Kings Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 | Page 9

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