King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 Part 14

The reader will remember considering some time back an open boat which was fitted with hollow stanchions under the thwarts, so that through these stanchions ropes might pa.s.s through into the water below. I have come across a record of a smack registered in the port of London under the singularly inappropriate name of the _Good Intent_. She was obviously built or altered with the sole intention of being employed in smuggling. I need say nothing of her other concealments under the cabin berths and so on, as they were practically similar to those on the _Asp_. But it was rather exceptional to find on so big a craft as the _Good Intent_ a false stanchion immediately abaft the fore scuttle. Through this stanchion ran a leaden pipe about two inches in diameter, and this went through the keelson and garboard strake, so that by this means a rope could be led through and into the vessel, while at the other end a raft of tubs could be towed through the water. By hauling tightly on to this line the kegs could be kept beautifully concealed under the bilge of the vessel, so that even in very clear water it would not be easy to suspect the presence of these tubs. The other end of this pipe came up through the ship until it was flush with the deck, and where this joined the latter a square piece of lead was tarred and pitched so as scarcely to be perceived.

There must indeed have been a tremendous amount of thought, as well as the expenditure of a great deal of time and money, in creating these methods of concealment, but since they dared not now to use force it was all they could do.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] The cro'jack yard was really the lower yard of a full-rigged ship on the mizzen-mast, to the arms of which the clews or lower corners of the mizzen-topsail were extended. But as sloops were fore-and-aft craft it is a little doubtful what is here meant. Either it may refer to the barren yard below the square topsail carried by the sloops of those days--the clews actually were extended to this yard's arms--or the word may have been the equivalent of what we nowadays call cross-trees.

CHAPTER XVII

SMUGGLING BY CONCEALMENTS

Second cousin to the method of filling oars and spars with spirits was that adopted by a number of people whose homes and lives were connected with the sea-sh.o.r.e. They would have a number of shrimping nets on board, the usual wooden handles being fitted at one end of these nets. But these handles had been purposely made hollow, so that round tin cases could be fitted in. The spirits then filled these long cavities, and whether they caught many shrimps or not was of little account, for dozens of men could wade ash.o.r.e with these nets and handles on their backs and proceed to their homes without raising a particle of suspicion. It was well worth doing, for it was calculated that as much as 2-1/2 gallons of spirit could be poured into each of these hollow poles.

Collier-brigs were very fond of smuggling, and among others mention might be made of the _Venus_ of Rye, an 80-ton brig which between January and September one year worked three highly profitable voyages, for besides her ordinary cargo she carried each time 800 casks of spirits, these being placed underneath the coals. There was also the brig _Severn_ of Bristol, which could carry about five keels of coal, but seldom carried more than four, the rest of the s.p.a.ce of course being made up with contraband. In 1824 she worked five voyages, and on each occasion she carried, besides her legitimate cargo, as much as eight tons of tobacco under her coals. And there was a Danish-built sloop named the _Blue-eyed La.s.s_ belonging to Shields, with a burthen of 60 odd tons, also employed in the coal trade. She was a very suspicious vessel, and was bought subsequently by the people of Rye to carry on similar work to the other smuggling craft. All sorts of warnings were sent to the Customs Board giving them information that _The Rose in June_ (needless to say of Rye) was about to have additional concealments added. She was of 37 tons burthen, and had previously been employed as a packet boat. They were also warned that George Harrington, a noted smuggler resident at Eastbourne, intended during the winter months to carry on the contraband trade, and to land somewhere between Southampton and Weymouth. He had made arrangements with a large number of men belonging to Poole and the neighbouring country, and had obtained a suitable French lugger.

In 1826 the smacks _Fox_ and _Lovely La.s.s_ of Portsmouth were seized at that port with kegs of spirits secreted under their bottoms in a thin contemporary casing, as shown in the accompanying diagram. The ingenious part of this trick was that there was no means of communication into the concealment from the interior of the vessel.

