraband runners, when infuriated,
captured the would-be captors, hurried them out to sea, and then,
having bound the unfortunate victims with a bit of spare rope and
having tied a piece of ballast to their live bodies, they would be
hurled overboard into the sea, and the soldier or preventive man would
never be seen or heard of again unless his lifeless body were cast
upon the beach. At Folkestone, about this time, three men were carried
off by the smugglers in trying to effect an arrest, and the supervisor
at Colchester had been also carried off, but afterwards he had been
released on promising not to mention the smugglers' names. It was bad
enough, therefore, for the Revenue men when they had the assistance of
the dragoons, but it was infinitely worse when they had to contend
alone. There is an almost pathetic petition from the Folkestone
riding-officers sent on New Year's Day 1744-45, begging for military
assistance against the smugglers, as although there were soldiers
stationed at Dover yet they were unobtainable, since they refused to
march more than five miles.
And it was just as bad, if not worse, about this time in the Isle of
Man, for the latter's inhabitants consisted almost exclusively of
smugglers and their families, some of whom had long since been
outlawed from England and Ireland. So rich and prosperous, indeed, had
these Manxmen become by means of smuggling that they were recognised
with a degree of importance which was almost ludicrous. The two
deemsters (or deputy-governors) of the island even countenanced and
protected the men, who would often assemble together to scheme and
drink to the damnation of His Britannic Majesty. Unhindered in their
nefarious work, able to obtain all the cargo they required from France
and the Channel Isles; able, too, to run their contraband into the
west of England, they waxed exceedingly independent and wealthy. At
Douglas they had built themselves a good quay for the shelter of their
ships and for convenience in landing their cargoes, the only drawback
being that the harbour dried out at low water.
It happened that on the 26th of June 1750, that Captain Dow,
commanding H.M. cruiser _Sincerity_[6] was, according to the orders
received from the Board of Customs, on duty in Douglas Roads. A
notorious Irish smuggling wherry came in from Ireland and ran under
the _Sincerity's_ stern, while the smugglers "with opprobrious,
treasonable, and abusive language abused His Majesty King George and
all that belonged to or served under him." This, of course, was too
much for any naval officer to endure, and Captain Dow immediately
caused the ship to come alongside, and, after being rummaged, she was
found to have concealed in a jar of butter-milk twenty-five English
guineas tied up in a bag. There were also papers on board which proved
that this money was to be expended in the purchase of brandies and
tea, &c., and that, having obtained these articles, she was then to
return to Ireland. The English captain therefore promptly seized both
money and papers.
On the same day that this incident occurred a Dutch dogger[7] also
came into Douglas Roads loaded with prohibited goods from Holland. As
soon as he had noticed her come to anchor Dow sent his boat to board
her with his mate and six men, and to examine and see if she had the
prohibited goods on board which were suspected. If she had, then she
was to be seized. At the same time Dow had requested Mr. Sidebotham,
his Majesty's officer in the Isle of Man, to cast off the
_Sincerity's_ headfast and sternfasts from the shore. But thereupon a
riotous and angry mob, fearing that the cruiser should be able to get
under weigh and seize the Dutch dogger, refused to allow Sidebotham to
let go the ropes. Armed with bludgeons, muskets, swords, and stones
they rushed down on to the quay, and did all they could to force the
cruiser on shore by aiming showers of stones at the cruiser's men and
restraining Sidebotham in his endeavour to help the _Sincerity_. They
even carried the latter away by force, and beat and bruised him in the
most brutal manner.
Captain Dow, realising that the intention of the mob was to get the
_Sincerity_ stranded, determined to cut his cable and exhorted them in
his Majesty's name to disperse, to which they paid not the slightest
attention except to send more showers of stones on to the cruiser's
decks. Seeing from afar what was happening, the mate and six men who
had been sent to board the dogger now returned to the _Sincerity_.
Whereupon the dogger, perceiving her chance, promptly got under way.
As the crowd on shore still continued to pelt his ship with stones and
had already wounded two of his crew, the cruiser's commander fired
amongst them. For a time, at least, this dispersed them, and so Dow
was able to get his vessel clear. He immediately proceeded to follow
the Dutch dogger, and chased her until she had, perforce, to run
herself on to the sands at Ramsey to the north of the island.
Determined not to be beaten, Dow now sent his mate and ten men on
board her, seized her, and marked her in several places with the sign
of a broad arrow to denote her capture.
[Illustration: "Dow sent his mate and ten men on board her."]
But when the mate came to open the hatches several of the islanders
who had been secreted on board, with the assistance of two boat-loads
of armed men who had rowed off from the shore, seized the mate and
his men, and threatened that if they resisted they would kill them.
Being completely overpowered, the eleven naval men were compelled to
yield and be carried ashore, where they were shut up in cellars and
finally carried down to Castletown Castle. Meanwhile, the smugglers
set to work on the dogger's cargo and landed it safely. A few days
later six of the eleven were released, but the other five were
detained until Captain Dow should refund the twenty-five guineas he
had seized from the Irish wherry. In order to give him a fright they
also sent word that the five men should be tried before one of their
Courts of Judicature on the following Thursday, were he to fail to
send the money. As the captain declined to accede to their demands,
the five prisoners were on July 5 brought up and remanded till a month
later. Finding it was impossible to obtain their release the commander
of the _Sincerity_ weighed anchor and ran back to Ramsey to take in
the six released men, and then, sailing away to Whitehaven, arrived at
that place on the 10th of July.
We need not say more. The story is sufficient to indicate the utter
state of lawlessness which prevailed there. Peopled by outlaws and by
the scum of France, Holland, Ireland, Scotland, and England, they were
a pretty tough proposition. Their violence was rivalled only by their
impudence; and fleets of wherries[8] would sail in company into
Ireland and Scotland loaded with cargoes of cheap brandy, which had
been brought from Holland for that purpose. As a means of checking
these Manx smugglers it was suggested that the English Government
should employ a number of tenders in this neighbourhood, since they
drew less water than the sloops-of-war and so would be more useful for
a locality that was not well supplied with deep harbours. Moreover,
these tenders would be well able to take the ground in the harbours
which dried out. Such craft as the latter were of about 160 tons,
mounted twelve to fourteen carriage guns, and were manned by a
captain, second officer, two mates, two quartermasters, a gunner, a
boatswain, carpenter, surgeon, and forty seamen.
From the south-east corner of England came reports not much better.
Just before the close of the year 1743 the Surveyor at Margate and his
men were out on duty along the coast one night when five of them came
upon a gang of about twenty-five smugglers. An encounter quickly
ensued, and as the latter were well armed they were, by their superior
numbers, able to give the officers a severe beating, especially in the
case of one unfortunate "whose head is in such a miserable condition
that the Surveyor thought proper to put him under the care of a
surgeon." Both this Surveyor and the one at Ramsgate asserted that the
smugglers were accustomed to travel in such powerful gangs, and at the
same time were so well armed, that it was impossible to cope with
them, there being seldom less than thirty in a gang "who bid defiance
to all the officers when they met them."
On the 7th April 1746, the Collector and Controller of the Customs at
Sandwich wrote to the Board:
"We further beg leave to acquaint your Honours that yesterday about
four o'clock in the afternoon a large gang of near 100 smuglers
[_sic_] with several led horses went thro' this town into the island
of Thanet, where we hear they landed their goods, notwithstanding that
we took all possible care to prevent them.
"_P.S._--This moment we have advice that there is a gang of 200
smugglers more at St. Peter's in the Isle of Thanet."
Seven months later in that year, at nine o'clock one November morning,
a gang of 150 smugglers managed to land some valuable cargo from a
couple of cutters on to the Sandwich flats. Several Revenue officers
were despatched into the country for the purpose of meeting with some
of the stragglers. The officers came into collision with a party of
these men and promptly seized two horse-loads of goods consisting of
five bags of tea and eight half-ankers of wine. But they were only
allowed to retain this seizure for half-an-hour, inasmuch as the
smugglers presently overpowered the Revenue men and wrested back their
booty. The preventive men were also considerably knocked about, and
one of them had his thumb badly dislocated. The officers declared that
they knew none of the people, the latter being well supplied not with
firearms but with great clubs. A fortnight later, just a few miles
farther along the coast, a gang of 150 smugglers succeeded in landing
their goods at Reculvers near Birchington; and ten days later still
another gang of the same size was able to land their goods near
Kingsgate, between the North Foreland and Margate. But it cannot be
supposed that the Revenue officers were not aware of the approach of
these incidents. The fact was that they were a little lacking in
courage to face these problems on every occasion. Indeed, they were
candid enough to admit that they dared not venture near these ruffians
"without the utmost hazard of their lives." But the riding-officers
were not solely to blame, for where were the Custom House sloops? How
was it they were always absent at these critical times? Indeed, the
Collector and Controller informed the Commissioners that not one of
these sloops had been seen cruising between Sandwich and Reculvers for
some months past.
This complaint about the cruisers was made in March 1747, and in that
same month another gang, two hundred strong, appeared on the coast,
but this time, after a smart encounter, the officers secured and
placed in the King's warehouse a ton of tea as well as other goods,
and three horses. A day or two later a gang of smugglers threatened to
rescue these goods back again. The property formed a miscellaneous
collection and consisted of fifty pieces of cambric, three bags of
coffee, some Flemish linen, tea, clothes, pistols, a blunderbuss, and
two musquetoons. To prevent the smugglers carrying out their
intention, however, a strong guard was formed by an amalgamation of
all the officers from Sandwich, Ramsgate, and Broadstairs, who
forthwith proceeded to Margate. In addition to these, it was arranged
that Commodore Mitchell should send ashore from the Downs as many men
as he could spare. This united front was therefore successful, and for
once the smugglers were overmatched. And but for a piece of bad luck,
or sheer carelessness, a couple of years later a smart capture might
well have been brought about. It was one day in August when the
officers had received information that a gang of twenty men and horses
had appeared near Reculvers to receive goods from a cutter that was
seen to be hovering near the coast. The smugglers on shore were cute
enough to locate the officers, and by some means evidently signalled
to the cutter, for the latter now put to sea again and the gang
cleared off. Although for some time after this incident both officers
and dragoons patrolled the coast in the neighbourhood no one was ever
fortunate enough to gather information either as to the cutter or the
people who had vanished into the country with such rapidity.
