They behaved like veritable Amazons, seizing the officers
by the hair, throwing them down, and violently assaulting
them. The boatman was convicted, and imprisoned for
six months. One of the women was acquitted ; the others
were sent to gaol for six months each, without hard
labour.
On April 3 the Stag revenue cutter observed the Duck
of Portsmouth (a vessel supposed to be exclusively in the
coasting trade) cruising off the French coast. After a
long and exciting chase she was captured, and her master
was found to be one Crasweller, of Hayling Island, a
notorious smuggler, who had been convicted in 1845 and
1848. ' During chase,' the Stag's commander reported,
' her manoeuvres indicated the time of throwing over-
board her cargo, although the distance was too great for
occular {sic) demonstration.' He brought the Duck into
1851] THE DUCK AND THE COMET 361
Cowes, and laid her ashore. Then something pecuhar was
detected in the conformation of the lower timbers, and a
close search revealed that she had a false bottom, in
which were thirty-six tubs brandy.
The case of La Comete, which ' came to a head ' in 1851,
is worth special notice. During 1848 the vice-consul at
Zeeland had sent news of this vessel. She had been on
a smuggling trip to the north of Scotland, cleared £1,000
by the run, and was lying at Flushing ready to depart
for the same bourne with 6,000 pounds leaf tobacco. It
is likely that she was an English vessel, for her original
name had been Helena Maria, afterwards altered to Venus,
then to Phenix.
The Board apprised the officers on the east coast, and
on the north coasts of Scotland and Ireland. The vessel
left Flushing, but soon returned with part of her cargo,
the rest having been seized during the operation of run-
ning. She filled up and left again, this time under the
name La Comete, with a bogus clearance for Sweden. On
February 13, 1849, she was driven dismasted into Whitby,
and at once reported her cargo as for Sweden The
packages were of legal size, so nothing could be done.
After refitting she returned to Flushing, apparently for
orders, for she soon sailed again under the name Planet.
She continued her voyages during 1849 and 1850, till, on
April 27, 1851, she was sighted within the limits off St.
Abb's Head, and captured by a revenue cruiser. On this
occasion she was La Comete. All her crew were convicted
at Leith. A ' bill of suspension and liberation ' was put
in by the defendants, but the Court of Justiciary refused
it on a bare formality, for not being entered in the Court
of Exchequer. It appears that had the bill been properly
entered two of its objections to conviction would have
been valid : (i) That the evidence against the prisoners
had not been reduced to writing ; (2) that though counsel
put in a special written statement of certain evidence for
the defence, the justices wrongfully rejected it. The
vessel was condemned with her cargo (5,868 pounds leaf
362 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [185 1
and 1,468 pounds stalks). The informer received as
reward £303.
On September 29 the revenue cruiser Adder detained
a French lugger off the Isle of Wight. The lugger had
thirty-three bales of tobacco on board, and several empty
wrappers similar to those surrounding the bales were
found, and this was regarded as evidence that she had
disposed of part of her cargo. She had a manifest for the
tobacco, and a clearance from Dunkirk for Morlaix. She
was taken into Cowes, and then released, it being found
that the packages of tobacco were of the weight specified
as ' legal ' by the Customs laws. Her master applied for
compensation through the French consul at London, and
his request was referred to the Board by the Foreign
Office, with an order that the preventive officers were to
be directed to refrain from seizing ' on unfounded sus-
picion ' vessels belonging to a friendly power. The
Customs lawyer stated in reply that there could be no
doubt that the vessel had been engaged in smuggling,
and that her French clearance had been obtained, and
the goods packed legally, with a view to defence by
quibble if seized. He insisted that the captain of the
Adder had full right to detain her and examine her cargo,
but should not have taken her to Cowes for that purpose.
Still, the master of the lugger was not entitled to com-
pensation.
The conduct of Edward Smith, a coastguardsman
stationed at Felpham, Devon, was made the subject of an
inquiry during 1851. It appears that on the morning of
August 30 Smith informed his superior officer that whilst
on duty on the coast he found several tubs of spirits at
low-water-mark, and that as he was approaching them
several men sprang upon him, wrenched his loaded pistol
from him, bound him hand and foot, and then carried off
the tubs ; that he wriggled himself partially free, and
then cut his bonds with a knife. The inspecting com-
mander placed him under arrest, but on September 4
allowed him to go for a walk on parole. It appears Smith
1850-52] MAURITIUS AND AUSTRALIA 363
provided himself with a loaded pistol, and on his return
exhibited it empty, stating that he had met one of the
men who assaulted him, and had chased the fellow some
distance and fired after him. The offender was actually-
arrested soon after, and imprisoned for six months, not-
withstanding which the inspecting commander persisted
in charging Smith with connivance, and pursued the
charge with venomous bitterness ; but a Court of Inquiry
acquitted the poor fellow, and cleared his character most
effectively.
