King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 Part 8

cruising close to Dungeness on the look-out for smuggling craft. At the time mentioned they saw a large decked lugger which seemed to them indeed to be a smuggler. It stood on its course and eventually must run its nose ash.o.r.e. Thereupon a boat's crew, consisting of men from the _Tartar_ and the _Lively_, got out their oars and rowed to the spot where the lugger was evidently about to land her cargo. They brought their boat right alongside the lugger just as the latter took the ground. But the lugger's crew, as soon as they saw the Revenue boat come up to her, promptly forsook her and scrambled on to the beach hurriedly. It was noticed that her name was _Diana_, and the Revenue officers had from the first been pretty sure that she was no innocent fis.h.i.+ng-vessel, for they had espied flashes from the sh.o.r.e immediately before the _Diana_ grazed her keel on to the beach.

Led by one of the two captains out of the cutters, the Revenue men got on board the smuggler and seized her, when she was found to contain a cargo of 665 casks of brandy, 118 casks of rum, and 237 casks of Geneva. Besides these, she had four casks, one case and one basket of wine, 119 bags of tobacco, and 43 lbs. of tea--truly a very fine and valuable cargo. But the officers had not been in possession of the lugger and her cargo more than three-quarters of an hour before a great crowd of infuriated people came down to the beach, armed with firearms and wicked-looking bludgeons. For the lugger's crew had evidently rushed to their sh.o.r.e friends and told them of their bad luck. Some members of this mob were on horseback, others on foot, but on they came with oaths and threats to where the lugger and her captors were remaining. "We're going to rescue the lugger and her goods," exclaimed the smugglers, as they stood round the bows of the _Diana_ in the darkness of the night. The Revenue men warned them that they had better keep off, or violence would have to be used to prevent such threats being carried out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "A great crowd of infuriated people came down to the beach."]

But it was impossible to expect reason from an uncontrolled mob raging with fury and indignation. Soon the smugglers had opened fire, and ball was whistling through the night air. The _Diana_ was now lying on her side, and several muskets were levelled at the Revenue men. One of the latter was a man named Dawkins, and the smugglers had got so close that one villainous ruffian presented a piece at Dawkins' breast, though the latter smartly wrested it from him before any injury had been received. But equally quickly, another smuggler armed with a cutla.s.s brought the blade down and wounded Dawkins on the thumb. A general engagement now proceeded as the smugglers continued to fire, but unfortunately the powder of the Revenue men had become wet, so only one of their crew was able to return the fire. Finding at length that they were no match for their aggressors, the crews were compelled to leave the lugger and retreat to some neighbouring barracks where the Lancas.h.i.+re Militia happened to be quartered, and a sergeant and his guard were requisitioned to strengthen them. With this squad the firing was more evenly returned and one of the smugglers was shot, but before long, unable to resist the military, the smugglers ceased firing and the beach was cleared of the mob.

The matter was in due course reported to the Board of Customs, who investigated the affair and ordered a prosecution of the smugglers. No one had been captured, however, so they offered a reward of 200. That was in the year 1805; but it was not till 1813 or 1814 that information came into their hands, for no one would come forward to earn the reward. In the last-mentioned year, however, search was made for the wanted men, and two persons, named respectively Jeremiah Maxted and Thomas Gilbert, natives of Lydd, were arrested and put on their trial. They were certainly the two ringleaders of that night, and incited the crowd to a frenzy, although these two men did not actually themselves shoot, but they were heard to offer a guinea a man to any of the mob who would a.s.sist in rescuing the seized property.

Still, in spite of the evidence that was brought against these men, such was the condition of things that they were found not guilty.

