SOME INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS
Rowing about on the night of Lady Day, 1813, a six-oared boat, which
had been launched from the Custom House cutter _Lion_, was on the
prowl in that bay which extends all the way from Dungeness to
Folkestone. When the watchers in this craft were off Hythe, and only
about a quarter of a mile from the shore, they saw coming along over
the dark waters a lugsail boat with foresail and mizzen making towards
Dymnchurch, which is just to the west of Hythe. It was about an hour
before midnight, and as this suspicious craft did not come near to the
_Lion's_ boat the latter rowed towards her and hailed her.
"What boat is that?" they asked.
"A Folkestone boat," came back the answer.
Thereupon John Wellar, a deputed mariner in the Customs boat, shouted
to the lugger to heave-to, for he guessed what the game was.
"Heave-to!" roared the lugger's master. "We'll see you d----d first!"
But the rowing-boat was not to be put off with mere insults, and
quickly pulled up alongside the craft. One of the men in the Customs
boat then stood up and looked into the lugger and remarked that she
was full of kegs. Wellar therefore immediately jumped into her,
followed by three or four of his men, and seized her. On board he
found three men, and them also he secured. He further discovered 144
half-ankers of spirits, consisting of brandy and gin from across the
Channel, which were subsequently taken to the Custom House at Dover. A
little more than a year later, Robert Baker, the lugger's master, was
brought before the judge and fined £100.
There was an interesting incident which occurred a few years later in
the eastern corner of England, which led to trouble for a man named
Henry Palmer of Harwich. This man was master and owner of a yawl named
the _Daisy_, which belonged to Ipswich. About midday on the 22nd of
March 1817, one of the Preventive officers, named Dennis Grubb,
observed the _Daisy_ sailing up the Orwell, which flows from Ipswich
past Harwich and out into the North Sea. Grubb was in a six-oared
galley, and about three-quarters of a mile below Levington Creek,
which is on the starboard hand about a third of the way up the river
between Harwich and Ipswich. With Grubb was another man, and on seeing
the _Daisy_ they began rowing towards her. Whether Grubb had any
reason for suspecting her more than any other craft, whether he had
received warning from an informer, cannot be stated. But what is true
is that he was determined to have her examined.
However, notwithstanding that Palmer must have known perfectly well
that this was a preventive boat, and that he was in duty bound to stop
when hailed, it was obvious that, as soon as the galley came near, the
_Daisy_ instantly went about on the other tack and stood away from the
boat. The latter in turn pulled after the yawl and was again
approaching when the _Daisy_ once more tacked and ran away. But at
last the galley came up, and just as Grubb was in the act of stepping
aboard, Palmer coolly remarked that he had some tubs aboard, following
this up by the explanation that he had got them on the trawling
ground. This was too obvious a lie to be believed for a moment.
Grubb accordingly inquired how it was that Palmer had come past
Harwich since the latter was his home, to which he answered that he
was bound for Ipswich, as there his vessel was registered. But
inasmuch as there were two of the Revenue cutters as well as a
guardship lying at the entrance to the river, how was it that he had
not stopped to hand the tubs over to them? For either the Customs
cutter _Griper_, or the Excise cutter _Badger_, would have been the
ordinary receptacle, instead of waiting till a Preventive galley
overtook the _Daisy_. When Grubb asked how Palmer had come by all
these tubs he said that he had caught them in his trawl, whereupon
the preventive man examined the net and found it damp but certainly
not wet, as it would have been had Palmer's version been the truth.
Furthermore, if these tubs had been caught in the trawl there would
have been a number of holes torn, but Grubb found there to be no
holes. There were no fewer than forty-eight of these tubs found on the
_Daisy_--all half-ankers, and fitted with slings ready for
landing--and inasmuch as it was clear that the net had not been lately
used Palmer was obviously lying. The iron which, had it been dragged
along the sea-bed, would have been polished bright with the sand, was
actually not bright but rusty, thus proving that it had not been
recently used.
Grubb therefore felt justified in arresting the yawl, and taking her
and her tubs to the Custom House. Later on he made a thorough search
of her, and found a creeping-iron which had five prongs and a long
shank. The reader is well aware that such an implement was used by the
smugglers but never found on board a genuine fishing-craft. For
getting up sunken tubs it was essential, and for that purpose it was
evidently on board the _Daisy_. Moreover, it was found to be both wet
and polished bright as to its prongs, and there was still some wet mud
sticking thereto.