And yet in spite of the very numerous sympathisers which these illicit
importers possessed, yet of course there were some individuals who
were as much against them as any officer of the Customs. In the
neighbourhood of Plymouth legitimate trade had suffered a great deal
owing to these practices. The mayor, aldermen, and merchants of
Saltash were at last compelled to send a memorial to the Lords of the
Treasury complaining that in the rivers adjacent to that place there
were several creeks and inlets which were being made of considerable
use by the smugglers for landing their goods. Especially was this the
case up the river Tamar, and all this had been and was still "to the
great prejudice of the fair traders and merchants." They pointed out
that a great deal of it consisted of clandestine running from ships in
the Sound, Hamoaze, and other anchorages round about there. Large
quantities of French linings, wines, and brandies were being run
ashore with impunity and speedily sold in the adjacent towns or
conveyed some distance into Devonshire. The mayor therefore begged the
Treasury for three additional Custom officers consisting of an
inspector of roads and two tide-waiters to be established at Saltash,
but the Treasury could not see their way to grant such a request.
But in other parts of the country the roads were kept carefully
watched to prevent goods being brought inland. The coaches which ran
from Dover to London with passengers who had come across from the
Continent were frequently stopped on the highway by the
riding-officers and the passengers searched. Harsh as this mode of
procedure may seem to us to-day, yet it was rendered necessary by the
fact that a good many professional carriers of contraband goods were
wont to travel backwards and forwards between England and abroad. Some
years later, for example, when the Dover coach was stopped at "The
Half-Way House," a foreigner, who was travelling by this conveyance
and had been able to evade the Customs' search at Dover, was found to
be carrying two gold snuff-boxes set with diamonds, four lockets also
set with diamonds, eighteen opals, three sapphires, eight amethysts,
six emeralds, two topazes, and one thousand two hundred
torquoises--all of which were liable to duty.
And thus the illegal practices continued all round the coast. From
Devonshire it was reported that smuggling was on the increase--this
was in the autumn of 1759--and that large gangs armed with loaded
clubs openly made runs of goods on the shore, the favourite _locale_
being Torbay, though previously the neighbourhood of Lyme had been the
usual aim of these men who had sailed as a rule from Guernsey. All
that the Collector could suggest was that an "impress smack" should be
sent to that district, as he promised that the notorious offenders
would make excellent seamen.
There was an interesting incident also off the north-east coast of
England, where matters were still about as bad as ever. We referred
some pages back to the capture of a Dutch dogger off the Isle of Man;
we shall now see another of these craft seized in the North Sea.
Captain Bowen of the sloop _Prince of Wales_, hearing that the dogger
_Young Daniel_ was running brandy on the coast near to Newcastle, put
to sea in search of her. He came up with a number of those
cobbles--open boats--which are peculiar to the north-east coastline,
though at one time they were used as far south as Great Yarmouth. The
cobbles which he was able to intercept had just been employed in
transferring the contraband from the dogger to the shore. Bowen
captured one of these small craft with a dozen casks aboard. Another
was forced ashore and secured by the land officers. Meanwhile, the
Dutchman stood out to sea so that he might be able to draw off the
spirits from large casks into smaller ones, which were the better
fitted for running ashore. It was found afterwards that he had large
numbers of these lesser casks, and during that evening she put about
and crept stealthily in towards the shore again until she approached
within about a mile of the mouth of the Tees. Her intention was to run
the rest of her cargo under cover of darkness, and her skipper had
arranged for large numbers of men to be on that coast ready to receive
and carry off these casks. But Bowen was determined to head her off
this project. An exciting chase followed, during which--to quote an
official report of the time--the dogger did her best "to eat the
sloop out of the wind," that is to say sailed as close to the wind as
she could travel in the hope of causing her adversary to drop to
leeward. For seven hours this chase continued, but after that duration
the _Prince of Wales_ captured the _Young Daniel_ eight leagues from
the shore. This is not a little interesting, for inasmuch as the chase
began when the dogger was a mile from the mouth of the river, the
vessels must have travelled about 23 statutory miles in the time,
which works out at less than 3-1/2 miles an hour. Not very fast, you
may suggest, for a Revenue cutter or for the Dutchman either. But we
have no details as to the weather, which is usually bad off that part
of the coast in February (the month when this incident occurred), and
we must remember that the doggers were too bluff of build to possess
speed, and the time had not yet arrived when those much faster Revenue
cutters with finer lines and less ample beam were to come into use.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] A snow was a vessel with three masts resembling the main and
foremast of a ship with a third and small mast just abaft the
mainmast, carrying a sail nearly similar to a ship's mizzen. The foot
of this mast was fixed in a block of wood or step but on deck. The
head was attached to the afterpart of the maintop. The sail was called
a trysail, hence the mast was called a trysail-mast. (Moore's
_Midshipman's Vocabulary_, 1805.)
[6] It was the frequent custom at this time to speak of sloops as
cruisers.
[7] A dogger was a two-masted Dutch fishing-vessel usually employed in
the North Sea off the Dogger Bank. She had two masts, and was very
similar to a ketch in rig, but somewhat beamy and bluff-bowed.
[8] These, of course, were not the light rowing-boats of the kind that
were in use on the Thames and elsewhere. The term wherry was applied
to various decked fishing-vessels belonging to England, Ireland, and
the Isle of Man.
CHAPTER V
THE HAWKHURST GANG
We come now to consider the desperate character of a band of men who
rendered themselves for all time notorious in the domestic history of
our country by acts of unbridled violence and consummate cruelty.
But before we proceed to relate as fully as our limited space will
allow the details of these incidents, it is necessary to remind
ourselves once again of the great, solid mass of sympathy, both active
and passive, that was always at the back of the smugglers. Without
this such daring runs by night could never have occurred: doubtful of
the assistance which could be whole-heartedly given by the people on
shore, the seafaring men would never have dared to take such enormous
risks of life and goods. Not merely did the villagers come down to the
shore to help to bring the goods inland, not only did they lend their
horses and carts, but they would tacitly suffer the smugglers to hide
casks of spirits in wells, haystacks, cellars, and other places. In
Cornwall, for instance, fifty-five tubs of spirits were found
concealed in a well, over the top of which a hay-stack had been
built. This was near Falmouth, one of the most notorious of the
smuggling localities. And there is actual record of at least one
instance where the natives charged a rent of a shilling a tub for
stowing away the smuggled goods. In another county a cavern had most
ingeniously been hollowed out under a pond big enough to hold a
hundred casks, the entrance being covered over with planks carefully
strewed with mould. So clever and original was this idea that it was
never discovered for many years.
But the most notorious, the most formidable, and certainly the most
abominably cruel gang of smugglers which ever achieved notice was the
Hawkhurst contingent. The "Hawkhurst Gang," as they were known, were a
terror to whatever law-abiding citizens existed in the counties of
Kent and Sussex. They feared neither Custom officers nor soldiery,
they respected neither God nor man, and in the course of attaining
their aims they stopped at no atrocity nor brooked any interference
from anyone. By the year 1747 smugglers had become so daring and
committed such terrible crimes that the only course left open for
decent people was to band together in mutual protection. The
inhabitants of one locality joined together under the title of the
"Goudhurst Band of Militia," their leader being a man named Sturt, a
native of Goudhurst, who had recently obtained his discharge from the
Army. But this union became known to the smugglers, who waylaid one
of the militia, and by means of torture the whole of the defenders'
plans were revealed. After a while he was released and sent back to
inform the militia that the smugglers on a certain day would attack
the town, murder all its inhabitants, and then burn the place to the
ground.
The day arrived and both forces were prepared. Sturt had gathered his
band, collected fire-arms, cast balls, made cartridges, and arranged
entrenchments, when, headed by one Thomas Kingsmill, the Hawkhurst
gang appeared in order to make the attack. But after a smart
engagement in which three were killed and many wounded, the smugglers
were driven off, whilst others were captured and subsequently
executed.
Kingsmill escaped for a time, and became the leader of the famous
attack on the Poole Custom House in October 1747. Another of the gang
was named Perin and belonged to Chichester. Perin was really a
carpenter by trade, but after being afflicted with a stroke of the
palsy, he became attached to the smugglers, and used to sail with them
to France to purchase goods that were to be smuggled, such as brandy,
tea, and rum. Now in September of 1747 Perin went across the Channel
in a cutter called _The Three Brothers_, loaded up with the above
commodities, and was approaching the English coast when he was met
with a rebuff. For Captain William Johnson, who held a deputation
from the Customs to seize prohibited goods, got to know of Perin's
exploit, and on the 22nd of this month, whilst cruising in the Poole
Revenue cutter, sighted _The Three Brothers_ to the eastward of Poole.
Whereupon the smuggler began to flee, and, running before the wind,
fled to the N.N.W. From five in the afternoon till eleven at night the
Revenue cutter, with every stitch of canvas set, chased her, and after
firing several shots caused her to heave-to. Johnson then boarded her,
and found that the tea was in canvas and oil-skin bags, but Perin and
the crew of six had escaped in _The Three Brothers_ boat. However,
Johnson captured the cutter with her cargo and took the same into
Poole. The two tons of tea, thirty-nine casks of brandy and rum,
together with a small bag of coffee, were conveyed ashore and locked
up safely in the Poole Custom House. Such was the introduction to the
drama that should follow.
Enraged at their bad luck, the smugglers took counsel together. They
assembled in Charlton Forest, and Perin suggested that they should go
in a body and, well-armed, break open the Poole Custom House. So the
next day they met at Rowland's Castle with swords and firearms, and
were presently joined by Kingsmill and the Hawkhurst gang. Till night
had fallen they secreted themselves in a wood, and eventually reached
Poole at eleven o'clock at night. Two of their members were sent
ahead to reconnoitre, and reported that a sloop-of-war lay opposite to
the quay, so that her guns could be pointed against the doors of the
Custom House; but afterwards it was found that, owing to the ebb-tide,
the guns of the sloop could not be made to bear on that spot. The
band, numbering about thirty, therefore rode down to spot, and while
Perin and one other man looked after their horses, the rest proceeded
to the Custom House, forced open the door with hatchets and other
implements, rescued the tea, fastening packages of the latter on to
their horses, with the exception only of 5 lbs. The next morning they
passed through Fordingbridge in Hampshire, where hundreds of the
inhabitants stood and watched the cavalcade. Now among the latter was
a man named Daniel Chater, a shoemaker by trade. He was known to
Diamond, one of the gang then passing, for they had both worked
together once at harvest time. Recognising each other, Diamond
extended his arm, shook hands, and threw him a bag of tea, for the
booty had been divided up so that each man carried five bags of 27
lbs.