Thus any officer coming aboard to search would have little or no reason to suspect her. But it was necessary every time this vessel returned from abroad with her contraband for her to be laid ash.o.r.e, and at low water the kegs could be got at externally. To begin with there were pieces of plank two inches thick fastened to the timbers by large nails. Then, between the planks and the vessel's bottom the tubs were concealed. The arrangement was exceeding simple yet wonderfully clever. Practically this method consisted of filling up the hollow below the turn of the bilge. It would certainly not improve the vessel's speed, but it would give her an efficacious means of stowing her cargo of spirits out of the way. And it was because of such incidents as this last mentioned that orders were sent to all ports for the local craft and others to be examined frequently _ash.o.r.e_ no less than afloat, in order that any false bottom might be detected.

And the officers were to be careful and see that the name of the ship and her master painted on a ship corresponded with the names in her papers. Even open boats were found fitted with double bottoms, as for instance the _Mary_, belonging to Dover. She was only 14 feet long with 5 feet 9-1/2 inches beam, but she had both a double bottom and double sides, in which were contained thirty tin cases to hold 29 gallons of spirits. Her depth from gunwale to the top of her ceiling[22] originally was 2 feet 8-1/2 inches. But the depth from the gunwale to the false bottom was 2 feet 5-3/4 inches. The concealment ran from the stem to the transom, the entrance being made by four cuttles very ingeniously and neatly fitted, with four nails fore and aft through the timbers to secure them from moving--one on each side of the keelson, about a foot forward of the keelson under the fore thwart. Even Thames barges were fitted with concealments; in fact there was not a species of craft from a barque to a dinghy that was not thus modified for smuggling.

The name of the barge was the _Alfred_ of London, and she was captured off Birchington one December day in 1828. She pretended that she was bound from Arundel with a cargo of wood hoops, but when she was boarded she had evidently been across to "the other side"; for there was found 1045 tubs of gin and brandy aboard her when she was captured, together with her crew, by a boat sent from the cruiser _Vigilant_. The discovery was made by finding an obstruction about three feet deep from the top of the coamings, which induced the Revenue officer to clear away the bundles of hoops under the fore and main hatchways. He then discovered a concealment covered over with sand, and on cutting through a plank two inches thick the contraband was discovered.

The accompanying diagram shows the sloop _Lucy_ of Fowey, William Strugnell master. On the 14th of December 1828 she was seized at Chichester after having come from Portsmouth in ballast. She was found to be fitted with the concealment shown in the plan, and altogether there were 100 half-ankers thus stowed away, 50 being placed on each side of her false bottom. She was just over 35 tons burthen, and drew four feet of water, being sloop rigged, as many of the barges in those days were without the little mizzen which is so familiar to our eyes to-day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Sloop _Lucy_ showing Concealments.]

Cases of eggs sent from Jersey were fitted with false sides in which silks were smuggled; trawlers engaged in sinking tubs of spirits; a dog-kennel was washed ash.o.r.e from a vessel that foundered off Dungeness, and on being examined this kennel was found to be fitted with a false top to hold 30 lbs. of tobacco; an Irish smack belonging to Cork was specially fitted for the contraband trade, having previously actually been employed as a Coastguard watch-boat. There was a vessel named _Grace_ manned by three brothers--all notorious smugglers--belonging to Coverack (Cornwall). This vessel used to put to sea by appointment to meet a French vessel, and having from her shipped the contraband the _Grace_ would presently run the goods ash.o.r.e somewhere between Land's End and Newport, South Wales; in fact, all kinds of smuggling still went on even after the first quarter of that wonderful nineteenth century.

About the year 1831 five casks imported from Jersey was alleged to contain cider, but on being examined they were found to contain something else as well. The accompanying sketch represents the plan of one of these. From this it will be seen that the central s.p.a.ce was employed for holding the cider, but the ends were full of tobacco being contained in two tin cases. In this diagram No. 1 represents the bung, No. 2 shows the aperture on each side through which the tobacco was thrust into the tin cases which are marked by No. 3, the cider being contained in the central portion marked 4. Thus the usual method of gauging a cask's contents was rendered useless, for unless a bent or turned rod were employed it was impossible to detect the presence of these side casks for the tobacco.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cask for Smuggling Cider.]