Seizure records continued to arrive from certain
colonies during 1850-1852. Among many others may be
noted the following :
May 28, 1850. — 459 pounds tobacco, seized at Hawke's
Bay, New Zealand, on premises occupied by ' Yankee
Smith.' Defendant absconded. The collector stated in
his report that the principal portion of the coast was
entirely unprotected, and that there were many facilities
for smuggling.*
July 20, 1850. — 659 pounds tobacco and 16,000 cigars,
seized at Port Adelaide, in a tavern kept by Salvador
Guadici. The goods had been cleared duty-free from
bond for exportation to Swansea by a vessel belonging to
Aberdeen, Scotland, and then run ' on the coast below
the harbour mouth,' and removed to Guadici's premises.
Master, mate, and receiver, each fined £100. Ship
released on proof of owners' innocence, but it appears
that her detention cost them £232.
September 19, 1851. — 860 pounds tobacco, seized at
Abercrombie Battery, Fort George, Mauritius, ' hid among
aloe-trees.'
October i, 1852. — (A ' mixed ' venture) 3 cases wine,
I case tinned salmon, i case cocoa paste, 14 pounds
tobacco, 24 shirts, a suit of clothes, and a box of arrowroot,
seized ' on the shore at Hobson's Bay,' Melbourne.
* During 1851 Mr. Carkeek, collector of Wellington, New
Zealand, reported to the governor that the master of a vessel
from Havana landed a full cargo on the coast without Customs
cognizance, and then came to Wellington and tendered the duty !
364 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [1852
October 13, 1852. — 298 pounds tobacco, seized at
Geelong, concealed on board a vessel from Liverpool.
Same Date. — 326 pounds tobacco, also concealed on a
vessel from Liverpool.
November 10. — 351 pounds tobacco, seized at Melbourne,
concealed in 19 imported casks of oranges.
Early in 1852 a large seizure of tobacco was made at
London, on a vessel loaded with granite from Guernsey.
The tobacco had been packed in tins containing about
20 pounds each, and stowed amid the cargo.
Another ingenious fraud was detected in the same
port. Casks and circular tins had been imported, con-
taining rape-oil, and it was found that the sides of the
packages were double, and that the spaces thus created
were packed with tobacco-stalk flour.
Three trunks containing effects, which had been put
on board ship at Guernsey for conveyance to London,
were found by the Guernsey officers to have double
sides, the spaces containing cigars.
A ship which had discharged her foreign cargo, and
been cleared by the Customs at Limerick, was found by
the officers at Kilnish to be fitted up with large and
ingeniously contrived places of concealment. She was
seized and condemned. From the investigations after-
wards held it appeared probable that immense smuggling
had been carried on from this vessel.
Below are a few other cases in 1852 :
May 14 and 15. — Two horses, a waggon, 1,512 pounds
tobacco, 577 pounds stalks, 138 pounds snuff, and
47 pounds cigars, seized at Ross, Herefordshire, by
excise officers ; 29 pounds tobacco, seized at Swansea, in a
house occupied byoneof the parties concerned in the above.
May 20. — A smack and 494 pounds tobacco, seized off
Southwold.
June 5. — The lugger Earl Grey, with 300 pounds
tobacco and 900 pounds stalks, seized at Deal.
June 18. — 250 pounds tobacco, seized at Sunderland,
concealed in a ship's hold.
1852] ENORMOUS SMUGGLING 365
June 22. — The smack Mary, seized off Hayling Island,
with 14 tubs of spirits concealed in lining of hold.
September 2. — 1,290 pounds tobacco-stalks, seized in
an inn-yard at Southampton.
September 8. — 10 tubs spirits, seized at Brixham, after
being hauled ashore and then drawn up a sewer.
The following cases appear remarkable :
On the night of January 11, 1852, a Glasgow tide-
waiter, whilst going on duty, observed a man carrying a
heavy package from the quay and up Finnerton Street.
