PICTURESQUE CHAPTERS IN THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT CRAFT BY CHARLES G. HARPER “ Smuggler .— A wretch who , in defiance of the laws , imports or exports goods without payment of the customs .”— Dr. Johnson ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL HARDY, BY THE AUTHOR AND FROM OLD PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS Title page London : CHAPMAN & HALL, Ltd . 1909 PRINTED AND BOUND BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY....

Opinions have ever been divided on the question of the morality , or the immorality , of smuggling .  This is not , in itself , remarkable , since that subject on which all men think alike has not yet been discovered ; but whatever the views held upon the question of the rights and wrongs of the “ free-traders ’” craft , they have long since died down into abstract academic discussion .  Smuggling is , indeed , not dead , but it is not the potent factor it once was , and to what extent Governmen

Customs dues and embargoes on imports and exports are things of immemorial antiquity, the inevitable accompaniments of civilisation and luxury; and the smugglers, who paid no dues and disregarded all prohibitions, are therefore of necessity equally ancient.  Carthage, the chief commercial community of the ancient world, was probably as greatly troubled by the questions of customs tariffs and smuggling as was the England of George the Third.  Without civilisation, and the consequent demand for th

The “Owlers” of Romney Marsh , and the Ancient Export Smuggling of Wool The earliest conflicts of interests between smugglers and the Government were concerned with the export of goods, and not with imports.  We are accustomed to think only of the import smuggler, who brought from across Channel, or from more distant shores, the spirits, wines, tea, coffee, silks, laces, and tobacco that had never yielded to the revenue of the country; but before him in point of time, if not also in importance,

Growth of Tea and Tobacco Smuggling in the Eighteenth Century — Repressive Laws a Failure Side by side with the export smuggling of wool, the import smuggling of tobacco and tea grew and throve amazingly in later ages.  Every one, knowingly or unsuspectingly, smoked tobacco and drank tea that had paid no duty. “Great Anna” herself, who was among the earliest to yield to the refining influence of tea—          Great Anna, whom three realms obey, Doth sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tay— in

Terrorising Bands of Smugglers — The Hawkhurst Gang — Organised Attack on Goudhurst — The “Smugglers’ Song ” But the smugglers of Kent and Sussex were by far the most formidable of all the “free-traders” in England, and were not easily to be suppressed.  Smuggling, export and import, off those coasts was naturally heavier than elsewhere, for there the Channel was narrower, and runs more easily effected.  The interests involved were consequently much greater, and the organisation of the smugglers

The “Murders by Smugglers” in Hampshire The most outstanding chapter in the whole history of smuggling is that of the cold-blooded “Murders by Smugglers” which stained the annals of the southern counties in the mid-eighteenth century with peculiarly revolting deeds that have in them nothing of romance; nothing but a long-drawn story of villainy and fiendish cruelty.  It is a story that long made dwellers in solitary situations shiver with apprehension, especially if they owned relatives connecte

The “Murders by Smugglers ” continued — Trial and Execution of the Murderers — Further Crimes by the Hawkhurst Gang Even in those times two men, and especially men who had set out upon official business, could not disappear so utterly as Chater and Galley had done without comment being aroused, and presently the whole country was ringing with the news of this mysterious disappearance.  The condition of the country can at once be guessed when it is stated that no one doubted the hands of the smug

Outrage at Hastings by the Ruxley Gang — Battle on the Whitstable-Canterbury Road — Church-Towers as Smugglers’ Cellars — The Drummer of Herstmonceux — Epitaph at Tandridge — Deplorable Affair at Hastings — The Incident of “The Four Brothers ” Sussex was again the scene of a barbarous incident, in 1768; and on this occasion seafaring men were the malefactors. It is still an article of faith with the writers of guide-books who do not make their own inquiries, and thus perpetuate obsolete things,

Fatal Affrays and Daring Encounters at Rye , Dymchurch , Eastbourne , Bo-Peep , and Fairlight — The Smugglers’ Route from Shoreham and Worthing into Surrey — The Miller’s Tomb-Langston Harbour — Bedhampton Mill The ’twenties of the nineteenth century formed a period especially rich in smuggling incidents, or perhaps seem so to do, because, with the growth of country newspapers, they were more fully reported, instead of being left merely the subject of local legend. A desperate affray took place