But it was not always that the Revenue men acted with so much vigour, nor with so much honesty. It was towards the end of the year 1807 that two of the Riding officers stationed at Newhaven, Suss.e.x, attempted to bribe a patrol of dragoons who were also on duty there for the prevention of smuggling. The object of the bribe was to induce the military to leave their posts for a short period, so that a cargo of dutiable goods, which were expected shortly to arrive, might be smuggled ash.o.r.e without the payment of the Crown's duties. For such a suggestion to be made by Preventive men was in itself disgraceful, and showed not merely a grossly dishonest purpose but an extraordinary failure of a sense of duty. However, the soldiers, perhaps not altogether displeased at being able to give free rein to some of the jealousies which existed between the Revenue men and the Army, did not respond to the suggestion, but promptly arrested the Riding officers and conducted them to Newhaven. Of these two it was afterwards satisfactorily proved that one had actually offered the bribe to the patrol, but the other was acquitted of that charge. Both, however, were dismissed from the Customs service, while the sergeant and soldiers forming the patrol were rewarded, the sum of 20 being sent to the commanding officer of their regiment, to be divided among the patrol as he might think best.

It was not merely the tobacco, spirits, and tea which in the early years of the nineteenth century were being smuggled into the country, although these were the princ.i.p.al articles. In addition to silks, laces, and other goods, the number of pairs of gloves which clandestinely came in was so great that the manufacture of English gloves was seriously injured.

In the year 1811 so ineffectual had been the existing sh.o.r.e arrangements that an entirely new plan was inaugurated for suppressing smuggling. The Riding officers no doubt had a difficult and even dangerous duty to perform, but their conduct left much to be desired, and they needed to be kept up to their work. Under the new system, the office of Supervisor or Surveyor of Riding officers was abolished, and that of Inspector of Riding officers was created in its stead. The coast of England was divided into the following three districts:--

No. I. London to Penzance.

No. II. Penzance to Carlisle.

No. III. London to Berwick.

There were altogether seven of these Inspectors appointed, three being for the first district, two for the second, and two for the third. The first district was of course the worst, because it included the English Channel and especially the counties of Kent and Suss.e.x. Hence the greater number of Inspectors. Hence, also, these three officers were given a yearly salary of 180, with a yearly allowance of 35 for the maintenance of a horse. The Inspectors of the other two districts were paid 150 each with the same 35 allowance for a horse. In addition, the Inspectors of all districts were allowed 10s. a day when upon inspections, which were not to last less than 60 days in each quarter in actual movement, "in order by constant and unexpected visitations, strictly to watch and check the conduct of the Riding officers within their allotted station." Under this new arrangement, also, the total number of Riding officers was to be 120, and these were divided into two cla.s.ses--Superior and Inferior. Their salaries and allowances were as follows:--

FIRST DISTRICT

Superior Riding Officer 90 Inferior " " 75 Allowance for horse 30

SECOND AND THIRD DISTRICTS

Superior Riding Officer 80 Inferior " " 65 Allowance for horse 30

The general principle of promotion was to be based on the amount of activity and zeal which were displayed, the Superior Riding officers being promoted from the Inferior, and the Inspectors of Districts being promoted from the most zealous Superior Riding officers.

And there was, too, a difficulty with regard to the smugglers when they became prisoners. We have already remarked how ready they were to escape from the men-of-war. In the year 1815 there were some smugglers in detention on board one of the Revenue cutters. At that time the cutter's mate was acting as commander, and he was foolish enough to allow some of the smugglers' friends from the sh.o.r.e--themselves also of the same trade--to have free communication with two of the prisoners without anyone being present on behalf of the Customs. The result was that one of the men succeeded in making his escape. As a result of this captive smugglers were not permitted to have communication with their friends except in the presence of a proper officer. And there was a great laxity, also, in the guarding of smugglers sent aboard his Majesty's wars.h.i.+ps. In several cases the commanders actually declined to receive these men when delivered by the Revenue department: they didn't want the rascals captured by the cutters, and they were not going to take them into their s.h.i.+p's complement. This went on for a time, until the Admiralty sent down a peremptory order that the captains and commanders were to receive these smugglers, and when an opportunity arose they were to send them to the flags.h.i.+p at Portsmouth or Plymouth.