He followed, but lost sight of his quarry. Returning,
he stumbled over two sacks of tobacco lying in the street
near a public-house. He procured assistance, searched
the public-house, and found two other sacks of tobacco.
A further search revealed another sack in a coal-bunker
near the door, and seven packages more in a press — in
all 704 pounds. A shopkeeper who lived near, and the
publican's servant, were prosecuted for ' being concerned '
(they had tried to conceal the goods from the officers
during search). The servant was acquitted, and the
shopkeeper convicted, the magistrates recommending him
strongly to the mercy of the Board. The pubhc-house
keeper, a woman, was then prosecuted, but the magistrates
held the case ' not proven,' and ' assoilzied ' her. Mr.
Muirhead, the local lawyer employed by the collector,
reported : ' There is scarcely a chance for the Crown's ever
carrying a conviction before the justices here.'
On August 19, 1852, two well-dressed men visited the
police-station at Margate, and stated that they were
excise officers from London in chase of ' two ruffians who
were escaping from the country,' that they had reason to
believe the ' ruffians ' had got on board a smack that was
hovering off the Margate coast, that they had engaged a
boat and four watermen to pursue her, and required a
policeman to go with them. A policeman was provided,
and away the party went, and picked up the smack
beyond the limits of Ramsgate port, seven miles from
land. The strangers jumped aboard, and one of them
366 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [1852
took off the hatches. A pungent smell arose from the
hold, and the Margate boatmen at once perceived, to their
disgust, that they had been deluded into assisting in the
capture of a cargo of contraband. The vessel was the
Marie of Dunkirk, with 6,000 pounds of tobacco on board.
She had a French crew, but in the forecastle were two
stalwart Englishmen, who spoke the true Deal dialect.
The Margate boatmen refused to assist in navigating the
vessel into port, whereupon the two stout Deal men
offered to do so, and became at once most friendly with
their captors. To such an extent did cordiality prevail
that, a small public-house on the coast coming in sight,
the excise officers asked the boatmen to pull ashore and
obtain a gallon or two of beer. Off came the beer, and
the seizing officers passed it round and round, till the
sunburnt faces of the French crew, the Deal ' spotsmen,'
and the Margate boatmen, grew red as the sun on a frosty
evening, and even the rubicund countenance of the
policeman acquired a deeper tinge. And thus they
proceeded merrily into Ramsgate harbour, where the
two seizers placed smack, cargo, and prisoners under the
charge of the customs collector, announcing themselves
respectively as Mr. R , excise officer of Rochester,
and Mr. S , excise officer of Stepney. The prisoners
were charged, and the magistrates, not being quite
certain as to their powers, communicated through the
collector with the Thames Street lawyer, who instructed
them that the goods were liable to forfeiture, and so was
the vessel, but the Frenchmen must be released, the
seizure having been made beyond the three-mile limit.
The two Deal men were liable, being English, and the
seizure being made within four leagues of the land. But
there was a quibble as to the vessel. By a recent case
of the kind it had been shown that the aspect of inter-
national law should be studied in connection with seizures
afloat. Therefore the Marie must be deemed liable to
forfeiture so as to legalize prosecution of the two Deal
men, and after they had been prosecuted forfeiture
1852] A COLLUSIVE SEIZURE 367
might be waived. The Deal men were convicted
accordingly.
Soon afterwards a notorious Margate smuggler called
on the Customs solicitor at Thames Street, and told him
he had an idea this was a collusive seizure. The solicitor
was impressed, and began to look into the matter, and
several corroborating suspicions at once entered his mind.
First, the tobacco seized was of wretched quality.
Second, R , the chief seizer, was a native of that
stronghold of smuggling, Deal, and connected by marriage
with several well-known receivers. Third, R had
stated that he had never seen either of the two Deal men
before, yet it turned out that he had kept a tavern in
Beach Street, Deal, prior to entering the Excise, and one
of the ' spotsmen ' had been his potboy. And it was
well known that there were many hardy longshoremen in
Deal who, if their wives and families were looked after,
would think nought of doing six months in gaol for a
bribe of £20. Fourth, the Marie had been fooling about
many hours off Margate, as though to invite seizure.
Fifth, R and S admitted they had received
information, but refused to furnish the informer's name.