[Illustration: _A Representation of ye Smugglers breaking open ye_
KING'S _Custom House at Poole_.]
After the Poole officers discovered what had happened to their Custom
House, there was not unnaturally a tremendous fuss, and eventually the
King's proclamation promised a reward for the apprehension of the men
concerned in the deed. Nothing happened for months after, but at last
Diamond was arrested on suspicion and lodged in Chichester Gaol. We
can well imagine the amount of village gossip to which this would give
rise. Chater was heard to remark that he knew Diamond and saw him go
by with the gang the very day after the Custom House had been broken
open. When the Collector of Customs at Southampton learned this, he
got into communication with the man, and before long Chater and Mr.
William Galley were sent with a letter to Major Battin, a Justice of
the Peace for Sussex. Galley was also a Custom House officer stationed
at Southampton. The object of this mission was that Chater's evidence
should be taken down, so that he might prove the identity of Diamond.
On Sunday February 14, then, behold these two men setting out for
Chichester. On the way they stopped at the White Hart Inn, Rowland's
Castle, for refreshment. But the landlady suspecting that they were
going to hurt the smugglers, with the intuition of a woman and the
sympathy of a mother decided to send for two men named Jackson and
Carter. For this Mrs. Paine, a widow, had two sons herself, who though
nominally blacksmiths were in fact smugglers. Jackson and Carter came
in, to whom the widow explained her suspicions, and these two men were
presently followed by others of the gang. Before very long they had
got into conversation with Galley and Chater, and plied them with
drink, so that they completely gave away the nature of their mission,
and after being fuddled and insulted were put to bed intoxicated.
After a while, they were aroused by Jackson brutally digging his spurs
on their foreheads and then thrashing them with a horse-whip. They
were then taken out of the inn, both put on to the same horse, with
their legs tied together below the horse's belly. They were next
whipped as they went along, over the face, eyes, and shoulder, till
the poor victims were unable to bear it any longer, and at last fell
together, with their hands tied underneath the horse, heads downwards.
In this position the horse struck the head of one or the other with
his feet at every step. Afterwards the blackguardly tormentors sat the
two men upright again, whipped them, and once more the men fell down,
with heels in air. They were utterly weak, and suffering from their
blows.
[Illustration: Mr. Galley and Mr. Chater put by ye Smugglers on one
Horse near Rowland Castle
_A. Steele who was Admitted a Kings Evidence B. Little Harry. C.
Iackson D. Carter E. Downer. F. Richards. 1. Mr. Galley. 2. Mr.
Chater._]
[Illustration: Galley and Chater _falling off their Horse at_ Woodash
draggs their Heads on the Ground, while the Horse kicks them as he
goes; the Smugglers still continuing their brutish Usage.]
We need not enlarge upon the details, some of which are too outrageous
to repeat. After a while they thought Galley was dead, and laid him
across another horse, with a smuggler each side to prevent him
falling. They then stopped at the Red Lion, at Rake, knocked up the
landlord, drank pretty freely, and then taking a candle and spade dug
a hole in a sand-pit where they buried him. But at a later date, when
the body was exhumed, it was seen that the poor man had covered his
eyes with his hands, so there can be little doubt but that Galley was
buried alive.
As for Chater, they delayed his death. Throughout Monday they remained
drinking at the Red Lion, discussing what to do with him, Chater being
meanwhile kept secured by the leg with an iron chain, three yards
long, in a turf-house. At dead of night they agreed to go home
separately so that the neighbours might not be suspicious of their
absence. On Wednesday morning they again repaired to the Red Lion,
after having left Chater in the charge of two of their number. Then,
having discussed what should be done with Chater, some one suggested
that a gun should be loaded with two or three bullets, and after
having tied a long string to the trigger, each member of the gang
should take hold of the string together, and so become equally guilty
of the poor man's death. But this idea was unwelcomed, as it was
thought it would put Chater too quickly out of his sufferings.
Meanwhile, Chater was visited at various times, to receive kicks and
severe blows, and to be sworn at in the vilest and most scurrilous
language.
[Illustration: Chater Chained in ye Turff House at Old Mills's Cobby,
kicking him & Tapner, cutting him Cross ye Eyes & Nose, while he is
saying the Lords Prayer. Several of ye other smugglers standing by.]
One of the gang now came up to him, and uttering an oath, brandishing
aloft a large clasp-knife, exclaimed: "Down on your knees and go to
prayers, for with this knife I will be your butcher." Terrified at the
menace, and expecting momentarily to die, Chater knelt down on the
turf and began to say the Lord's Prayer. One of the villains got
behind and kicked him, and after Chater had asked what they had done
to Galley, the man who was confronting him drew his knife across the
poor man's face, cut his nose through, and almost cut both his eyes
out. And, a moment later, gashed him terribly across the forehead.
They then proceeded to conduct him to a well. It was now the dead of
night, and the well was about thirty feet deep, but without water,
being surrounded with pales at the top to prevent cattle from falling
in. They compelled him to get over, and not through these pales, and a
rope was placed round his neck, the other end being made fast to the
paling. They then pushed him into the well, but as the rope was short
they then untied him, and threw him head foremost into the former,
and, finally, to stop his groanings, hurled down rails and gate-posts
and large stones.
[Illustration: Chater hanging at the Well in LADY HOLT Park,
the Bloody Villains Standing by.]
[Illustration: The Bloody Smugglers flinging down Stones after they
had flung his Dead Body into the Well.]
I have omitted the oaths and some of the worst features of the
incident, but the above outline is more than adequate to suggest the
barbarism of a lot of men bent on lawlessness and revenge. Drunk with
their own success, the gang now went about with even greater
desperation. Everybody stood in terror of them; Custom officers were
so frightened that they hardly dared to perform their duties, and the
magistrates themselves were equally frightened to convict smugglers.
Consequently the contraband gangs automatically increased to great
numbers. But, finally, a reward of £500 was offered by the
Commissioners of Customs for the arrest of everyone of the culprits,
and as a result several were arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.
The murderers were tried at a special assize for smugglers held at
Chichester, before three judges, and the seven men were sentenced to
death. William Jackson died in prison a few hours after sentence. He
had been very ill before, but the shock of being sentenced to death,
and to be hung afterwards in chains and in ignominy, rapidly hastened
his death, and relieved the executioner of at least one portion of his
duty. He had been one of the worst smugglers in his time, and was even
a thief among thieves, for he would even steal his confederates'
goods. Between the sentence and the hour for execution a man came into
the prison to measure the seven culprits for the irons in which their
bodies were subsequently to be hung by chains. And this distressed the
men more than anything else, most of all Jackson, who presently
succumbed as stated.
Mills, senior, had gradually been drawn into the smuggling business,
though previously he had been quite a respectable man. After giving up
actual smuggling, he still allowed his house to be used as a
store-place for the contraband goods. His son, Richard, also one of
the seven, had been concerned in smuggling for years, and was a daring
fellow. John Cobby, the third of the culprits, was of a weaker
temperament, and had been brought under the influence of the
smugglers. Benjamin Tapner was especially penitent, and "hoped all
young people would take warning by his untimely fate, and keep good
company, for it was bad company had been his ruin." William Carter
complained that it was Jackson who had drawn him away from his honest
employment to go smuggling, but John Hammond was of a more obdurate
nature, and had always hated the King's officers.
According to the testimony of the Rev. John Smyth, who visited them in
gaol, all the prisoners received the Holy Communion at ten o'clock,
the morning after being sentenced to death. All the prisoners except
the two Mills admitted that they deserved the sentence, but all the
surviving six acknowledged that they forgave everybody. On January 19,
1748-9, they were executed. The two Mills were not hung in chains, but
having neither friend nor relation to take them away their bodies were
thrown into a hole near the gallows, into which also was placed
Jackson's body. Carter's body was hung in chains on the Portsmouth
Road, near Rake; that of Tapner on Rook's Hill, near Chichester; those
of Cobby and Hammond on the sea coast near Selsey Bill; so that from a
great distance they could be observed across the sea by the ships as
they went by east and west. Later on, John, the brother of Richard
Mills, and one of the gang, was also arrested. When the above three
judges were travelling down to Chichester for the trial of the seven
men, John had intended waylaying their lordships on Hind Heath, but
his companions had refused to support him. But soon after his father's
and brother's execution he met with a man named Richard Hawkins, whom
he accused of having stolen two bags of tea. Hawkins denied it, and
was brutally and unmercifully thrashed to death in the Dog and
Partridge Inn at Slindon Common, his body being afterwards carried a
dozen miles, thrown into a pond, with stones attached, and then sunk.
John Mills was convicted and hanged at East Grinstead, and afterwards
remained hanging in chains on Slindon Common. Other members of the
gang were also arrested, tried at the same assizes as highwaymen, and
then executed.
* * * * *
Later on, two of the smugglers who had given evidence against the men
that were hanged at Chichester, gave information also, which led to
the arrest of Kingsmill, Perin, and two others who had been concerned
in breaking open the Poole Custom House. Kingsmill, Perin, and one
other were hanged at Tyburn in April of 1749; the other man, however,
was pardoned. Thus at length this dreaded Hawkhurst Gang was broken
up.
CHAPTER VI
THE REVENUE CRUISERS
We drew attention some time back to the assistance occasionally
rendered by soldiers when the Riding officers were about to arrest
smugglers. Early in the year 1740, or about the close of 1739, Thomas
Carswell, one of the Revenue officers stationed at Rye, was murdered,
and a corporal and three dragoons whom he had taken to his assistance
were badly wounded, and a large quantity of tea that had been seized
was rescued. It was after this incident that Revenue officers of this
port--perhaps the most notorious of all the south-east smuggling
territory--were ordered that in future when they went forth to make
seizures they were to have with them an adequate military force, and
to this end they were to make previous arrangements with the
commanding-officer of the forces in that district.
