SMUGGLING BY CONCEALMENTS
Second cousin to the method of filling oars and spars with spirits was
that adopted by a number of people whose homes and lives were
connected with the sea-shore. They would have a number of shrimping
nets on board, the usual wooden handles being fitted at one end of
these nets. But these handles had been purposely made hollow, so that
round tin cases could be fitted in. The spirits then filled these long
cavities, and whether they caught many shrimps or not was of little
account, for dozens of men could wade ashore with these nets and
handles on their backs and proceed to their homes without raising a
particle of suspicion. It was well worth doing, for it was calculated
that as much as 2-1/2 gallons of spirit could be poured into each of
these hollow poles.
Collier-brigs were very fond of smuggling, and among others mention
might be made of the _Venus_ of Rye, an 80-ton brig which between
January and September one year worked three highly profitable voyages,
for besides her ordinary cargo she carried each time 800 casks of
spirits, these being placed underneath the coals. There was also the
brig _Severn_ of Bristol, which could carry about five keels of coal,
but seldom carried more than four, the rest of the space of course
being made up with contraband. In 1824 she worked five voyages, and on
each occasion she carried, besides her legitimate cargo, as much as
eight tons of tobacco under her coals. And there was a Danish-built
sloop named the _Blue-eyed Lass_ belonging to Shields, with a burthen
of 60 odd tons, also employed in the coal trade. She was a very
suspicious vessel, and was bought subsequently by the people of Rye to
carry on similar work to the other smuggling craft. All sorts of
warnings were sent to the Customs Board giving them information that
_The Rose in June_ (needless to say of Rye) was about to have
additional concealments added. She was of 37 tons burthen, and had
previously been employed as a packet boat. They were also warned that
George Harrington, a noted smuggler resident at Eastbourne, intended
during the winter months to carry on the contraband trade, and to land
somewhere between Southampton and Weymouth. He had made arrangements
with a large number of men belonging to Poole and the neighbouring
country, and had obtained a suitable French lugger.
In 1826 the smacks _Fox_ and _Lovely Lass_ of Portsmouth were seized
at that port with kegs of spirits secreted under their bottoms in a
thin contemporary casing, as shown in the accompanying diagram. The
ingenious part of this trick was that there was no means of
communication into the concealment from the interior of the vessel.
Thus any officer coming aboard to search would have little or no
reason to suspect her. But it was necessary every time this vessel
returned from abroad with her contraband for her to be laid ashore,
and at low water the kegs could be got at externally. To begin with
there were pieces of plank two inches thick fastened to the timbers by
large nails. Then, between the planks and the vessel's bottom the tubs
were concealed. The arrangement was exceeding simple yet wonderfully
clever. Practically this method consisted of filling up the hollow
below the turn of the bilge. It would certainly not improve the
vessel's speed, but it would give her an efficacious means of stowing
her cargo of spirits out of the way. And it was because of such
incidents as this last mentioned that orders were sent to all ports
for the local craft and others to be examined frequently _ashore_ no
less than afloat, in order that any false bottom might be detected.
And the officers were to be careful and see that the name of the ship
and her master painted on a ship corresponded with the names in her
papers. Even open boats were found fitted with double bottoms, as for
instance the _Mary_, belonging to Dover. She was only 14 feet long
with 5 feet 9-1/2 inches beam, but she had both a double bottom and
double sides, in which were contained thirty tin cases to hold 29
gallons of spirits. Her depth from gunwale to the top of her
ceiling[22] originally was 2 feet 8-1/2 inches. But the depth from the
gunwale to the false bottom was 2 feet 5-3/4 inches. The concealment
ran from the stem to the transom, the entrance being made by four
cuttles very ingeniously and neatly fitted, with four nails fore and
aft through the timbers to secure them from moving--one on each side
of the keelson, about a foot forward of the keelson under the fore
thwart. Even Thames barges were fitted with concealments; in fact
there was not a species of craft from a barque to a dinghy that was
not thus modified for smuggling.
The name of the barge was the _Alfred_ of London, and she was captured
off Birchington one December day in 1828. She pretended that she was
bound from Arundel with a cargo of wood hoops, but when she was
boarded she had evidently been across to "the other side"; for there
was found 1045 tubs of gin and brandy aboard her when she was
captured, together with her crew, by a boat sent from the cruiser
_Vigilant_. The discovery was made by finding an obstruction about
three feet deep from the top of the coamings, which induced the
Revenue officer to clear away the bundles of hoops under the fore and
main hatchways. He then discovered a concealment covered over with
sand, and on cutting through a plank two inches thick the contraband
was discovered.
The accompanying diagram shows the sloop _Lucy_ of Fowey, William
Strugnell master. On the 14th of December 1828 she was seized at
Chichester after having come from Portsmouth in ballast. She was found
to be fitted with the concealment shown in the plan, and altogether
there were 100 half-ankers thus stowed away, 50 being placed on each
side of her false bottom. She was just over 35 tons burthen, and drew
four feet of water, being sloop rigged, as many of the barges in those
days were without the little mizzen which is so familiar to our eyes
to-day.
[Illustration: The Sloop _Lucy_ showing Concealments.]
Cases of eggs sent from Jersey were fitted with false sides in which
silks were smuggled; trawlers engaged in sinking tubs of spirits; a
dog-kennel was washed ashore from a vessel that foundered off
Dungeness, and on being examined this kennel was found to be fitted
with a false top to hold 30 lbs. of tobacco; an Irish smack belonging
to Cork was specially fitted for the contraband trade, having
previously actually been employed as a Coastguard watch-boat. There
was a vessel named _Grace_ manned by three brothers--all notorious
smugglers--belonging to Coverack (Cornwall). This vessel used to put
to sea by appointment to meet a French vessel, and having from her
shipped the contraband the _Grace_ would presently run the goods
ashore somewhere between Land's End and Newport, South Wales; in fact,
all kinds of smuggling still went on even after the first quarter of
that wonderful nineteenth century.
