Kings Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 | Page 9

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