But in spite of the seizures which the officers on land from time to
time effected, and notwithstanding the shortcomings of the Custom
House cruisers in regard to speed, and the frequent negligence of
their commanders, it still remains true that these cutters and sloops,
at any rate until about the year 1822 (when the Coastguard service
was instituted) continued to be the principal and the most important
of all the machinery set in motion against the smugglers. We have seen
this service in working order as far back as the year 1674, at any
rate, when the fleet consisted of only hired vessels. We have also
seen that they were employed in sufficient numbers all round the
coast, and that the Customs authorities, not content merely to hire
such vessels, also presently obtained some of their own. It is
possible that the smacks were used for such service even before the
date 1674--perhaps very soon after Charles came to the throne--but
there are no existing records of this to make the matter certain. The
Revenue preventive work, in so far as the cruisers were employed, was
carried on by a mixed control, and embraced six separate and distinct
types:--
1. There were the English Custom House smacks, cutters, and sloops,
some of which were hired vessels: others were actually owned by the
English Customs Board.
2. There were the English Excise cruisers, which were controlled by
the English Excise Board. They appeared to be very similar to the
craft in the first class.
3. There were the Scottish Customs cruisers, under the control of the
Scottish Customs Board. The official at the head of these was known as
the Agent for yachts.
4. There were the Scottish Excise cruisers, controlled by the Scottish
Excise Board.
5. There were the Irish Revenue cruisers, controlled by the Irish
Customs and Excise.
6. And lastly, there were these vessels of the Royal Navy which were
employed to assist the Revenue, such vessels consisting of ships of
the fifth-rate, sixth-rate, and especially the armed sloops.
In the present volume it has been necessary, owing to the limits of
our space, to restrict our consideration of cruisers chiefly to the
most important of these, viz. those of the English Custom House and
those of the Royal Navy. Under such a mixed rule it was obvious that
many difficulties arose, and that the clashing of interests was not
infrequent. For instance, between the English Custom House cruisers
and the English Excise cruisers there was about as much friendship as
there exists usually between a dog and a cat. Similarly between the
former and the Naval cruisers there was considerable jealousy, and
every display of that pompous, bombastic exhibition of character which
was such a feature of the life of the eighteenth century, and the
first years of the next.
Although the Revenue cruisers were employed primarily and ordinarily
for the purpose of protecting the revenue, yet from time to time they
were mobilised for coast defence. On different occasions during the
eighteenth century they were lent to the Admiralty, and well supplied
with men and arms in readiness for actual warfare. After the third
quarter of the eighteenth century these Revenue cruisers seem to have
been built in greater numbers and with some improvement as to design,
which, seeing that they had so frequently been left well astern by the
smuggling cutters, was more than necessary. There was issued in
November of 1780, by the Board of Customs, an interesting letter that
shows how closely these cruisers approximated to vessels of war, even
when they were not under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty. This
letter was sent to the Collector and Controller at the different
English Customs ports, and began by referring to the fact that many
applications had been made to the Board asking permission to take out
Letters of Marque. It will be remembered that this was a time when
wars seemed to go on interminably, and there had been only a few brief
intervals of peace ever since the Anglo-Dutch wars began. The
Commissioners replied that they had no objection to the commanders of
the cruisers providing themselves with Letters of Marque, if done at
the latter's own expense "during present hostilities": but the Board
declined to bear any part of the expense for any damages that might be
sustained in an engagement where no seizure had been made and brought
into port for a breach of the Revenue laws, so long as a commander
should continue to hold these Letters of Marque. It was, in fact, a
basis of no cure no pay. Each commander was, further, strictly
enjoined not to quit his station and duty as a Revenue officer "under
pretence of looking for captures, it being our resolution to recall
the permission hereby granted, as soon as it shall be discovered in
any instance to be prejudicial to our service."
But this war-like and semi-war-like service was entirely subservient
to their ordinary work. It is evident from the correspondence of the
Customs Board of this same year, 1780, that their minds were very
uneasy. The smugglers, far from showing any slackening, had become
more active than ever. These men had, to quote the words of the
Commissioners, considerably increased the size and force of their
vessels; they had also added to their number of both men and guns.
They had become so violent and outrageous, they had acquired so much
audacity as to "carry on their illicit designs in sight of the Revenue
cruisers," and "whenever they have appeared within a certain distance
have actually fired into and threatened to sink them." In such cases
as these, it was reported to the Board, the mariners on board these
cruisers have frequently refused to bear down and repel their attacks,
explaining their conduct by saying that no provision was made for
their support in case they received injury during these encounters. To
meet such objections as these the Board resolved to allow the sum of
£10 per annum to every mariner employed on board their cruisers who
should lose a hand or foot, or receive any greater injury by firearms
"or other offensive weapons of the smugglers while in the actual
execution of their duty so as to disable them from further service;
and we have also resolved to pay the surgeons' bills for such of the
mariners as may receive slighter wounds." But it was stipulated that
no allowance was to be paid unless certificates were produced from the
commanders of these cruisers.
And before we go any further with the progress of these cutters, let
us afford actual instances of the kind of treatment which had led the
Board to make this allowance to its men. Three years before the above
resolution, that is to say on April 24, 1777, Captain Mitchell was
cruising in command of the Revenue cutter _Swallow_ in the North Sea.
Off Robin Hood's Bay he fell in with a smuggling cutter commanded by a
notorious contraband skipper who was known as "Smoker," or "Smoaker."
Mitchell was evidently in sufficient awe of him to give him a wide
berth, for the cruiser's commander in his official report actually
recorded that "Smoker" "waved us to keep off"! However, a few days
later, the _Swallow_, when off the Spurn, fell in with another famous
smuggler. This was the schooner _Kent_, of about two hundred tons,
skippered by a man known as "Stoney." Again did this gallant Revenue
captain send in his report to the effect that "as their guns were in
readiness, and at the same time waving us to go to the Northward, we
were, by reason of their superior force, obliged to sheer off, but did
our best endeavours to spoil his Market. There [_sic_] being a large
fleet of colliers with him."
But that was not to be their last meeting, for on May 2, when off
Whitby, the _Swallow_ again fell in with the _Kent_, but (wrote
Mitchell) the smuggler "would not let us come near him." The following
day the two ships again saw each other, and also on May 13, when off
Runswick Bay. On the latter occasion the _Kent_ "fired a gun for us,
as we imagined, to keep farther from him." The same afternoon the
_Swallow_ chased a large lugsail boat, with fourteen hands in her, and
supposed to belong to the _Kent_. But the _Swallow_ was about as timid
as her name, for, according to her commander, she was "obliged to
stand out to sea, finding that by the force they had in their boat,
and a number of people on shore, we had no chance of attacking them
with our boat, as they let us know they were armed, by giving us a
volley of small arms." None the less the _Swallow_ had also fourteen
men as her complement, so one would have thought that this
chicken-hearted commander would at least have made an effort to try
conclusions.
No doubt, the _Kent_ was a pretty tough customer, and both skipper and
his crew likewise. But there was something wanting in Captain
Mitchell. For consider another of the latter's exploits. It was the
last week of September of that same year, and the scene had again the
Yorkshire coast for its background. During the evening they espied
what they rightly believed to be a smuggling cutter. They got as far
as hailing her, but, as it was very dark, and the _Swallow_ did not
know the force of the cutter, Mitchell "thought it most prudent to
leave her," and so came to anchor in Saltburn Bay. But the smuggler
had not done with this enterprising gentleman; so the next day the
smuggler came into the bay, stood down under full sail, and came
charging down on to the poor _Swallow_, striking her on the quarter,
the smuggler swearing terrible oaths the meanwhile, that if Mitchell
did not promptly cut his cable--it was the days of hemp, still--and
hurry out of that anchorage, he would sink him. What happened, do you
ask? Of course the _Swallow_ ought to have been under way, and should
never have been lying there. She was acting contrary to the orders of
the Board. But what must we think of a captain who calmly awaits the
on-coming of a smuggler's attack? Why, so soon as the _Swallow_ espied
him approaching, did he not up anchor, hoist sails, and go to meet him
with his crew at their stations, and guns all shotted? But even after
this gross insult to himself, his ship, and his flag, was the
commander of a Revenue sloop to obey?
[Illustration: "Came charging down ... striking her on the quarter."]
Yes--it is shameful to have to record it--Mitchell did obey. True, he
didn't cut his cable, but he soon tripped his anchor and cleared out
as ordered. The poor _Swallow_ had been damaged both as to her tail
and her wings, for the smugglers had injured the stern, taken a piece
out of the boom, and carried away the topping-lift. But evidently in
those days the Revenue service attracted into its folds men of the
type of Mitchell. Take the case of Captain Whitehead of the Revenue
cruiser _Eagle_. Espying a smuggling vessel, he gave chase, and
eventually came up with her, also off Saltburn. Whitehead hailed her,
but the smuggler's skipper replied--one cannot resist a smile--"with
a horrid expression," and called his men to arms. The smuggler then
fired a volley with muskets, wounding one of the _Eagle's_ crew.
Presently they also fired their swivel-guns, "on which Captain
Whitehead thought it prudent to get away from her as fast as he could,
the greatest part of his people having quitted the deck."
The smuggler continued to fire at the retreating cruiser, and chased
the _Eagle_ for a whole hour after. The cutter turned out to be that
which Mitchell had encountered on April 24, 1777, and her skipper was
our friend "Smoker" again. This smuggling craft was described as a
stout cutter of 130 tons, and a crew of upwards of forty men. She
carried fourteen carriage guns, four three-pounders, as well as a
great number of swivels. "Smoker's" real name was David Browning, and
he was recognised by the _Eagle's_ crew from his voice, which was
familiar to several of them. During that affray the Revenue cruiser
received about twenty shot in her sails, about a dozen in her boat,
and half as many in her fore-and main-mast. She also had her mizzen
halyards shot away. From these details it would seem that she was
dandy-rigged, that is to say, she had a mizzen or jigger in addition
to her cutter rig, and on this jigger would be set a small lugsail as
was the old custom.
Following on Mitchell's meeting with the _Kent_, we have a record
belonging to July of that same year--1777. This time a different
result was to come about. For instead of acting single-handed, the
sloops _Prince of Wales_ and the _Royal George_--both being employed
by the Scottish Excise Board, aided by H.M.S. _Pelican_ and
_Arethusa_--four of them--at last managed to capture this schooner.