As ill.u.s.trative of the business-like methods with which the smugglers at this time pursued their calling, the following may well be brought forward. In the year 1814 several of the chief smuggling merchants at Alderney left that notorious island and settled at Cherbourg. But those small craft, which up till then had been wont to run across to the Channel Isles, began instantly to make for the French port instead. From Lyme and Beer in West Bay, from Portland and from the Isle of Wight they sailed, to load up with their illicit cargoes, and as soon as they arrived they found, ready awaiting them in the various stores near the quays, vast quant.i.ties of "tubs," as the casks were called, whilst so great was the demand, that several coopers were kept there busily employed making new ones. Loaded with spirits they were put on board the English craft, which soon hoisted sail and sped away to the English sh.o.r.es, though many there must have been which foundered in bad weather, or, swept on by the dreaded Alderney Race and its seven-knot tide, had an exciting time, only to be followed up later by the English Revenue cutters, or captured under the red cliffs of Devons.h.i.+re in the act of taking the tubs ash.o.r.e. For the Customs Board well knew of this change of market to Cherbourg, and lost no time in informing their officers at the different outports and the cruiser-commanders as well.

A large number of the merchant-smugglers from Guernsey at the same time migrated to Coniris, about eight miles from Tregner, in France, and ten leagues east of the Isle of Bas, and twelve leagues S.S.W.

from Guernsey. Anyone who is familiar with that treacherous coast, and the strength of its tides, will realise that in bad weather these little craft, heavily loaded as they always were on the return journey, must have been punished pretty severely. Some others, doubtless, foundered altogether and never got across to the Devons.h.i.+re sh.o.r.es. Those people who had now settled down at Coniris were they who had previously dealt with the smugglers of Cawsand, Polperro, Mevagissey, and Gerrans. To these places were even sent circular letters inviting the English smugglers to come over to Coniris, just as previously they had come to fetch goods from Guernsey. And another batch of settlers from Guernsey made their new habitation at Roscore (Isle of Bas), from which place goods were smuggled into Coverack (near the Lizard), Kedgworth, Mount's Bay, and different places "in the North Channel."

Spirits, besides being brought across in casks and run into the country by force or stealth, were also frequently at this time smuggled in through the agency of the French boats which brought vegetables and poultry. In this cla.s.s of case the spirits were also in small casks, but the latter were concealed between false bulkheads and hidden below the ballast. But this method was practically a new departure, and began only about 1815. This was the smuggling-by-concealment manner, as distinct from that which was carried on by force and by stealth. We shall have a good deal more to say about this presently, so we need not let the matter detain us now. Commanders of cruisers were of course on the look-out for suspected craft, but they were reminded by the Board that they must be careful to make no seizures within three miles of the French and Dutch coasts. And that was why, as soon as a suspected vessel was sighted, and a capture was about to be made, some officer on the Revenue cutter was most careful immediately to take cross-bearings and fix his position; or if no land was in sight to reckon the number of leagues the s.h.i.+p had run since the last "fix" had been made. This matter naturally came out very strongly in the trials when the captured smugglers were being prosecuted, and it was the business of the defending counsel to do their best to upset the officers' reckoning, and prove that the suspected craft was within her proper and legitimate limits. Another trick which sprang up also about 1815, was that of having the casks of spirits fastened, the one behind the other, in line on a warp. One end of this rope would be pa.s.sed through a hole at the aftermost end of the keel, where it would be made fast. As the vessel sailed along she would thus tow a whole string of barrels like the tail of a kite, but in order to keep the casks from bobbing above water, sinkers were fastened. Normally, of course, these casks would be kept on board, for the resistance of these objects was very considerable, and lessened the vessel's way. Any one who has trailed even a fairly thick warp astern from a small sailing craft must have been surprised at the difference it made to the speed of the vessel.