The case, of course, duly came on to be tried, and the
Attorney-General suggested that at that time, in nine cases out of
every ten, the tubs of smuggled spirits were not brought directly to
port but sunk at different places in the sea, located by landmarks and
buoys, fishing-boats being sent out later on to get them by these
creepers, and to bring them in by small quantities as opportunity
permitted. Palmer's defence was that they had found the tubs just
outside Harwich harbour, opposite to Landguard Fort, at about seven
o'clock the previous evening. But it was a somewhat strange fact that
though this fishing-vessel should have been out all night not a single
fish was found on board. And when Palmer was asked how it was that if
he had found these tubs, and had intended to hand them over to the
Customs authorities, he had been so careful to stow them all below and
not leave them on deck to be visible to the _Griper_ and _Badger_ as
he passed? His reply, that he had put the tubs below lest a puff of
wind might blow them overboard, somehow did not convince the judge,
and the verdict went against him.
A curious instance of an abuse of office was seen in the occurrence
which centred round a certain Mr. Thomas Moore Slade. Mr. Slade was
Agent Victualler for the Chatham Victualling Office, and from his
connection with that department he had the power of employing some of
his Majesty's vessels belonging to the department. This gentleman got
to know that a splendid collection of pictures was about to be
dispersed in France. They were of great value both artistically and
intrinsically, and had belonged to the late Duke of Orleans. Slade
therefore, quite unjustifiably, determined to make use of one of the
craft under his charge for the purpose of fetching these pictures into
the country, and thus cheating the Government of its dues, which would
have been very heavy in this transaction.
The way he went about it was to direct a man named Thomas Cheney, who
commanded the sloop _Grace_ (belonging to the King's Victualling
Office), to get under way and proceed a certain distance from Chatham.
After he had come out of the Medway and had reached the Nore he was to
open a letter which Slade had given him, wherein he would find his
instructions. The _Grace_ in due course hoisted sails and anchor and
found herself out by the Nore. On opening the letter, Cheney was
surprised to find he was directed to proceed to Calais. He informed
the crew, who were very indignant, as they had all thought they were
bound for Deptford. So that night they put back to Sheerness and let
go anchor. The following day, with a reluctant company on board, they
started off again and reached Ramsgate, where they lay all night. On
the third day they crossed the Channel and got into Calais Roads,
anchored, and remained there all night.
It should be added that Slade had taken the precaution to put on
board this sloop before she left England a Mr. Thomas Aldridge, an
expert judge of pictures, his exact description for this voyage being
as supercargo, a term which signifies an officer in a trading vessel
whose duty it is to manage the sales and superintend all the
commercial concerns of the voyage. Having arrived, then, off Calais,
Cheney, Aldridge, and some of the crew proceeded ashore and, guided by
the art expert, went to a certain Monsieur Dessein, who kept an hotel
in that town. From him they obtained a large number of cases
containing the Orleans collection, and brought them off to the
_Grace_. Altogether there were no less than fifteen of these cases,
and although the _Grace_ was a vessel of some thirty-two tons burthen,
yet the weight of these paintings was sufficiently great to lower her
water-line a good six inches.
After this valuable cargo had been got aboard and stowed, a gale of
wind sprang up and detained them for a few days, but at length they
cleared from the French coast and steered for the Downs. From there
they rounded the North Foreland, and after running up the Thames
entered the Medway and let go at Gillingham until it was dark. But as
soon as night had fallen they got going once more, and ran alongside
the Victualling Wharf at Chatham. The pictures were brought up from
the sloop and taken ashore by means of a crane, and then quietly
carried into Mr. Slade's house. By this he had thus saved the cost
both of carriage and of duty, the pictures being afterwards sold for a
very large sum. However, this dishonest business at length leaked out,
an action was brought against Slade, and a verdict was given for the
King and for six pictures of the single value of twenty guineas.