She was found to be armed with sixteen four-pounders and twenty
swivel-guns, and also had a large stock of gunpowder, blunderbusses,
and muskets. "Stoney" was taken out of her, and he was said to be an
outlaw whose real name was George Fagg. The guns and ammunition were
taken ashore and put in the King's warehouse at Hull, and the crew of
thirty-nine were placed on board the _Arethusa_. Among these prisoners
were those who had murdered a dragoon the previous year, while the
latter was assisting a Custom officer at Whitby. The arrest of these
men was all the more interesting for a reward of £100 for their
capture had been long outstanding.
The capture of the _Kent_ had been effected as follows: the two Excise
cruisers were off St. Abb's Head on July 8, and hearing that the
_Kent_ had been seen off Flamborough Head they sailed south, and off
Filey fell in with her. On being hailed, the smuggler beat to
quarters, shouting to the cruisers. "Fire, you ----, and be ---- to
you." The battle at once commenced and continued smartly for an hour,
when the _Pelican_ came up to give assistance to the two cruisers. The
_Kent_, big as she was, now used sweeps--it was reminiscent of the
days of Elizabethan galleasses--and drew away. However the _Pelican_
(a frigate) overhauled her, and the _Arethusa_ which had also come up
gave valuable aid as well. The two naval captains allowed the cruisers
to seize the _Kent_, and to take her into Hull, but the prisoners were
put on board the _Arethusa_ as stated. The _Kent's_ master and four of
the men had been killed. It should be added that the day before this
incident the _Pelican_ had also chased the _Kent_ out of Bridlington
Bay, so the smuggler must have come further north in the meanwhile,
thus meeting the two Scottish cruisers bound south. The hatches of the
_Kent_ were found to be unbattened, and her cargo in great disorder.
The latter consisted of 1974 half-ankers, and a large amount of tea
packed in oilskin-bags to the number of 554. This schooner had been
built at that other famous home of smugglers, Folkestone. She was
specially rigged for fast sailing, her mainmast being 77 feet long,
and her main-boom 57 feet. It was found that her sails were much
damaged by shot. Her mainmast was shot through in two places, and her
main-boom rendered quite unserviceable. Ship and tackle were appraised
at £1405, 16s., so with the addition of her cargo she represented a
fair prize.
But "Smoker" was still at large even though "Stoney" was a prisoner.
It was in April of 1777, when Captain Mitchell had fallen in with him
off Robin Hood's Bay. A month later the Collector of Hull wrote up to
the Board to say that a large lugger had been seen off Whitby, and
well armed. She was described as "greatly an overmatch" for any of the
Revenue cruisers, "or even for a joint attack of two of them": and
that as long as she and the armed cutter commanded by Browning,
_alias_ "Smoker" continued so daringly to "insult" the coasts, there
was little prospect of success. For six months past the Revenue
cruisers had not been able to make any seizures, because these
smuggling craft not only brought over vast quantities themselves, but
protected the smaller ones from the attempts of the Revenue cruisers.
A year later, and we find that Mitchell was every bit as slack as
before. This is made quite clear from a letter which the Collector of
Hull was compelled on November 12 (1778) to write. In this epistle he
informs Mitchell that either he or his mate, one of them, must remain
on board the _Swallow_ at night, when lying in the Humber. For it
appeared that two days earlier both were ashore. The mariner who had
the midnight watch on board the cruiser saw a vessel, supposed to be a
privateer, come right up the Humber into Hull Roads, sail around the
naval tender there lying, then sail round the _Swallow_, and finally
down the river again. Although there were twelve or fourteen men on
the supposed privateer's deck, yet the _Swallow's_ watchman did not
even hail her, Mitchell and his mate being ashore all the while.
Such incidents as the above show that there undoubtedly was cause for
the complaints of the Customs Board that the commanders of their
cruisers were not doing all that might have been done towards
suppressing the evil at hand. On the other hand, it was equally true
that the delinquents with whom these commanders had to contest were of
a particularly virulent and villainous type. Thus, between the
negligence of the one side, and the enterprise of the other, his
Majesty's revenue had to suffer very considerably. No better instance
of the potency of this lawlessness could be afforded than by an event
which happened in the summer of 1777. Everyone knows, of course, that
those were the days when men had to be impressed into the service of
the Navy, so that, when any of these hardy smugglers were captured,
they were valuable acquisitions to the Service, and far more useful
than many of the disease-stricken crews which so often had to be
shipped to make up a man-of-war's complement. In the year we are
speaking of a number of smugglers who had been captured on the North
Sea were put on board H.M. tender _Lively_ by Captain O'Hara of the
Impress service, the intention being to convey these men to one of his
Majesty's ships at the Nore. The tender got under way and was
proceeding to her destination when the smuggler-prisoners mutinied,
overpowered the _Lively's_ crew, and carried the _Lively_ into
Flushing.
And similar examples of the impudence and violence of other North Sea
smugglers could also be quoted. On the 7th of May 1778, Captain Bland,
of the _Mermaid_ Revenue cruiser, was off Huntcliff Fort, when he
sighted a smuggling shallop.[9] Bland promptly bore down, and as he
approached hailed her. But the shallop answered by firing a broadside.
The Revenue cruiser now prepared to engage her, whereupon the shallop
hoisted an English pennant, which was evidently a signal for
assistance, for a large armed cutter promptly appeared and came to the
shallop's rescue. Seeing that he was overmatched, Bland, therefore,
sheered off. During the same month Captain Whitehead, of the _Eagle_,
to whom we have already referred, reported that he seldom went for a
cruise without being fired on, and he mentioned that sometimes these
smuggling vessels carried musket-proof breast-works--a kind of early
armour-plating, in fact.
The principal rendezvous of the smuggling craft in the North Sea was
Robin Hood's Bay. Whenever the cruisers used to approach that bight
the smugglers would sail out, fire upon them, and drive them along the
coast. Before firing, the smugglers always hoisted English colours,
and on one occasion a smuggling craft had the temerity to run
alongside a Revenue cruiser, hail her, and in a derisive manner
ordered the commander to send his boat aboard. We spoke just now of
the superior sailing qualities which these smuggling craft frequently
possessed over the Revenue cruisers, and on one occasion, in the North
Sea, the master of a smuggling shallop, when being pursued, impudently
lowered his lugsail--that would be his mizzen--to show that the
cruiser could not come up and catch him. And lest that dishonourable
incident previously mentioned, of a cruiser being ordered out of
Saltburn Bay, may be thought a mere isolated event, let us hasten to
add that the cruiser _Mermaid_ was lying at anchor off Dunstanburgh
Castle, on the Northumbrian coast, when Edward Browning came alongside
her in an armed shallop named the _Porcupine_, belonging to Sandwich.
He insisted on the _Mermaid_ getting up her anchor and leaving that
region: "otherwise he would do him a mischief." Indeed, were these
facts not shown unmistakably by actual eye-witnesses to be the very
reverse of fiction, one might indeed feel doubtful as to accepting
them. But it is unlikely that cruiser-commanders would go out of their
way to record incidents which injured their reputation, had these
events never in reality occurred.
Some idea of the degree of success which smuggling vessels attained
during this eighteenth century may be gathered from the achievements
of a cutter which was at work on the south coast. Her name was the
_Swift_, and she belonged to Bridport. She was of 100 tons burthen,
carried no fewer than 16 guns and a crew of fifty. During the year
1783 she had made several runs near Torbay, and on each occasion had
been able to land about 2000 casks of spirits, as well as 4 or 5 tons
of tea. Afterwards the whole of this valuable cargo had been run
inland by about 200 men, in defiance of the Revenue officers. Then
there was the _Ranger_, a bigger craft still, of 250 tons. She carried
an enormous crew for her size--nearly 100--and mounted 22 guns. She
had been built at Cawsand, that village which in smuggling days
attained so much notoriety, and stands at the end of a delightful bay
facing the western end of Plymouth Breakwater. This vessel had a
successful time in landing cargoes to the east of Torbay without
paying the lawful duty. And there were many fishing-boats of from 18
to 25 tons, belonging to Torbay, which were at this time accustomed to
run across the Channel, load up with the usual contraband, and then
hover about outside the limits of the land. When they were convinced
that the coast was clear of any cruisers they would run into the bay
and land, sink or raft their cargoes, according to circumstances.
And now, leaving for the present actual skirmishes and chases in
which the Revenue cruisers were concerned, let us look a little more
closely into their organisation. From the report by the Commissioners
appointed to examine the Public Accounts of the kingdom, and issued in
1787, it is shown that the Custom House cruisers were of two classes:
(1) Those which were owned by the Board, and (2) Those which were
hired by contract. And as to this latter class there was a further
subdivision into two other classes; for one section of these vessels
was furnished by the Crown, no charge being made for the hire. But her
outfit, her future repairs, in addition to the wages and victualling
of the crew, and all other expenses, were paid out of the produce of
the seizures which these cruisers effected. After this, if anything
remained beyond these deductions, the residue was to be divided
between the Crown and the contractor. Very often, of course, when a
fine haul was made of a £1000 worth of cargo, there was quite a nice
little sum for both parties to the contract, and a few other, smaller,
seizures during the year would make the business quite a profitable
undertaking. But when the amount of seizures was not sufficient to
defray the expenses the deficiency was supplied by the contractor and
Crown in equal proportions. That, then, was one of these two
subdivisions of contracted cruisers.
But in the second of these the contractor provided the vessel, for
which he was paid the sum of 4s. 6d. a ton per lunar month. It may
seem at first that this was poor remuneration, especially when one
recollects that to-day, when the Government hires liners from the
great steamship companies, the rate of payment is £1 per ton per
month. In the case of even a 10,000-ton liner there is thus a very
good payment for about thirty days. But in the case of a cutter of 100
tons or less, in the eighteenth century, 4s. 6d. per ton may seem very
small in comparison. However, we must bear in mind that although for
this money the contractor was to find the outfit of the vessel, and be
responsible for all repairs needed, yet the aforesaid contractor might
make a good deal more in a lucky year. It was done on the following
basis. From the produce of the seizures made by this subdivision of
cruisers all remaining charges additional to those mentioned above
were paid, but the surplus was divided between the Crown and
contractor. Thus the latter stood to gain a large sum if only a
moderate number of seizures had been made, and there was, by this
method, every incentive for the hired cruisers to use their best
endeavours to effect captures. Still, if there was a deficiency
instead of a surplus, this was also shared by both contracting
parties.