One may feel a little incredulous at some of the extraordinary yarns which one hears occasionally from living people concerning the doings of smugglers. A good deal has doubtless arisen as the result of a too vivid imagination, but, as we have shown from innumerable instances, there is quite enough that is actual fact without having recourse to invention. I know of a certain port in our kingdom where there existed a legend to the effect that in olden days the smugglers had no need to bring the tubs in with them, but that if they only left them outside when the young flood was making, those tubs would find their own way in to one particular secluded spot in that harbour. A number of amateur enthusiasts debated the point quite recently, and a wager was made that such a thing was not possible. But on choosing a winter's day, and throwing a number of barrels into the water outside the entrance, it was found that the trend of the tide was always to bring them into that corner. But, you will instantly say, wouldn't the Coastguard in the smuggling days have seen the barrels as they came along the top of the water?

The answer is certainly in the affirmative. But the smugglers used to do in the "scientific" period as follows, and this I have found in a doc.u.ment dated 1833, at which time the device was quite new, at least to the Customs officials. Let us suppose that the vessel had made a safe pa.s.sage from France, Holland, or wherever she had obtained the tubs of spirits. She had eluded the cruisers and arrived off the harbour entrance at night just as the flood tide was making. Overboard go her tubs, and away she herself goes to get out of the sphere of suspicion. These tubs numbered say sixty-three, and were firmly lashed together in a shape very similar to a pile of shot--pyramid fashion.

The tops of the tubs were all painted white, but the raft was green.

Below this pyramid of tubs were attached two grapnel anchors, and the whole contrivance could float in anything above seven feet of water.

It was so designed that the whole of the tubs came in on the tide below water, only three being partially visible, and their white colour made them difficult to be seen among the little waves. But as soon as they came to the spot where there were only seven feet of water the two grapnels came into action and held the tubs moored like a ship. And as the tide rose, so it completely obliterated them. Some one was of course on the look-out for his spirits, and when the tide had dropped it was easy enough to wade out and bring the tubs ash.o.r.e, or else "sweep" them ash.o.r.e with a long rope that dragged along the bottom of the harbour.

During the year 1834 smuggling was again on the increase, especially on the south and east coasts, and it took time for the officers to learn all these new-fangled tricks which were so frequently employed.

Scarcely had the intricacies of one device been learnt than the smugglers had given up that idea and taken to something more ingenious still. Some time back we called attention to the way in which the Deal boatmen used to walk ash.o.r.e with smuggled tea. About the year 1834 a popular method of smuggling tea, lace, and such convenient goods was to wear a waistcoat or stays which contained eighteen rows well stuffed with 8 lbs. weight of tea. The same man would also wear a pair of drawers made of stout cotton secured with strong drawing strings and stuffed with about 16 lbs. of tea. Two men were captured with nine parcels of lace secreted about their bodies, a favourite place being to wind it round the shins. Attempts were also made to smuggle spun or roll tobacco from New York by concealing them in barrels of pitch, rosin, bales of cotton, and so on. In the case of a ship named the _Josephine_, from New York, the Revenue officers found in one barrel of pitch an inner package containing about 100 lbs. of manufactured tobacco.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Smack _Tam O'Shanter_ showing Method of Concealment (see Text).]

The accompanying plan of the smack _Tam O'Shanter_ (belonging to Plymouth), which was seized by the Padstow Coastguard, will show how spirits were sometimes concealed. This was a vessel of 72 tons with a fore bulkhead and a false bulkhead some distance aft of that. This intervening s.p.a.ce, as will be seen, was filled up with barrels. Her hold was filled with a cargo of coals, and then aft of this came the cabin with berths on either side, as shown. But under these berths were concealments for stowing quite a number of tubs, as already explained.

A variation of the plan, previously mentioned, for smuggling by means of concealments in casks was that which was favoured by foreign ships which traded between the Continent and the north-east coasts of England and Scotland. In this case the casks which held the supplies of drinking water were fitted with false sides and false ends. The inner casks thus held the fresh water, but the outer casks were full of spirits. After the introduction of steam, one of the first if not the very first instance of steamship smuggling by concealment was that occurring in 1836, when a vessel was found to have had her paddle-boxes so lined that they could carry quite a large quant.i.ty of tobacco and other goods.