They alleged that he lived near West Mailing, and they
implied that he was so extremely sensitive and timorous
that the slightest suggestion of publicity would destroy
his eihcacy as an informer for ever. So the Customs
lawyer induced the Board of Excise to look into the
matter. The Excise Commissioners were inclined to
support their officers. They thought it possible the
informer might have acted collusively in luring the smack
over to be seized, or might even have financed the venture,
it appearing that the expense of hiring the vessel, buying
the almost worthless tobacco, and bribing the two Deal
men to go to gaol, would amount to but £210, and the
informer's share of the seizure-money to £300.* But
they would not admit that the officers acted collusively.
* This shows the amount of forethought expended in framing the
revenue laws of the period, and the regulations as to seizure awards.
368 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [1852
The Customs lawyer merely kept the papers by him,
knowing well that the knaves concerned would soon begin
to show their hands. First came an application from
R that the awards might be made as early as
possible, for he had already advanced his informer £53,
and had spent £il in expenses (including, no doubt, the
amount disbursed off the North Foreland for beer). The
lawyer asked for the informer's name. R stated the
man was one Woodward, generally living at Mailing.
The lawyer sent for the old Margate smuggler who had
first enlightened him, and that hoary rascal intimated an
opinion that a dummy informer would be put up
if things grew desperate, and that he wouldn't be sur-
prised if that there dummy turned out to be his old pal
D of Deal, well known as a smuggler, and of old well
acquainted with R .
Meantime the four Margate boatmen who had rowed
R off to the smack, having incurred some depreciation
of self-esteem by being tricked into assisting in the
executic 1 of the law, thought they might as well have a
share in the profits, and sent in an urgent petition. So
did the policeman. The seizing officers protested against
these claims, but the Customs Board gave the policeman
£5, and the four boatmen £2 los. each — these amounts
to he deducted from the officers'' shares when the latter were
paid.
Soon the pretended informer wrote, signing himself
' Woodward,' and asking for his reward. He stated that
people were beginning to suspect him, and that it was
not safe for him to show himself in the street. The lawyer
asked him to call at his office in Thames Street, and placed
the old Margate smuggler in concealment. Just as the
informer finished his tale, and reiterated his claim as
' Woodward,' he received a heavy slap from behind, and,
turning round, found himself confronted by a grinning
ancient, who exclaimed in husky tones : ' Wot cheer,
D , old boy ! How is things headin' just now ?' It
does not appear that the informer was at all discomposed,
1852-53] A DUMMY INFORMER 369
or that any hint was made of proceedings against him.
It may be safely assumed that he at once ' owned up,'
and that Deal and Margate went from the Custom-house
arm-in-arm, and straight into the most convenient tavern.
It might be thought that R would hear of this, and
cease his solicitations, but it is likely that D merely
told him a string of lies, for he continued to pester the
Customs Board with requests for compensation and
awards. The Board made no reply. The papers con-
nected with this extraordinary case conclude with a note
by the lawyer in June, 1854, thus :
â– * The difficulty I have had in dealing with these papers
is at an end by a circumstance which confirms my view
of the case. I find that R has defrauded the Excise
and decamped.'*
(Nothing appears as to what became of S . Prob-
ably he was quite unaware that R had taken him
into an arranged case.)
During 1852 information reached the Board that a
Grimsby oyster-boat called the Lord Rivers had run across
to the French coast. Her captain was one Mimmack, a
desperate smuggler belonging to Saltfleet, Lincolnshire.
Orders were sent to the eastern and southern ports, and
revenue cruisers went in search of her. She was found off
Dunkirk, with nothing on board except a number of
empty cigar-boxes. During the rest of the year she was
closely watched and repeatedly searched, and nothing
discovered that would justify her detention, yet it seems
she must have been smuggling all the time. On
January 28, 1853, she was searched off Dover, and found
to have what the officers deemed ' a false stem,' the
* We have seen a good many sets of papers in which some of
the reports suggest collusion in seizures, but none quite so
remarkable as this case. It is clear that the distances from the
shore, etc., were studied out by R , so that the Frenchmen
should escape and the ship be released ; that he bribed two of his
old acquaintances to suffer imprisonment, and another to per-
sonate the informer if necessary ; and that he expected to secure
his own promotion, and a tolerable surplus after expenses were
paid.