In the year 1784 there were, reckoning all classes, 44 cruisers
employed, and 1041 men as crews. Of these cruisers the Commander, the
Chief Mate and Second Mate, and, in certain vessels, the Deputed
Mariners, were all officers of the Customs. In the case of the first
class of cruisers--those which were on the establishment--these
officers were appointed by the Board pursuant to warrants from the
Treasury. In the case of the second--those which were hired by
contract--the officers were appointed by the Customs Board. The
captain of the cruiser was paid £50 per annum, the chief mate either
£35 or £30, and the crew were each paid £15. But, as we shall see from
a later page, the rate of pay was considerably increased some years
afterwards. The victualling allowance was at the rate of 9d. per diem
for each man on board, and an allowance of 1s. each was made by the
lunar month for fire and candle. This last-mentioned allowance was
also modified in the course of time. Some idea as to the seriousness,
from a financial point of view, of this cruiser fleet may be gathered
from the statement that these 44 vessels cost the Government for a
year's service the sum of £44,355, 16s. 1d.
The largest of these forty-four cruisers was the _Repulse_, 210 tons.
She carried 33 men and was stationed at Colchester. Her cost for this
year (1784) was £1552, 16s. 8d. She was not one of the hired vessels,
but on the establishment. Next in size came the _Tartar_, 194 tons,
with 31 men, her station being Dover. She was on the establishment,
and her annual cost was £1304, 6s. 2-1/2d. Of the same tonnage was the
_Speedwell_, which cruised between Weymouth and Cowes. There was also
the _Rose_, 190 tons, with 30 men, stationed at Southampton, being on
the establishment likewise. Next to her in size came the _Diligence_,
175 tons, with 32 men. She cruised between Poole and Weymouth. She was
one of the hired vessels, and was in 1784 removed from Weymouth to
have her headquarters at Cowes. The smallest of all the cruisers at
this time was the _Nimble_, 41 tons and a crew of 30. She also was a
hired craft. Her station was at Deal, and her annual cost was £1064,
9s. 9d. for the year mentioned.
But though there was less expenditure needed at the outset, these
contract ships were not altogether satisfactory: or rather it was the
method than the cruisers themselves. For if we have any knowledge at
all of human nature, and especially of the dishonest character which
so frequently manifested itself in the eighteenth century, we can
readily imagine that the contractor, unless he was a scrupulously
honourable man, would naturally succumb to the temptation to economise
too strictly regarding the keeping the ship in the best condition of
repair; or he might gain a little by giving her not quite a
sufficiently numerous crew, thus saving both wages and victuals. For
the Crown allowed a certain number of men, and paid for the complement
which they were supposed to carry.
Therefore, since this arrangement was marked by serious drawbacks, the
contract system was discontinued, and at the beginning of 1788 fifteen
contracts were ended, and five other cruisers' contracts were not
renewed when they expired in that year. All the cruisers in the
employment of the Customs Service were now placed on the
establishment, and the practice of paying the charges and expenses out
of the King's share of the condemned goods was rescinded. In the year
1797 the number of Customs cruisers was 37, the commanders being
appointed by the Treasury; and it may be not without interest to
mention the names, tonnage, and guns of some of those which were on
the books for that year. There was the _Vigilant_, which was described
as a yacht, 53 tons, 6 guns, and 13 men; the _Vigilant_ cutter, 82
tons, 8 guns. During the winter season she cruised with ten additional
hands off the coasts of Essex, Kent, and Sussex. There was another,
the _Diligence_, given as of 152 tons; the _Swallow_, 153 tons and 10
guns; the _Lively_, 113 tons, 12 guns, and 30 men. The _Swift_, 52
tons and 8 men, used to cruise between the Downs and the Long Sand (to
the North of the North Foreland at the mouth of the Thames). Some of
the old names under the former dual system are seen to be commemorated
in the _Nimble_ (41 tons, 2 guns, 15 men). Her station was Deal, and
she used to cruise between the Forelands. The _Tartar_ of this period
was of 100 tons, had 10 guns and 23 men. But the _Greyhound_,
probably one of the fastest cruisers, was of 200 tons, mounted 16
guns, and carried 43 men. Her cruising ground was between Beachy Head
and the Start, and her station at Weymouth. A much smaller craft was
the cruiser _Busy_ (46 tons and 11 men). Her cruising was in a much
smaller area--around Plymouth Sound and Cawsand Bay.
Owing to the fact that commanders had been wont too often to run into
port for real or imaginary repairs, the Commissioners decided that in
future, when a cruiser put in, she was to inform the Collector and
Controller of that port by means of her commander, and both to give
his reasons for coming in, and to estimate the length of time he was
likely to remain in port, before his being able to sail again.
With regard to the prize-money which these cruisers were able to make;
before the year 1790 there had been a diversity of practice in the
method of sharing. In allotting rewards to officers for seizing
vessels which afterwards had been taken into the Revenue Service, it
had formerly been the practice to deduct the whole of the charges out
of the officers' moiety of the appraised value. But from April 14,
1790, "for the encouragement of the seizing officers," the charge was
deducted from the total appraised value, and the seizing officers were
to be paid a moiety of the net produce, if any. It had also been the
custom to allow the commanders of Admiralty cruisers permission to use
seized vessels as tenders. But from May 6, 1790, this practice was
also discontinued by the Board, who ordered that in case any such
vessels were so employed at the different ports, the commanders were
to deliver them up "with their tackle, apparel, and furniture," to the
Collector and Controller of Customs.
We referred some time back to the fact that these Revenue cruisers at
times were mobilised for war, and also that to them were granted
Letters of Marque. In this connection there is to be noted an
interesting warrant, under the King's sign-manual, dated June 11,
1795, which reads:--
"Whereas the Commissioners of our Treasury have represented unto
us that the cutters in the service of our Revenues of Customs have
captured several Ships and Vessels belonging to the enemy, and
have recommended it unto us to issue our warrant to grant the
proceeds of the Prizes that have been or shall be taken by the
cutters in the service of our Customs, granted to the cutters
capturing such prizes respectively, and the expenses of the
proceedings, in regard thereto, among officers and crews of the
vessels in the search of our Customs, who made the said captures,
together with the head-money, in all cases where head-money is or
may be due by law....
"Our will and pleasure is that the proceeds of all such Prizes as
have been or shall be taken from the enemy in the course of the
present war, by the cutters in the service of our Revenue of
Customs, after deducting all expenses of the Letters of Marque
granted to the cutters capturing such Prizes respectively, and the
expenses of the proceedings in regard thereto, together with the
head-money in all cases where head-money is or may be due by law,
shall be distributed in the manner following; that is to say":--
The Commander 14/32 ds.
Mate 7/32 ds.
Deputed Mariner, or deputed } 3/32 ds., exclusive of their
mariners if more than one } shares as Mariners.
Other Mariners 8/32 ds.
If there is no deputed Mariner,
The Commander 1/2
The Mate 1/4
Mariners 1/4
It may be mentioned, in passing, that a "deputed" mariner was one who
held a deputation from the Customs Board. Another warrant, similar to
the above, and to the same effect, was issued on July 4, of that
memorable year 1805. In July of 1797, the Customs Commissioners drew
attention to the third article of the "Instructions for the
Commanders and Mates of the Cruisers employed in the service of this
Revenue," reminding them that the commanders, mariners, and mates were
in no case to be allowed to participate in the officers' shares of
seizures made by the crews of the cruisers unless the first-mentioned
had been actually present at the time when the seizure was made, or
could afford satisfactory proof that they were necessarily absent on
some duty. Therefore the Board now directed that, whenever the crews
of the cruisers made a seizure, a list of the officers who were not
actually on board or in the boats of the cruisers at that time was to
be transmitted to the Board with the account of the seizure. Then
follows the other instruction which has already been alluded to. In
order that the station of the aforesaid cruisers may never be left
unguarded by their coming into port for provisions, or to be cleaned
and refitted, or for any other necessary purpose, the commanders were
instructed to arrange with each other "that nothing but absolute
necessity shall occasion their being in Port at one and the same
time."
It will be recognised that the object of this was, if possible, to
keep the officers of the cruisers on board their vessels, and at sea,
instead of ever running into port. For it would seem that by more than
one of these gentlemen the work of cruising on behalf of the Revenue
Service was regarded too much in the light of a pleasant, extended
yachting trip, with an occasional chase and seizure of a smuggling
craft to break the monotony of their existence and to swell their
purses. But such a pleasant life was not that contemplated by the
Customs authorities.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] "Shallop, a sort of large boat with two masts, and usually rigged
like a schooner."--MOORE.
CHAPTER VII
CUTTERS AND SLOOPS
We have spoken during the preceding chapters of the revenue cruisers
sometimes as cutters and sometimes as sloops. For the reason that will
quickly become apparent let us now endeavour to straighten out any
confusion which may have arisen in the mind of the reader.
Practically, sloops and cutters of these days were one and the same,
with very minor differences. In a valuable French nautical volume
published in 1783, after explaining that the cutter came to the French
from England, the definition goes on to state that in her rigging and
sail-plan she resembles a sloop, except that the former has her mast
longer, and inclined further aft, and has greater sail-area. The
cutter also has but little freeboard, and in order to carry her large
sail-area she draws more water. This authority then goes on to mention
that such craft as these cutters are employed by the smugglers of the
English Channel, "and being able to carry a good deal of sail they can
easily escape from the guardships. The English Government, for the
same reason, maintain a good many of these craft so as to stop these
smugglers." Our English authority, Falconer, described the cutter as
having one mast and a straight-running bowsprit that could be run
inboard on deck. But for this, and the fact that the cutter's
sail-area was larger, these craft were much the same as sloops.
Falconer also states that a sloop differs from a cutter by having a
fixed steeving bowsprit and a jib-stay. Moore, who was also a
contemporary, makes similar definitions in almost identical language.
The real difference, then, was that the cutter could run her bowsprit
inboard, but the sloop could not.