Another of those instances of ships fitted up specially for smuggling was found in the French smack _Auguste_, which is well worth considering. She was, when arrested, bound from Gravelines, and could carry about fifty tubs of spirits or, instead, a large amount of silk and lace. Under the ladder in the forepeak there was a potato locker extending from side to side, and under this, extending above a foot or more before it, was the concealment. Further forward were some loose planks forming a hatch, under which was the coal-hole. This appeared to go as far as the bulkhead behind the ladder, and had the concealment been full, it could never have been found, but in walking over where the coals were, that part of the concealment which extended beyond the locker which was empty sounded hollow: whereupon the officers pulled up one of the planks and discovered the hiding-place.

It was decided in 1837 that, in order to save the expense of breaking up a condemned smuggling vessel, in future the ballast, mast, pumps, bulkheads, platforms, and cabins should be taken out from the vessel: and that the hull should then be cut into pieces not exceeding six feet long. Such pieces were then to be sawn in a fore-and-aft direction so as to cut across the beams and thwarts and render the hull utterly useless. The accompanying sketch well ill.u.s.trates the ingenuity which was displayed at this time by the men who were bent on running goods. What is here represented is a flat-bottomed boat, which perhaps might never have been discovered had it not been driven ash.o.r.e near to Selsey Bill during the gales of the early part of 1837. The manner in which this craft was employed was to tow her for a short distance and then to cast her adrift. She was fitted with rowlocks for four oars, but apparently these had never been used. Three large holes were bored in her bottom, for the purpose which we shall presently explain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Flat-Bottomed Boat found off Selsey.

The sketch shows longitudinal plan, the method of covering with net, and midship section.]

Built very roughly, with half-inch deal, and covered over with a thin coat of white paint, she had a grommet at both bow and stern. She measured only 16 feet long and 4 feet wide, with a depth of 2 feet 2 inches. It will be noticed that she had no thwarts. Her timbers were of bent ash secured with common French nails, and alongside the gunwales were holes for lacing a net to go over the top of this boat.

Her side was made of three deal planks, the net being made of line, and of the same size as the line out of which the tub-slings were always made. The holes in her floor were made for the water to get in and keep her below the surface, and the net, spreading from gunwale to gunwale, prevented her cargo of tubs from being washed out. It was in order to have ample and unfettered room for the tubs that no thwarts were placed. She would be towed astern of a smack or lugger under the water, and having arrived at the appointed spot the towrope would be let go, and the grapnels attached to both grommets at bow and stern would cause her to bring up when in sufficiently shallow water. Later on, at low tide, the smugglers' friends could go out in their boats with a weighted line or hawser and sweep along the bottom of the sea, and soon locate her and tow her right in to the beach.

In order to prevent certain obvious excuses being made by dishonest persons, all British subjects were distinctly forbidden to pick up spirits found in these illegal half-ankers, only officers of the Royal Navy, the Customs, and the Excise being permitted so to do. But it was not always that the Revenue cruisers were employed in catching smugglers. We have pointed out that their duties also included Quarantine work. In the spring of 1837 it was represented to the Treasury that there was much urgent distress prevailing in certain districts of the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland owing to the failure of the last harvest. Sir John Hill was therefore directed to proceed to Scotland and take such steps as might be necessary for the immediate supply of seed, corn, and potatoes, and the officers and commanders of the Revenue cruisers were directed to afford him every a.s.sistance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plan of the Schooner _Good Intent_ showing Method of Smuggling Casks.]

In the previous chapter attention was called to the singular inappropriateness of calling a smuggling vessel the _Good Intent_.

That was a smack belonging to the year 1824, which was found at Rye.