But so soon as the Revenue cutter began to loom big, overboard went this string of casks towing merrily below the water-line. The cutter would run down to her, and order her to heave-to, which she could afford to do quite willingly. She would be boarded and rummaged, but the officer would to his surprise find nothing at all and be compelled to release her. Away would go the cruiser to chase some other craft, and as soon as she was out of the range of the commander's spy-gla.s.s, in would come the tubs again and be stowed dripping in the hold. This trick was played many a time with success, but at last the cruisers got to hear of the device and the smugglers were badly caught. I shall in due season ill.u.s.trate this by an actual occurrence. What I want the reader to bear in mind is, that whilst the age of smuggling by violence and force took a long time to die out, yet it reached its zenith about the middle or the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Right till the end of the grand period of smuggling violence was certainly used, but the year 1815 inaugurated a period that was characterised less by force and armed resistance than by artfulness, ingenuity, and all the inventiveness which it is possible to employ on a smuggling craft. "Smugglers," says Marryat in one of his novels, "do not arm now--the service is too dangerous; they effect their purpose by cunning, not by force. Nevertheless, it requires that smugglers should be good seamen, smart, active fellows, and keen-witted, or they can do nothing.... All they ask is a heavy gale or a thick fog, and they trust to themselves for success." It was especially after the year 1816, when, as we shall see presently, the Admiralty reorganised the service of cruisers and the Land-guard was tightened up, that the smugglers distinguished themselves by their great skill and resource, their enterprise, and their ability to hoodwink the Revenue men. The wars with France and Spain had come to an end, and the Government, now that her external troubles allowed, could devote her attention to rectifying this smuggling evil. This increased watchfulness plus the gradual reduction of duties brought the practice of smuggling to such a low point that it became unprofitable, and the increased risks were not the equivalent of the decreased profits. This same principle, at least, is pursued in the twentieth century. No one is ever so foolish as to try and run whole cargoes of goods into the country without paying Customs duty. But those ingenious persons who smuggle spirits in foot-warmers, saccharine in the lining of hats, tobacco and cigars in false bottoms and other ways carry out their plans not by force but by ingenuity, by skill.

CHAPTER XI

THE SMUGGLERS AT SEA

Had you been alive and afloat in June of 1802 and been cruising about near Falmouth Bay, or taken up your position on the top of one of those glorious high cliffs anywhere between St. Anthony and the Dodman, and remembered first to take with you your spygla.s.s, you would have witnessed a very interesting sight; that is to say, if you had been able to penetrate through the atmosphere, which was not consistently clear throughout the day. For part of it, at any rate, was hazy and foggy just as it often is in this neighbourhood at that time of year, but that was the very kind of conditions which the smuggler loved. Between those two headlands are two fine bays, named respectively Gerrans and Veryan, while away to the south-west the land runs out to sea till it ends in the Lizard. A whole history could be written of the smuggling which took place in these two bays, but we must content ourselves with the one instance before us.

On this day it happened that his Majesty's frigate _Fisgard_ was proceeding up Channel under the command of Captain Michael Seymour, R.N. The time was three in the afternoon. In spite of the haziness it was intermittent, and an hour earlier he had been able to fix his position by St. Anthony, which then bore N. by W. distant six or seven miles. He was then sailing by the wind close-hauled lying S.S.E.1/2E., in other words, standing away from the land out into mid-channel, the breeze being steady. By three o'clock the _Fisgard_ had only travelled about another six or seven miles, so that she was now about 12-1/2 miles from St. Anthony or just to seaward of the Lizard. It was at this time that the frigate sighted a smaller craft, fore-and-aft rigged and heading N.N.W., also on a wind, the breeze being abaft her port, or, as they called it in those days, the larboard-beam. This subsequently turned out to be the cutter _Flora_, and the course the cutter was taking would have brought her towards the Dodman. The haze had now lifted for a time, since although the _Flora_ was quite eight miles away she could be descried. Knowing that this cutter had no right to be within a line drawn between the Lizard and Prawl Point, the _Fisgard_ starboarded her helm and went in pursuit. But the _Flora's_ crew were also on the look-out, though not a little displeased that the fog had lifted and revealed her position. When she saw that the _Fisgard_ was coming after her she began to make off, bore up, and headed due North. But presently she altered her tactics and hauled round on the starboard tack, which would of course bring her away from the land, make her travel faster because her head-sails would fill, and she hoped also no doubt to get clear of the Prawl-to-Lizard line. Before this she had been under easy sail, but now she put up all the canvas she could carry.