Now, in the year 1785, a very interesting matter occupied the
attention of the Board of Customs in this connection. It appeared that
in an important trial concerning a certain vessel the defence was set
up that this vessel had changed her character by so altering her
"boltsprit" that it became fixed and could not be run inboard. It was
found that all which her owners had done was to pass an iron bolt
through the bits and heel of the bowsprit, clenching it. The defendant
insisted that thus he had rendered it a complete standing "boltsprit,"
and not a running one: and that, therefore, by such alteration, his
vessel became transformed from a cutter to a sloop. And, according to
the definitions which we have just brought forward, one would have
thought that this was a good defence. However, the Crown thought
otherwise, and contended that the alteration was a mere evasion of
the Act in question, and that the vessel remained a cutter because
such fastening could be removed at pleasure, and then the "boltsprit"
would run in and out as it did before the alteration. The jury also
took this view, and the cutter, which thought herself a sloop, was
condemned. The Revenue officers and commanders of Admiralty sloops
were accordingly warned to make a note of this. For a number of years
the matter was evidently left at that. But in 1822 the Attorney and
Solicitor-General, after a difficult case had been raised, gave the
legal distinction as follows, the matter having arisen in connection
with the licensing of a craft: "A cutter may have a standing bowsprit
of a certain length without a licence, but the distinction between a
sloop and a cutter should not be looked for in the rigging but in the
build and form of the hull, and, therefore, when a carvel-built vessel
corresponds as to her hull with the usual form of a sloop, she will
not merely, by having a running bowsprit, become a cutter within the
meaning of the Act of the 24 Geo. III. cap. 47, and consequently will
not be liable to forfeiture for want of a licence." From this it will
be seen that whereas Falconer and other nautical authorities relied on
the fixing of the bowsprit to determine the difference, the legal
authorities relied on a difference in hull. The point is one of great
interest, and I believe the matter has never been raised before by
any modern nautical writer.[10]
As to what a Revenue cutter looked like, the illustrations which have
been here reproduced will afford the reader a very good idea. And
these can be supplemented by the following description which Marryat
gives in _The Three Cutters_. It should be mentioned that the period
of which he is speaking is that which we have been contemplating, the
end of the eighteenth century.
"She is a cutter," he writes, "and you may know that she belongs to
the Preventive Service by the number of gigs and galleys which she has
hoisted up all round her. She looks like a vessel that was about to
sail with a cargo of boats: two on deck, one astern, one on each side
of her. You observe that she is painted black, and all her boats are
white. She is not such an elegant vessel as the yacht, and she is much
more lumbered up.... Let us go on board. You observe the guns are
iron, and painted black, and her bulwarks are painted red; it is not a
very becoming colour, but then it lasts a long while, and the dockyard
is not very generous on the score of paint--or lieutenants of the navy
troubled with much spare cash. She has plenty of men, and fine men
they are; all dressed in red flannel shirts and blue trousers; some of
them have not taken off their canvas or tarpaulin petticoats, which
are very useful to them, as they are in the boats night and day, and
in all weathers. But we will at once go down into the cabin, where we
shall find the lieutenant who commands her, a master's mate, and a
midshipman. They have each their tumbler before them, and are drinking
gin-toddy, hot, with sugar--capital gin, too, 'bove proof; it is from
that small anker standing under the table. It was one that they forgot
to return to the Custom House when they made their last seizure."
In 1786, by the 26 Geo. III. c. 40, section 27, it was made lawful for
any commander of any of his Majesty's vessels of war, or any officer
by them authorised, to make seizures without a deputation or
commission from the Commissioners of the Customs. Those were curious
times when we recollect that apart altogether from the men-of-war of
varying kinds, there were large numbers of armed smuggler-cutters,
Custom-House cutters with letters of marque, privateers, and even
Algerine corsairs from the Mediterranean, in the English Channel. It
is to-day only a hundred and fifty years ago since one of these
Algerine craft was wrecked near Penzance in the early autumn.
We mentioned just now the Act of George III. which required craft to
be licensed. This was another of the various means employed for the
prevention of smuggling, and since the passing of this Act those
luggers and cutters which engaged in the running of goods endeavoured
to evade the Act's penalties by possessing themselves of foreign
colours and foreign ship's papers. Now, as a fact, by far the greater
part of such craft belonged to Deal, Folkestone, and other south-coast
ports of England. Their masters were also from the same localities,
and very few of them could speak Dutch or French. But for the purpose
of evading the English law they got themselves made burghers of
Ostend, and notwithstanding that their crews were for the most part
English they designated their craft as foreign.
During the year 1785 it happened that two of these pseudo-foreign
smuggling craft were chased by an English frigate. Owing to the fact
that the frigate had no pilot on board, one of these vessels escaped,
but the other, after a chase lasting five hours, realised that she
would soon be overhauled. Her master, therefore, threw overboard his
cargo as the frigate fast approached, and in company with a number of
his crew took to his large boat. The lugger, after no fewer than
twenty shots had been fired at her, hove-to. On taking possession of
the lugger and examining her papers it appeared that her master's name
was the very English-sounding Thomas March, and yet he described
himself as a burgher of Ostend, the vessel being owned by a merchant.
The master's excuse was that he was a pilot-boat cruising with a
number of pilots on board, and for this reason it was decided to give
him the benefit of the doubt and not detain him. But the frigate's
captain had noticed that before the lugger had hove-to during the
evening a part of the cargo had been thrown overboard. The following
morning, therefore, he proceeded on board a Revenue cutter, "went into
the track where the cargo was thrown overboard," and was able to find
just what he had expected, for he located and drew out of the sea no
fewer than 700 half-ankers of foreign spirits.
This precedent opened up an important question; for if a neutral
vessel, or indeed any craft similarly circumstanced as the above, were
to anchor off the English coast it was hardly possible to detect her
in running goods, as it seldom took more than an hour to land a whole
cargo, owing to the great assistance which was given from the people
on the shore. For, as it was officially pointed out, as soon as one of
these vessels was sighted 300 people could usually be relied on with
200 or more carts and waggons to render the necessary service.
Therefore the commanders of the cutters sought legal advice as to how
they should act on meeting with luggers and cutters without Admiralty
passes on the English coast but more or less protected with foreign
papers and sailing under foreign colours.
The matter was referred to the Attorney-General, who gave his opinion
that vessels were forfeitable only in the event of their being the
property in whole or part of his Majesty's subjects; but where the
crew of such a vessel appeared all to be English subjects, or at any
rate the greatest part of them, it was his opinion that there was a
sufficient reason for seizing the vessel if she was near the English
coast. She was then to be brought into port so that, if she could, she
might prove that she belonged wholly to foreigners. "A British
subject," continued the opinion, "being made a burgher of Ostend does
not thereby cease to be a subject. Vessels hovering within four
leagues of the British coast, with an illicit cargo, as that of this
vessel appears to have been, are forfeited whether they are the
property of Britons or foreigners."
It was not once but on various occasions that the Customs Board
expressed themselves as dissatisfied with the amount of success which
their cruisers had attained in respect of the work allotted to them.
At the beginning of the year 1782 they referred to "the enormous
increase of smuggling, the outrages with which it is carried on, the
mischiefs it occasions to the country, the discouragement it creates
to all fair traders, and the prodigious loss the Revenue sustains by
it." The Board went on to state that "diligent and vigorous exertions
by the cruising vessels employed in the service of the Customs
certainly might very much lessen it." The Commissioners expressed
themselves as dissatisfied with the lack of success, and ordered that
the officers of the Waterguard were especially to see that the
commander and mate of every Revenue vessel or boat bringing in a
seizure were actually on board when such seizure was made.
A few days later--the date is January 16, 1788--the Board, having
received information that great quantities of tobacco and spirits were
about to be smuggled in from France, Flanders, Guernsey, and Alderney,
warned the Preventive officers of the various ports, and directed the
commanders of the Admiralty cruisers, which happened to be stationed
near the ports, to be especially vigilant to intercept "these attempts
of the illicit dealers, so that the Revenue may not be defrauded in
those articles to the alarming degree it has hitherto been." And the
officers were bluntly told that if they were to exert themselves in
guarding the coast night and day such fraudulent practices could not
be carried on in the shameful manner they now were. "And though the
Riding officers may not always have it in their power to seize the
goods from a considerable body of smugglers, yet if such officers were
to keep a watchful eye on their motions, and were to communicate early
information thereof to the Waterguard, they may thereby render
essential service to the Revenue."
When the soldiers assisted the Revenue officers in making seizures on
shore it was frequently the case that the military had difficulty in
recovering from the Revenue men that share of prize-money which was
their due. The Collector of each port was therefore directed in future
to retain in his hands out of the officers' shares of seizures so much
as appeared to be due to the soldiers, and the names of the latter who
had rendered assistance were to be inserted in the account of the
seizures sent up to headquarters. But the jealousy of the military's
aid somehow never altogether died out, and ten years after the above
order there was still delay in rendering to the army men their due
share of the seizures.
The commanders of the Revenue cruisers were told to keep an especial
watch on the homeward-bound East Indiamen to prevent "the illicit
practices that are continually attempted to be committed from them."
Therefore these cruisers were not only to watch these big ships
through the limits of their own station, but also to keep as near them
when under sail as possible, provided this can be done with safety and
propriety. But when the East Indiamen come to anchor the cruisers are
also to anchor near them, and compel all boats and vessels coming from
them to bring-to in order to be examined. They are "then to proceed to
rummage such boats and vessels. And if any goods are found therein
they are to be seized, together with the boats in which they are
found." The importance of this very plain instruction is explained by
the further statement that "some of the commanders of the cruisers in
the service of the Revenue endeavour to shun these ships, and thereby
avoid attending them through their station."
On Christmas Eve of 1784 the Customs Commissioners sent word to all
the ports saying that they suspected that there were a good many
vessels and boats employed in smuggling which were thus liable to
forfeiture. Therefore, within forty-eight hours from the receipt of
this information sent by letter, a close and vigorous search was to be
made by the most active and trusty officers at each port into every
bay, river, creek, and inlet within the district of each port, as well
as all along the coast, so as to discover and seize such illegal
vessels and boats. And if there were any boats quartered within the
neighbourhood of each port, timely notice of the day and hour of the
intended search was to be sent by the Collector and Controller in
confidence to the commanding officer only, that he might hold his
soldiers in readiness. Yet, again the Board exhorted the Revenue
officers "to exert yourselves to the utmost of your power ... and as
it is very probable that the places where such boats and vessels are
kept may be known to the officers who have long resided at your port,
you are to acquaint such officers that if they value their characters
or employments, or have any regard to the solemn oath they took at
their admission, we expect they will, on this occasion, give the
fullest and most ample information of all such places, and will
cheerfully afford every other aid and assistance in their power, to
the end that the said vessels and boats may be discovered and seized.