But this name seems to have had a certain amount of popularity among these ingenious gentlemen, for there was a smuggling schooner named the _Good Intent_ which was seized in the year 1837. How cleverly and effectively she was fitted up for a smuggling voyage can be ascertained by considering the accompanying longitudinal plan. She had a burthen of 72 tons, and was captured by the Revenue cruiser _Sylvia_ in Mount's Bay on the 14th of March. The plan denotes her princ.i.p.al features, including her sail-room and general store right aft.

Immediately forward of this was the first concealment on the port side only. Entrance was gained by means of a slide which was nailed up, and here many casks could easily be stored. Next to this came the after bulkhead, but forward of this was also a false bulkhead, the distance between the real and the false being 2-1/2 feet, and affording a s.p.a.ce to contain 138 kegs.

Under the cabin were coals, and around the coals under the cabin deck were placed some kegs. The fore bulkhead had also a false bulkhead 2 feet 5 inches apart, and this s.p.a.ce held as many as 148 kegs. Under the deck of the forepeak were also 21 kegs. The length of these kegs was 17 inches, and they were nearly a foot in diameter. Each cask contained 4-1/2 gallons of French brandy. This vessel was found to have merely limestone ballast in her hold, but her illicit cargo was more valuable to her than if she had been fully laden with the commodity which she usually and legitimately traded in. Later in the same year, and by the same cruiser _Sylvia_, this time off Land's End, the Jersey schooner _Spartan_, a vessel of 36-1/2 tons, was seized, as she was found to be fitted up with similar concealments (see sketch).

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Schooner _Spartan_.

1. Hollow beam.

2. Opening for entering No. 3.

3. Place of concealment.]

One day about the middle of the last century a 16-ton Grimsby fishing-smack named _Lord Rivers_ left her native port and journeyed south. Her owner and master was in a dismal frame of mind, and complained to his mate that things were pretty bad, and he was becoming remarkably poor. The fishing was not prospering so far as he was concerned, and so after thinking the matter over he was proposing to take the ship over to Boulogne and get a cargo of between thirty and forty gallons of spirits. His mate heard what he had to say and agreed to go with him. So to Boulogne they proceeded, where they purchased the spirits from a dealer, who brought the spirits on board, not in casks but in skins and bladders, making about fifty in all.

These were deposited in the smack's hold, and she then cleared out of harbour and went to the fishing-grounds, where, to make matters appear all right, she remained twenty-four hours, for the purpose of obtaining some oysters by dredging. Whilst on the fishing-grounds the spirits were stowed in a neat concealment at the stern of the vessel on both sides abaft the hatchway. Before long the smack got going and ran into Dover with the oysters and her spirits, lowered her sails, and made everything snug. In due course the bladders of spirits were got out of the hold in small numbers, and placed in baskets and covered over with a sufficiently thick layer of oysters to prevent their presence being detected. These baskets were taken to a neighbouring tap-room, the landlord of which bought as much as he wanted, and a local poulterer bought the rest of the spirits and oysters as well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Deck Plan and Longitudinal Plan of the _Lord Rivers_ (see Text).]

But the local Coastguard had for a long time been suspicious of this vessel, and evidently this was not her first voyage in the smuggling trade. He had watched and followed the man who took the bladders ash.o.r.e, and now came on board to see what he could find. The deck plan will clearly convey to the reader the way in which the smack was fitted up with concealments. The letters A and A indicate two portions of the deck planking, each portion being about a couple of feet long.

These were movable, and fitted into their places with a piece of spun-yarn laid into the seams, and over this was laid some putty blackened on the top. At first sight they appeared to be part of the solid planking of the deck, but on obtaining a chisel they were easily removed. There was now revealed the entrance to a s.p.a.ce on each side of the rudder-case in the false stern capable of containing thirty or forty gallons of spirits. This in itself was conclusive, but when the Coastguard also found that the putty in the seams was soft and fresh, and that a strong smell of spirits emanated from this cavity, it was deemed that there was more than adequate reason for arresting the smack even though the hold was quite empty.

Thus the _Lord Rivers_ came to a bad end.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] The ceiling of a ship signified the inside planks.

CHAPTER XVIII

BY SEA AND LAND