24
370 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [1853
interior of which smelt strongly of spirits. She was
detained, but it appearing that such peculiarities of
structure were common in vessels of the kind, and there
being no actual proof that she had been smuggling, release
was granted. In February, however, a person concerned
gave startling information as to the doings of Captain
Mimmack and his crew, from which it appeared that this
little craft, though scarcely ever out of the hands of the
revenue men, had carried on a steady traffic in contraband.
She was therefore seized, but the crew were not prosecuted.
Early on the morning of March 10, 1853, a pohceman
detained three horses and two carts near Woodbridge for
conveying 1,231 pounds tobacco and 2,541 pounds stalks.
Inquiries were made, and it was found that the goods had
been landed on the bank of the Orwell from a small vessel
called the Susan. The vessel was captured with her
master and crew, and several persons residing near Bungay
were arrested on suspicion of being concerned. One of
the crew made a statement, describing the whole of the
proceedings, the departure from England, the taking-in of
the goods at Flushing, the run, etc. The rest of the crew
and the driver of the carts were convicted. After release
from gaol the crew made statements still further impli-
cating the Bungay receivers, but the Customs solicitor
was indisposed to take proceedings, and recommended
that certain moderate sums which had been offered
by the accused as compositions should be accepted.
' Perhaps drawing their capital would do more to cripple
their smuggling operations than incarceration.' He
thought a conviction might be obtained, but it would
be by contaminated evidence, which would ' subject the
Crown to the usual observations on such occasions.' (It
is apparent that Mr. Hamel had been rendered more
cautious by the proceedings of the Parliamentary and
Charlotte Row Committees. See pp. 324-325 and 329.)
The Board concurred.
The proceedings of the police in this case were not
exactly creditable, neither were those of the collector of
1853] SMUGGLERS AND INFORMERS 371
Woodbridge. The police returned the seizure as made
without information, whereas the seizing constable's
attention had been called to the conveyances by a local
post-office clerk who was going to work. The police
appear to have done their best to ' bluff ' him out of
participation, but the Board, deeply experienced in the
ways of seizing officers, refused to be hoodwinked, and
compensated the clerk liberally. The Woodbridge
customs men, no doubt annoyed that the police handed
the seized goods over to the Excise, did their best to
squeeze themselves into the seizure, but without avail.
On March 12, 1853, the smack Ariel was searched off
Ramsgate, and 2 pounds tobacco and seven packs of
playing-cards seized. A petty seizure, it may be thought,
and little did the revenue men deem that she had just
discharged a cargo into the Deal lugger Mary, which
vessel was making for London river. An hour later the
Mary was sailing past the Reculvers, when she was
boarded by the coastguard, who found that she was
carrying 1,615 pounds tobacco-stalks.
Information was given to the authorities that the Joh?i
and Susannah of Lowestoft had gone oversea for a cargo
of tobacco. On April 30, 1853, the coastguard seized
her off Whitby with 5,165 pounds tobacco. ' Immedi-
ately on the discovery being made,' wrote the seizing
officer, ' the master, James Blasey, jumped overboard
and tried to drown himself, but was rescued by my men.
He was very refractory and troublesome.' Quite a
remarkable number of people tried to squeeze themselves
into this case, some professing to have given information,
others to have assisted the seizing officers. The excise
officer at Ipswich claimed on the former ground, but
was rapped over the knuckles. The real informer
pestered the Board with complaints and begging letters.
This miserable traitor's appeals for money remind us of
the methods of Rogue Riderhood. After receiving £5 as
' pecuniary relief,' £11 8s. as ' share of forfeiture,'
£50 3s. 2d. as ' subsistence,' £1 as ' railway expenses,'
372 TOWARDS FREE TRADE [1853
and £50 as ' gratuity,' he wrote to say that his hfe was
in danger from the smugglers. The Board offered to
pay his expenses if he would emigrate, but it seems that
was not in his line. He replied thus :
' Honourable Gentlemen in writing to your Honour-
able board I beg to state that my wishes are in all respects
willing to do the best that ever lay in my power to give
any information to your Honourable board that may
come in my way and I do Flatter myself that by exerting
my powers to do so that I can be of greater service than
perhaps Gentlemen you really think I know a great many
smuggling parties all along the west coast and can do
more than you are aware of providing I had the means to
set me up in the world and I think either Portsmouth or
Southampton the most suitable places for me to do any-
thing in as I am in danger here with thanks for the
suggestion cannot at my age and with a sick wife think of
emigrating but should be happy if I could provide a
Liveing by industry in any place,' etc., etc.