On the evening of a November day in the year 1819, the Revenue cutter
_Badger_, under the command of Captain Mercer, was cruising in the
English Channel between Dungeness and Boulogne. About seven o'clock it
was reported to the commander that about a quarter of a mile away
there was a lugger steering about N.W. by W. towards the English
coast. The _Badger_ thereupon gave chase, but as she drew nearer and
nearer the lugger altered her course many times. Carrying a smart
press of canvas, the _Badger_, which was one of the fastest vessels
employed in the Revenue, came up rapidly. As usual she fired her
warning gun for the lugger to heave-to, but all the notice taken by
the chased ship was to go about on the other tack and endeavour still
to escape. But presently the cutter, running with the wind on her
quarter and doing her eight knots to the lugger's four or five, came
up to her foe so quickly as to run right past her. But before the
_Badger_ luffed up she hailed the lugger (whose name was afterwards
found to be the _Iris_ of Boulogne) and ordered her to heave-to.
"I be hove-to," answered back one of the lugger's crew in unmistakable
English.
[Illustration: "The _Badger_ was hoisting up the galley in the
rigging."]
Meanwhile the _Badger_ was hoisting up the galley in the rigging
preparatory to launching, and the crew stood by ready to get in. As
soon as the _Badger_ had shot past, down went her helm and she came
alongside the _Iris_ as the galley was dropped into the leaden waters.
But just at that moment the _Badger's_ people overheard some men on
the lugger exclaim, "Now's your time," whereupon the crew of the
lugger also launched their boat, forsook the _Iris_, and began to row
off as fast as they could. The _Badger_ called to them--among whom was
a man named Albert Hugnet--ordering them under pain of being shot to
come alongside the cutter. They replied that they were coming, but
that they could not find their thole-pins, saying that they had only
two oars on one side and one oar on the other. This was said in
English, and was obviously a mere excuse to gain time. Meanwhile the
cutter's galley and men had come alongside the lugger, in which they
found 110 half-ankers, containing 382 gallons of brandy, and 157
half-ankers of Geneva, 55 bags of tea, and 19 bags containing 355 lbs.
of manufactured tobacco.
As the men of the _Iris_ showed no signs of coming back, the
prize-crew on the lugger hailed the _Badger_, giving information that
the smugglers were escaping. "Lie close," came the command, so the
cutter trimmed her sheets and went in pursuit, and fired some shots in
the direction of the retreating boat. But it was no use, for the boat
was quickly lost from sight among the waves and disappeared entirely.
There was some sea on at the time, so no one among the Revenue men
envied the _Iris's_ crew their task of rowing across to Boulogne, a
distance of somewhere about twenty-seven miles, in that weather and
athwart very strong tides, with the certainty of having a worse time
as the Ridens and the neighbourhood of Boulogne was approached. In
fact the chief mate of the cutter remarked, some time after, though he
had seen these tub-boats go across the sea in all weathers, and were
splendidly seaworthy, yet he considered it was not very wise of the
_Iris's_ crew to risk it on such a night as that.
Convinced, then, that the men were making for France, the lugger, with
her prize crew on board, presently sailed up after the cutter, hoping
to come across their captives. But neither cutter nor lugger could
find the men, and concluded, no doubt, that the tub-boat had
foundered. But, at a later date, Albert Hugnet was arrested, and in
the following June was brought to trial and punished. It then came out
that the whole boat-load had escaped with their lives. For Andres
Finshaw was called as evidence for the defence. He had been one of the
lugger's crew, and showed that after rowing away that night they had
not fetched across to the French coast, but having the good luck to
find a French fishing-craft only a quarter of a mile away, they were
taken aboard her and thus returned to France.
It was also brought out very clearly by the other side that when first
seen the _Iris_ was within nine miles of the English coast, and
afterwards the _Badger_ steered N.W. by W. towards the south of
Dungeness, and after five and a half miles saw the Dungeness light and
the South Foreland light, took cross-bearings of these, and having
marked them off on the chart, fixed their position as about three
miles from the coast. Thus when the lugger was first encountered the
latter was about nine miles from the land.
The date of that incident, then, was the 12th of November, and Hugnet
was not then captured. We may now pass over the next four weeks till
we come to the 10th of December in that same year. At eight o'clock in
the morning the Revenue cutter _Eagle_ was cruising off the coast of
Kent when she observed a lugger bearing about N.W. by N. from them.
The lugger was under all sail and heading S.E. for Boulogne, having
come out from East Dungeness Bay. The weather was thick, it was
snowing, and no land was in sight, Dungeness being the nearest portion
of the English coast.