But unfortunately the _Flora_ had not espied earlier in the day another frigate which was also in the vicinity. This was the _Wa.s.so_, and the haze had hidden her movements. But now, even though the weather was clearing, the bigger s.h.i.+p had been hidden from view because she had been just round the corner in Mevagissey Bay. And at the very time that the _Flora_ was running away from the _Fisgard_ and travelling finely with every sail drawing nicely and getting clear of the cliffs, the _Wa.s.so_ was working her way round the Dodman. As soon as the latter came into view she took in the situation--the cutter _Flora_ foaming along out to sea and the _Fisgard_ coming up quickly under a mountain of canvas. So now there were two frigates pursuing the cutter, and the _Flora's_ skipper must have cursed his bad luck for being caught in this trap. But that unkind haze was favouring the King's s.h.i.+ps to-day, for ere the chase had continued much longer, yet a third frigate came in sight, whose name was the _Nymph_. This was too much for the _Flora_ to be chased by three s.h.i.+ps each bigger and better armed than herself. The _Nymph_ headed her off, and the cutter seeing it was all up reluctantly hove-to. On examination she was found to have a cargo of gin, brandy, and tobacco, which she would have succeeded in running ash.o.r.e had the haze not played such tricks.

However, she had done her best for three exciting hours, for it was not until six on that wintry evening that she was captured by the _Nymph_, and if she had been able to hold on a little longer she might have escaped in the night and got right away and landed her cargo elsewhere before the sun came out. But, as it was, her skipper James Dunn had to take his trial, when a verdict was given in favour of the King, and Dunn was fined 200.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The _Flora_ with the _Fisgard_, _Wa.s.so_, and _Nymph_.]

We must pa.s.s over the next two years and travel from one end of the English Channel to the other till we find ourselves again in Kentish waters. The year is 1804, and the 14th of June. On this summer's day at dawn the gun-brig _Jackal_, commanded by Captain Stewart, R.N., was cruising about to the Nor'ard of the Goodwins. As day broke he was informed that three smuggling vessels had just been espied in the vicinity. The latter certainly was not more than three miles from the land, and it was fairly certain what their intention was. When Captain Stewart came on deck and convinced himself of their ident.i.ty he ordered out his boats, he himself going in one, while one of his officers took command of another, each boat having about half-a-dozen men on board.

We mentioned just now how important it was in such cases as this that the position should be defined as accurately as possible. Immediately the boats had left the _Jackal_ the pilot of the latter and one of the crew on board took bearings from the North Foreland and found the _Jackal_ was about 7-3/4 miles from this landmark. They also took bearings of the position of the three smuggling luggers, and found these were about three or four miles off and bore from the _Jackal_ E.

by S.

To return to Captain Stewart and the two boats: for the first twenty minutes these oared craft gained on the luggers owing to the absence of wind, and the smugglers could do nothing. The dawn had revealed the presence of the _Jackal_ to the smugglers no less than the latter had been revealed to the gun-brig. And as soon as the illicit carriers realised what was about to happen they, too, began to make every effort to get moving. The early morning calm, however, was less favourable to them than to the comparatively light-oared craft which had put out from the _Jackal_, so the three luggers just rolled to the swell under the cliffs of the Foreland as their canvas and gear slatted idly from side to side.

But presently, as the sun rose up in the sky, a little breeze came forth which bellowed the lug-sails and enabled the three craft to stand off from the land and endeavour, if possible, to get out into the Channel. In order to accelerate their speed the crews laid on to the sweeps and pulled manfully. Every sailorman knows that the tides in that neighbourhood are exceedingly strong, but the addition of the breeze did not improve matters for the _Jackal's_ two boats, although the luggers were getting along finely. However, the wind on a bright June morning is not unusually fitful and light, so the boats kept up a keen chase urged by their respective officers, and after three hours of strenuous rowing Captain Stewart's boat came up with the first of these named the _I.O._ But before he had come alongside her and was still 300 yards away, the master and pilot of this smuggler and six of her crew was seen to get into the lugger's small boat and row off to the second lugger named the _Nancy_, which they boarded. When the _Jackal's_ commander, therefore, came up with the _I.O._ he found only one man aboard her. He stopped to make some inquiries, and the solitary man produced some Bills of Lading and other papers to show that the craft was bound from Emden to Guernsey, and that their cargo was destined for the latter place.