East Coast Smuggling — Outrage at Beccles — A Colchester Raid — Canvey Island — Bradwell Quay — The East Anglian “Cart Gaps” — A Blakeney Story — Tragical Epitaph at Hunstanton — The Peddar’s Way The doings of the Kentish and Sussex gangs entirely overshadow the annals of smuggling in other counties; and altogether, to the general reader, those two seaboards and the coasts of Devon and Cornwall stand out as typical scenes.  But no part of our shores was immune; although the longer sea-passages t

The Dorset and Devon Coasts — Epitaphs at Kinson and Wyke — The “Wiltshire Moon-Rakers” — Epitaph at Branscombe — The Warren and “Mount Pleasant” Inn Not so much smuggling incident as might be expected is found along the coasts of Dorset and Devon, but that is less on account of any lack of smuggling encounters in those parts than because less careful record has been kept of them.  An early epitaph on a smuggler, to be seen in the churchyard of Kinson, just within the Dorset boundary, in an out-

Cornwall in Smuggling Story — Cruel Coppinger — Hawker’s Sketch — The Fowey Smugglers — Tom Potter , of Polperro — The Devils of Talland — Smugglers’ Epitaphs — Cave at Wendron — St. Ives Cornwall is the region of romance: the last corner of England in which legend and imagination had full play, while matter-of-fact already sat enthroned over the rest of the land.  At a time when newspapers almost everywhere had already long been busily recording facts, legends were still in the making throughou

Testimony to the Qualities of the Seafaring Smugglers — Adam Smith on Smuggling — A Clerical Counterblast — Biographical Sketches of Smugglers — Robert Johnson , Harry Paulet — William Gibson , A Converted Smuggler Care has already been taken to discriminate between the hardy, hearty, and daring fellows who brought their duty-free goods across the sea and those others who, daring also, but often cruel and criminal, handled the goods ashore.  We now come to close quarters with the seafaring smugg

The Carter Family , of Prussia Cove In the west of Cornwall, on the south coast of the narrow neck of land which forms the beginning of that final westerly region known as “Penwithstart,” is situated Prussia Cove, originally named Porth Leah, or King’s Cove.  It lies just eastwardly of the low dark promontory known as Cuddan Point, and is even at this day a secluded place, lying remote from the dull high-road that runs between Helston, Marazion, and Penzance.  In the days of the smugglers Porth

Jack Rattenbury We do not expect of smugglers that they should be either literary or devout.  The doings of the Hawkhurst Gang, and of other desperate and bloody-minded associations of free-traders, seem more in key with the business than either the sitting at a desk, nibbling a pen and rolling a frenzied eye, in search of a telling phrase, or the singing of Methodist psalms.  Yet we have, in the “Memoirs of a Smuggler,” published at Sidmouth in 1837, the career of Jack Rattenbury, smuggler, of

The Whisky Smugglers A modern form of smuggling little suspected by the average Englishman is found in the illicit whisky-distilling yet carried on in the Highlands of Scotland and the wilds of Ireland, as the records of Inland Revenue prosecutions still annually prove.  The sportsman, or the more adventurous among those tourists who roam far from the beaten track, are still likely to discover in rugged and remote situations the ruins of rough stone and turf huts of no antiquity, situated in lon

Some Smugglers’ Tricks and Evasions — Modern Tobacco-Smuggling — Silks and Lace — A Dog Detective — Leghorn Hats — Foreign Watches The tricks practised by smugglers other than those daring and resourceful fellows who risked life, limb, and liberty in conflict with the elements and the preventive service, may form, in the narration, an amusing chapter.  Smugglers of this kind may be divided, roughly, into three classes.  Firstly, we have the ingeniously evasive trade importer in bulk, who resorts

Coast Blockade — The Preventive Water-Guard and the Coastguard — Official Return of Seizures — Estimated Loss to the Revenue in 1831— The Sham Smuggler of the Seaside — The Modern Coastguard The early coastguardmen had a great deal of popular feeling to contend with.  When the coast-blockade was broken up in 1831, and the “Preventive Water-Guard,” as this new body was styled, was formed, officers and men alike found the greatest difficulty in obtaining lodgings.  No one would let houses or rooms

[66]   “Gregory’s Gang” was a noted band of thieves and housebreakers, active about 1730–35.  Dick Turpin was at times associated with them.  See “Half Hours with the Highwaymen,” vol. ii., p. 177. [173]   “Autobiography of a Cornish Smuggler.”  (Gibbings & Co., Ltd., 1900.) [194]   By smuggling, presumably....