It did not take long for the _Eagle's_ commander to guess what was
happening, especially when that bay was so notorious, and the cutter
began to give chase, the wind being roughly N.W. But as the _Eagle_
pursued, the lugger, as was the approved custom, hauled up and came on
a wind, hoping to get away and outpace the cutter. But in this the
smugglers were not successful, and eventually the _Eagle_ overhauled
her. The cutter's galley was now launched, and after having been for
three-quarters of an hour rowed quickly by the aid of her eight men,
the lugger was reached and hailed. The usual warning signal was fired
from a musket in the boat and colours shown. The lugger, however,
declined to heave-to as requested.
"If you don't heave-to," roared the chief mate of the _Eagle_, as he
looked towards the helmsman, "we'll fire right into you." On this the
lugger lowered her sails, the galley bumped alongside, and the chief
mate and crew, pistols in hand, leapt aboard. "Where are you from?"
asked the chief mate. The answer came in French, which the latter did
not understand, but he thought they said they were bound from Bordeaux
to Calais. If so, it was an obvious and foolish lie. Mr. Gray--for
that was the mate's name--then inquired how many men were aboard, and
the answer returned that there were seven. Gray then called the
lugger's men aft, and separated the English from the foreign, and
found there were five French and two English. The two latter, said the
Frenchman (who was none other than Albert Hugnet, whom we spoke of
just now), were just passengers. A few minutes later, the skipper
contradicted himself and said there were not seven but nine, all told.
Gray then proceeded to look for the other two, and jumped down forward
into the forepeak. As the place was dark he put his cutlass in first
and rummaged about. In a moment the cutlass brought up against
something soft. Gray had struck a man, hiding there, on the legs and
thighs.
He was called upon by the cutter's mate to come out, and instantly
obeyed, fearing no doubt that the cutlass would assail him again if he
didn't. As he emerged he was followed by another man, and another, and
yet another; in fact from that dark hole there came out a procession
of seven, all of whom were found to be Englishmen. It was noticeable
that most, if not all, were dressed in short jackets and petticoat
trousers. They were clearly sailors, and not landsmen--passengers or
anything else. In plain language they were out-and-out smugglers. What
was especially to be noted was the fact that their trousers were quite
wet right up to their middles. In some cases their jackets were also
wet up to their elbows. All this clearly pointed to the fact that they
had not long since put off from the shore, where they had succeeded in
landing a contraband cargo by wading from the lugger to the beach; and
such a thick atmosphere as there was on the previous night must have
made it highly convenient for them. Nevertheless, even for these
weather-hardened seamen, it cannot have been altogether pleasant
penned up in sopping clothes in a dark forepeak with an unseen cutlass
waving about in their midst and seizure pending.
These men also Gray ordered to go aft, and put them together so that
he might see how many altogether were English and how many French. It
was found that there were nine of them English and five French. Taking
possession of the helm, Gray let the sails draw and ran down to the
_Eagle_, telling his prisoners he was going to get further
instructions from his commander. There were no tubs found on the
lugger, which was as might be expected, but there was a solitary hoop
which had evidently come off whilst these tubs were being hauled out,
and there were also found two pairs of slings which were universally
employed for getting the half-ankers ashore. These slings were made of
small line, and were passed round the circumference of the cask at its
"bow" and "stern," sufficient line being left so that there were two
lines, one to pass over each of a man's shoulders. These two lines
could be joined to other two on another cask, and so each smuggler
could land with one tub on his back and another on his chest, in much
the same way as you see a sandwich-man carrying boards in the street.
On examining this lugger there was no bilge-water found in the
forepeak, so those seven shivering men could not have made the excuse
that the vessel was damp in that portion. To cut a long story short,
the lugger was eventually taken into Harwich, having been discovered
seventeen miles from the French coast and eleven from the English
shore. Assuming the lugger had travelled at about four knots an hour,
this would mean that she had started off from the English beach on her
return journey about 5 A.M., the previous hours of the night having
doubtless been spent in unloading the tubs somewhere between
Folkestone and Dungeness or perhaps Rye. Thus Hugnet, having at last
been caught, had to stand his trial for both this and the occurrence
of the previous month. And a verdict in each case having been returned
against him, his activities in running backwards and forwards across
the English Channel were, for a time at least, considerably modified.
These tub-boats, which we have had cause to mention more than once,
were usually not towed but carried on the lugger's deck. A tub-boat
got its name from the fact that when the lugger was too big to run her
nose on the beach the tubs were landed in these boats. For that reason
they were made very deep, with plenty of high freeboard, and were
accordingly wonderfully good sea-boats, though they were somewhat
heavy to row even without their spirituous cargoes.