The reader may well smile at this barefaced and ingenuous lie. Not even a child could be possibly persuaded to imagine that a vessel found hovering about the North Foreland was really making for the Channel Isles from Germany. It was merely another instance of employing these papers if any awkward questions should be asked by suspecting Revenue vessels or men-of-war. What was truth, however, was that the _I.O._ was bound not to but from Guernsey, where she had loaded a goodly cargo of brandy and gin, all of which was found on board, and no doubt would shortly have been got ash.o.r.e and placed in one of the caves not far from Longnose. Moreover, the men were as good as convicted when it was found that the spirits were in those small casks or tubs which were only employed by the smugglers; and indeed never had such a cargo of spirits to Guernsey been carried in such small-sized kegs, for Guernsey always received its spirits in casks of bold dimensions.

It was further pointed out at the trial that the luggers could not have been bound on the voyage alleged, for they had not enough provisions on board. The Solicitor-General also demonstrated the fact that when these luggers were approached in deep water--that is, of course after the three hours' chase--they could not possibly have been making for Guernsey. The farther they stood from the sh.o.r.e the greater would be their danger, for they would be likely at any hour to fall in with the enemy's privateers which were known to be cruising not far off.

But to return to the point in the narrative when we digressed. Captain Stewart, a quarter of an hour before finally coming up with the _I.O._, had fired several times to cause her to heave-to, but this they declined to do, and all her crew but one deserted her as stated.

Leaving one of his own men on board her the naval officer, after marking her with a broad arrow to indicate she had been seized, went with his four remaining men in pursuit of the second lugger, which was rowing away with all haste, and alongside which the _I.O.'s_ boat was lying. But, as soon as Stewart began to approach, the men now quitted the lugger and rowed back to the _I.O._ He opened fire at them, but they still persisted, and seeing this he continued to pursue the second lugger, boarded her and seized her, the time being now about 6.30 A.M.

Afterwards he waited until his other boat had come up, and left her crew in charge of this second lugger, and then rowed off to the first lugger again, but once more the _I.O.'s_ people deserted her and rowed towards the sh.o.r.e. Undaunted he then went in pursuit of the third lugger, but as a breeze came up she managed to get away. Presently he was able to hail a neutral vessel who gave him a pa.s.sage back, and at midday he rejoined the _I.O._, which was subsequently taken captive into Dover, and at a later date ordered to be condemned. She had belonged to Deal and was no doubt in the regular smuggling industry.

Then there was the case of the lugger _Polly_, which occurred in January of 1808. Because vessels of this kind were, from their construction, their size, and their rig especially suitable for running goods, they were now compelled to have a licence before being allowed to navigate at all. This licence was given on condition that she was never to be found guilty of smuggling, nor to navigate outside certain limits, the object of course being to prevent her from running backwards and forwards across the English and Irish Channels. In the present instance the _Polly_ had been licensed to navigate and trade, to fish and to carry pilots between Bexhill and coastwise round Great Britain, but not to cross the Channels. To this effect her master, William Bennett, had entered in a bond. But on the date mentioned she was unfortunately actually discovered at the island of Alderney, and it was obvious that she was there for the purpose of loading the usual cargo of goods to be smuggled into England. Six days later she had taken on board all that she wanted, but just as she was leaving the Customs officer examined her licence; and as it was found that she was not allowed to "go foreign," and that to go to Alderney had always been regarded a foreign voyage, she was promptly seized. Furthermore, as there was no suggestion of any fis.h.i.+ng-gear found on board it was a clear case, and after due trial the verdict was given for the King and she was condemned.

There is existing an interesting application from the boat-masters and fishermen of Robin Hood's Bay (Yorks.h.i.+re) in connection with the restrictions which were now enforced regarding luggers. These poor people were engaged in the Yarmouth herring-fishery, and prayed for relief from the penalties threatened by the recent Act of Parliament, which stipulated that luggers of a size exceeding 50 tons burthen were made liable to forfeiture. As their North Sea craft came under this category they were naturally in great distress. However the Customs Board pointed out that the Act allowed all vessels and boats of the above description and tonnage "which were rigged and fitted at the time of the pa.s.sing thereof and intended for the purpose of fis.h.i.+ng"

to be licensed.