"And to prevent them from being launched into the water, and carried
off by the smugglers after seizure, you are to cause one of the
streaks (= strakes) or planks to be ripped off near the keel, taking
care at the same time to do as little other injury to each boat as
possible."
We now come to witness the reappearance of an old friend of whom we
last made mention in the North Sea. The year we are now to consider is
1788, and the 15th of July. On that day H.M. cutter _Kite_ was sailing
from Beachy Head to the westward. She passed to the southward of the
Isle of Wight without sighting it, as the weather was thick. Later in
the day it cleared as they got near to the Dorsetshire coast, and
about 7.30 P.M., when they were between Peveril Point (near Swanage)
and St. Alban's Head, and it was clearer and still not night, the
ship's surgeon discovered a vessel some distance away on the weather
bow. The weather had now cleared so much that the house on the top of
St. Alban's Head was quite visible. The surgeon called the attention
of a midshipman on board to the strange vessel. The midshipman, whose
name was Cornelius Quinton, took a bearing, and found that the
stranger bore W.S.W. from the cutter, and was steering E.S.E. He also
took a bearing of Peveril Point, which bore N.1/2W., and judged the
smuggler to be about 9 miles from Peveril Point. About 8 o'clock the
cutter began to give chase, and this continued until 11 P.M., the
course being now S.E. After a time the lugger hauled up a point, so
that she was heading S.E. by S., the wind being moderate S.W. During
the chase the lugger did her best to get away from the cutter, and set
her main topsail. The cutter at the time was reefed, but when she saw
the lugger's topsail going up she shook out her reefs and set her gaff
topsail. It was some little time before the _Kite_ had made up her
mind that she was a smuggler, for at first she was thought to be one
of the few Revenue luggers which were employed in the service. About
11 o'clock, then, the _Kite_ was fast overhauling her, notwithstanding
that the lugger, by luffing up that extra point, came more on the wind
and so increased her pace. It was at first a cloudy night--and perhaps
that may have made the _Kite's_ skipper a little nervous, for he could
hardly need to be reefed in a moderate breeze--but presently the sky
cleared.
As the _Kite_ approached she hoisted her signals and fired a musket
shot. (As there is a good deal of confusion existing concerning the
signals of the old Revenue cutters, it is worth noting that although
it was night these signals were displayed. I make this statement on
the unimpeachable sworn evidence of the _Kite's_ crew, so the matter
cannot be questioned.) But in spite of these signals, which every
seafaring man of that time knew very well meant that the pursued
vessel was to heave-to, the lugger still held on and took no notice.
After that the _Kite_ continued to fire several times from her swivel
guns. Later still, as the _Kite_ came yet closer, the latter hailed
her and requested her to lower her sails, informing her at the same
time that she was a King's cutter. Still the lugger paid no heed, so
the cutter now fired at her from muskets. It was only after this that
the lugger, seeing her chance of escape was gone, gave up, lowered
sail, wore round, and came under the _Kite's_ stern. The cutter
hoisted out a boat, the midshipman already mentioned was sent aboard
the lugger, and the latter's master was brought to the _Kite_, when
whom should they find to be their prisoner but David Browning, better
known as "Smoker," of North Sea fame? When the _Kite's_ captain asked
for his papers "Smoker" replied that he had no papers but a bill of
sale. He was afterwards heard to remark that if he had understood the
log line he would not have been so near the land as he was, and
admitted he had been bound for Flushing, having doubtless just landed
a cargo on the beach.
The lugger was found to be decked and clinker-built with a running
bowsprit on which she set a jib. Six carriage guns were also found on
board, mounted on her deck. Four of these guns were observed to be
loaded, three with powder and one with shot, and they were 4-pounders.
After the capture was made the two vessels lay for a time hove-to on
the heaving sea under the star-specked sky. The lugger was then put in
charge of the midshipman and a prize crew from the cutter, the
prisoners being of course taken on board the _Kite_. Both lugger and
cutter then let draw their sails, and set a course N.E. for the Isle
of Wight until 2 A.M. As it then came on thick the vessels hove-to
until daylight, when sail was made again, the lugger being sent on
ahead to sound, so as to see how near they were approaching the Isle
of Wight. Later on they found themselves in 12 fathoms and judged
themselves to be near the Owers. Eventually, having steered about
N.N.E. and sighted Chichester Church in the distance, they went about
and stood south, the wind having veered to W.N.W., and at 3.30 P.M.
let go anchor in Spithead. Browning in due time appeared in Court, and
a verdict was given for the King, so that at last this celebrated
smuggler had been caught after many an exciting chase.
It was not many years after this incident that a 70-ton cutter named
the _Charming Molly_ arrived at Portsmouth. A Customs officer went on
board her and found a man named May, who produced the key of the
spirit-room, saying he was master of the ship. In the spirit-room the
Customs officer found a hogshead of gin containing 62 gallons. May was
anxious to show that this was quite legitimate, as there were sixteen
men aboard and the contents of this cask were for their use. The
Customs officer now inquired if there was any more liquor on the ship,
and May replied in the negative, at first. The officer then said he
would search the cabin, whereupon May added that there was a small
cask which he had picked up at sea and had kept for the crew's use.
This cask was found in May's own state-room, and contained about three
gallons of brandy, though it was capable of holding another gallon and
no doubt recently had so done. However, May now said that that was the
entire lot, and there was not a drop of anything else on board. Yet
again the officer was not to be put off, and found in the state-room
on the larboard side a place that was locked. May then explained that
this locker belonged to a man named Sheriff, who was at present
ashore, and had the key with him. However May volunteered, if the
officer saw fit, to open it, but at the same time assured him there
was no liquor therein. The officer insisted on having it broken open,
when there were discovered two new liquor cases containing each twelve
bottles of brandy, making in all eight gallons, and two stone bottles
of brandy containing five gallons. Even now May assured the officer
that he had no more in the ship, but after a further search the
officer found twelve dozen bottles of wine in a locked locker in the
cabin.
We need not follow this case any further, but as a fine example of
deliberate lying it is hard to beat. Throughout the exciting career of
a smuggler, when chased or captured, in running goods by night or
stealing out to get clear of the land before the sun came up, this one
quality of coolness in action or in verbal evasion ever characterised
him. He was so frequently and continuously face to face with a
threatening episode that he became used to the condition.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] See also Appendix I.
CHAPTER VIII
PREVENTIVE ORGANISATION
We have already frequently referred to the Riding officers who were
attached to practically all the chief ports of England. For the
reasons already given the south-east coast had especially to be well
provided in this respect. And, because of the proximity to the Isle of
Man, the Solway Firth had also to be protected efficiently by these
officers, additional, of course, to the aid rendered by the cruisers.
Wales, however, seems to have been left practically unprotected. In
the year 1809 there was inaugurated what was known as the Preventive
Waterguard in order to supplement the endeavours of the cruisers and
Riding officers. Under this arrangement the coast of England and Wales
was divided into three districts, each of which was under an
Inspecting Commander, the Revenue cruisers being now included in the
Preventive Waterguard.
The three districts with the three Inspecting Commanders were as
follows:--
District 1.--Land's End to the Port of Carlisle inclusive. Inspecting
Commander, Captain John Hopkins.
District 2.--North Foreland to Land's End. Inspecting Commander,
Captain William Blake.
District 3.--North Foreland to the Port of Berwick inclusive.
Inspecting Commander, Captain John Sayers, "whose duty it is
constantly to watch, inspect, and report to us [the Customs Board]
upon the conduct of the Commanders of Cruisers and the Sitters of
Preventive Boats along the district."
For it was because they required a more effectual control and
inspection of the officers employed in preventing and detecting
smuggling that this fresh organisation was made. Certain stations were
also allotted to the commanders of the cruisers, within each
district--two to each station--and the stations and limits were also
appointed for Preventive boats. The "sitters" of the Preventive boats
were those who sat in the stern of these open, rowed craft and acted
in command of them. The Collector and Controller were also addressed
in the following terms, which showed that the Board were still doing
their utmost to rid the service of the inefficiency and negligence to
which we have had occasion to draw attention. "You are to observe,"
wrote the Commissioners, "that one material object of the duty imposed
upon the Inspecting Commanders is to see that the cruisers are
constantly and regularly on their stations, unless prevented by some
necessary and unavoidable cause, and with their proper complements of
men and boats, and if they are off their station or in port personally
to examine into the occasion of their being so, and that they are
absent from their station no longer than is essentially requisite."
At the end of every year the Inspecting Commanders were to lay before
the Board of Customs the conduct of the several officers within their
district and the state in which smuggling then was, and "whether on
the progress or decline, in what articles, and at what places carried
on." For the Board was determined "to probe the conduct of the
Preventive officers and punish them" for any laxity and negligence,
for which faults alone they would be dismissed. And in order that the
vigilance and faithful duty in the commanders and officers on board
the cruisers "may not be deprived of fair and due reward" their rate
of pay was now increased, together with some addition made to the
allowance for victualling, "and also to provide for the certainty of
an annual emolument to a fixed amount in respect to the commanders and
mates, by the following regulations":--
INSPECTING CRUISERS
Commander, each per annum, £200 to be made up to £500 net.
1st Mates, each per annum, £75 to be made up to £150 net.
2nd Mates, each per annum, £50 to be made up to £75 net.
But these increases were conditional on their salaries, shares of
seizures and penalties, and all other emoluments of that description
not having amounted to the salaries now offered. The deputed mariners
were to have £5 or £3 each, per lunar month. Mariners who had no
deputation were to have £3 a month, boys on the cruisers £10 per
annum. As to victualling, the commanders and mates were to have 3s.
each per diem, mariners 1s. 6d. each per diem. Fire and candle for
each person were to be allowed for at the rate of 1s. 6d. per lunar
month.
Under each Inspecting Commander were to be two tenders in each
district, and the mates who were acting as commanders of these were to
have their existing £75 a year raised to £150 net in case their
salaries, shares of seizures, and other emoluments of that description
should not amount to these sums. Deputed mariners, mariners, boys,
victualling, fire, and candle were all to be paid for just as in the
case of the inspecting cruisers above mentioned. This was to date from
October 10, 1809. A few months later a like improvement was made in
the salaries of cruisers in general, for from the 5th of January 1810,
commanders of these were to have their £100 per annum raised to £250
net--the above conditions "in case their salaries, shares of seizures,
&c." did not make up this amount being also here prevalent--whilst
first mates were to be raised from £60 to £100 net. If sec
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