As one looks through the gaol-books and other smuggling records, one
finds that there was a kind of hereditary custom that this running of
contraband goods should pass on from father to son for generations.
Thus there are constant repetitions, in different ages, of men bearing
the same surname engaged in smuggling and becoming wonderfully
notorious in this art. Among such family names must be mentioned that
of Rattenbury. The man of whom we are about to speak was flourishing
during the second decade of the nineteenth century, and his christian
name was John. In November 1820--it is significant how often this dark
month crops up in the history of smuggling, when the weather was not
likely to tempt those Revenue cruisers' commanders, who preferred the
snug shelter of some creek or harbour--John Rattenbury happened to
find himself at Weymouth. Into that port also came a vessel named the
_Lyme Packet_, which was accustomed to trade between Lyme and
Guernsey. But on this occasion the ship had just received the
misfortune of carrying away her bowsprit--possibly in the Portland
Race--and her master, John Cawley, decided to run into Weymouth for
repairs.
Whilst these were being taken in hand what should be more natural than
that the _Lyme Packet's_ master should drift into a local
public-house? Having brought up comfortably in that haven of rest, he
was promptly discovered by his old friend Rattenbury, who had also
made for the same house of refreshment. The usual greetings took
place, and Rattenbury inquired how it was that Cawley came to be
there, and an explanation of the accident followed. According to the
skipper's own version, they got into conversation, and, over a glass
of grog, Rattenbury volunteered the remark that if Cawley would be
willing to sail across to Cherbourg to fetch a cargo of spirits he
would pay him at a rate that would make it much more profitable than
trading between Lyme and Guernsey. In fact he was willing to pay
Cawley as much as twelve shillings a cask, adding that in one voyage
this skipper, who happened also to be owner, would make more money
thereby than in the regular course of trade in a twelvemonth.
Such a proposition was more than a tempting one, and Cawley gave the
matter his attention. Unable to resist the idea, he acquiesced, it
being agreed that Rattenbury should accompany him to France, where
they would take in a cargo of spirits, Cawley to be paid his twelve
shillings for every cask they were able to bring across. So, as soon
as the bowsprit was repaired and set in its place, the _Lyme Packet_
cast off her warps and ran out of Weymouth harbour. She made direct
for Cherbourg, where they anchored in the roadstead. Rattenbury now
went ashore and returned accompanied by 227 casks of spirits made up
in half-ankers. These were put on board and the voyage back to England
commenced, the intention being to make for West Bay and land the goods
somewhere near Sidmouth. Having arrived off the Devonshire coast,
Rattenbury took the _Lyme Packet's_ boat and rowed himself ashore,
landing at Beer Head, his object being to get assistance from the men
of Sidmouth for landing his goods. It was then about 1 A.M. The
captain of the _Lyme Packet_ kept his ship standing off and on during
the night, and hovered about that part of the coast till daybreak. But
as Rattenbury had not returned by the time the daylight had come back,
Cawley became more than a little nervous and feared lest he might be
detected. Before very long--the exact time was 6.30 A.M.--Robert
Aleward, a mariner on the Revenue cutter _Scourge_, on turning his eye
into a certain direction not more than three miles away, espied this
_Lyme Packet_, informed his commander, and a chase was promptly begun.
Cawley, too, saw that the _Lyme Packet_ had been observed, and began
to make preparations accordingly.
He let draw his sheets, got the _Lyme Packet_ to foot it as fast as
she could, and as the three intervening miles became shorter and
shorter he busied himself by throwing his casks of spirits overboard
as quickly as he and his crew knew how. The distant sail he had
noticed in the early morning had all too truly turned out to be the
Revenue cutter, but he hoped yet to escape or at any rate to be found
with nothing contraband on board. It was no good, however, for the
cruiser soon came up, and as fast as the _Lyme Packet_ had dropped
over the half-ankers, so quickly did the _Scourge's_ men pick them up
again in the cutter's boats. Having come up alongside, the cutter's
commander, Captain M'Lean, went on board, seized Cawley and his ship
as prisoners, and eventually took both into Exmouth.
Judicial proceedings followed with a verdict for the King, so that
what with a broken bowsprit and the loss of time, cargo, ship, and
liberty the voyage had in nowise been profitable to Cawley.