Whenever those tubs of spirits were seized from a smuggling craft at sea they were forwarded to the King's warehouse, London, by those coasting vessels, whose masters were "of known respectability." And by a different conveyance a sample pint of every cask was to be transmitted to the same address. The bungs of the casks were to be secured with a tin-plate, and under a seal of office, each cask being branded with the letters "G.R.," and the quant.i.ty given at the head of each cask. But those spirits which were seized on land and not on sea were to be sold by public auction. All smuggling transactions of any account, and all seizures of any magnitude, and especially all those which were attended by any attempt to rescue, were to be reported separately to the Customs Board. Small casks which had contained seized spirits were, after condemnation, sometimes allowed to fall into the hands of the smugglers, who used them again for the same purpose. To put a stop to this it was ordered that these tubs were in future to be burnt or cut to pieces "as to be only fit for firewood."

Even as early as 1782 considerable frauds were perpetrated by stating certain imports to be of one nature when they were something entirely different. For instance a great deal of starch had been imported under the denomination of flour from Ireland. The Revenue officers were therefore instructed to discriminate between the two articles by the following means. Starch "when in flour" and real flour could be differentiated by putting some of each into a tumbler of water. If the "flour" were starch it would sink to the bottom and form a hard substance, if it were real flour then it would turn into a paste.

Starch was also much whiter than flour. And a good deal of spirits, wine, tea, and tobacco brought into vessels as s.h.i.+p's stores for the crew were also frequently smuggled ash.o.r.e. Particularly was this the case in small vessels from Holland, France, Guernsey, Jersey, and Alderney.

One day in the month of May, 1814, a fine West Indian s.h.i.+p named the _Caroline_ set sail from the Island of St. Thomas with a valuable cargo of dutiable goods, and in due time entered the English Channel.

Before long she had run up the coast and found herself off Fairlight (between Hastings and Rye). The people on sh.o.r.e had been on the look-out for this s.h.i.+p, and as soon as the _Caroline_ hove in sight a boat put off to meet her. Some one threw down a line which was made fast to the boat, and from the latter several men clambered aboard.

After the usual salutations they accompanied the master of the s.h.i.+p and went below to the cabin, where some time was spent in bargaining.

To make a long story short, they arranged to purchase from the _Caroline_ 25 gallons of rum and some coffee, for which the West Indiaman's skipper was well paid, the average price of rum in that year being about 20s. a gallon. A cask of rum, 3 cwt. of coffee in a barrel and 2 cwt. in a bag were accordingly lowered over the s.h.i.+p's side into the boat and away went the little craft to the sh.o.r.e, having, as it was supposed, cheated the Customs. The _Caroline_ continued her course and proceeded to London. The Customs authorities, however, had got wind of the affair and the matter was brought to a conclusion before one of his Majesty's judges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The _Caroline_ continued her course and proceeded to London."]

But East Indiamen were just as bad, if not a great deal worse, for it was their frequent practice to arrive in the Downs and sell quant.i.ties of tea to the men who came out from Deal in small craft. The commodity could then be kept either for the use of their families and sold to their immediate friends, or sent up to London by the "duffers"

in the manner we spoke of in an earlier chapter. In the instances when spirits were smuggled into the country there was usually some arrangement between the publicans and the smugglers for disposing of the stuff. But, you may ask, how did the Deal boatmen manage to get the tea to their homes without being seen by the Customs officers? In the first place it was always difficult to prove that the men really were smugglers, for they would be quite wide-awake enough not to bring obvious bales ash.o.r.e; and, secondly, the Deal men had such a reputation as desperate characters that no officer, unless he was pretty sure that a smuggling transaction was being carried on and could rely, too, on being well supported by other Customs men and the soldiers, would think of meddling in the matter. But, lastly, the men who came ash.o.r.e from the East Indiamen had a smart little dodge of their own for concealing the tea.