About the year 1831 five casks imported from Jersey was alleged to
contain cider, but on being examined they were found to contain
something else as well. The accompanying sketch represents the plan of
one of these. From this it will be seen that the central space was
employed for holding the cider, but the ends were full of tobacco
being contained in two tin cases. In this diagram No. 1 represents the
bung, No. 2 shows the aperture on each side through which the tobacco
was thrust into the tin cases which are marked by No. 3, the cider
being contained in the central portion marked 4. Thus the usual method
of gauging a cask's contents was rendered useless, for unless a bent
or turned rod were employed it was impossible to detect the presence
of these side casks for the tobacco.
[Illustration: Cask for Smuggling Cider.]
One may feel a little incredulous at some of the extraordinary yarns
which one hears occasionally from living people concerning the doings
of smugglers. A good deal has doubtless arisen as the result of a too
vivid imagination, but, as we have shown from innumerable instances,
there is quite enough that is actual fact without having recourse to
invention. I know of a certain port in our kingdom where there existed
a legend to the effect that in olden days the smugglers had no need to
bring the tubs in with them, but that if they only left them outside
when the young flood was making, those tubs would find their own way
in to one particular secluded spot in that harbour. A number of
amateur enthusiasts debated the point quite recently, and a wager was
made that such a thing was not possible. But on choosing a winter's
day, and throwing a number of barrels into the water outside the
entrance, it was found that the trend of the tide was always to bring
them into that corner. But, you will instantly say, wouldn't the
Coastguard in the smuggling days have seen the barrels as they came
along the top of the water?
The answer is certainly in the affirmative. But the smugglers used to
do in the "scientific" period as follows, and this I have found in a
document dated 1833, at which time the device was quite new, at least
to the Customs officials. Let us suppose that the vessel had made a
safe passage from France, Holland, or wherever she had obtained the
tubs of spirits. She had eluded the cruisers and arrived off the
harbour entrance at night just as the flood tide was making. Overboard
go her tubs, and away she herself goes to get out of the sphere of
suspicion. These tubs numbered say sixty-three, and were firmly lashed
together in a shape very similar to a pile of shot--pyramid fashion.
The tops of the tubs were all painted white, but the raft was green.
Below this pyramid of tubs were attached two grapnel anchors, and the
whole contrivance could float in anything above seven feet of water.
It was so designed that the whole of the tubs came in on the tide
below water, only three being partially visible, and their white
colour made them difficult to be seen among the little waves. But as
soon as they came to the spot where there were only seven feet of
water the two grapnels came into action and held the tubs moored like
a ship. And as the tide rose, so it completely obliterated them. Some
one was of course on the look-out for his spirits, and when the tide
had dropped it was easy enough to wade out and bring the tubs ashore,
or else "sweep" them ashore with a long rope that dragged along the
bottom of the harbour.
During the year 1834 smuggling was again on the increase, especially
on the south and east coasts, and it took time for the officers to
learn all these new-fangled tricks which were so frequently employed.
Scarcely had the intricacies of one device been learnt than the
smugglers had given up that idea and taken to something more ingenious
still. Some time back we called attention to the way in which the Deal
boatmen used to walk ashore with smuggled tea. About the year 1834 a
popular method of smuggling tea, lace, and such convenient goods was
to wear a waistcoat or stays which contained eighteen rows well
stuffed with 8 lbs. weight of tea. The same man would also wear a pair
of drawers made of stout cotton secured with strong drawing strings
and stuffed with about 16 lbs. of tea. Two men were captured with nine
parcels of lace secreted about their bodies, a favourite place being
to wind it round the shins. Attempts were also made to smuggle spun or
roll tobacco from New York by concealing them in barrels of pitch,
rosin, bales of cotton, and so on. In the case of a ship named the
_Josephine_, from New York, the Revenue officers found in one barrel
of pitch an inner package containing about 100 lbs. of manufactured
tobacco.
[Illustration: The Smack _Tam O'Shanter_ showing Method of Concealment
(see Text).]
The accompanying plan of the smack _Tam O'Shanter_ (belonging to
Plymouth), which was seized by the Padstow Coastguard, will show how
spirits were sometimes concealed. This was a vessel of 72 tons with a
fore bulkhead and a false bulkhead some distance aft of that. This
intervening space, as will be seen, was filled up with barrels. Her
hold was filled with a cargo of coals, and then aft of this came the
cabin with berths on either side, as shown. But under these berths
were concealments for stowing quite a number of tubs, as already
explained.
A variation of the plan, previously mentioned, for smuggling by means
of concealments in casks was that which was favoured by foreign ships
which traded between the Continent and the north-east coasts of
England and Scotland. In this case the casks which held the supplies
of drinking water were fitted with false sides and false ends. The
inner casks thus held the fresh water, but the outer casks were full
of spirits. After the introduction of steam, one of the first if not
the very first instance of steamship smuggling by concealment was that
occurring in 1836, when a vessel was found to have had her
paddle-boxes so lined that they could carry quite a large quantity of
tobacco and other goods.
Another of those instances of ships fitted up specially for smuggling
was found in the French smack _Auguste_, which is well worth
considering. She was, when arrested, bound from Gravelines, and could
carry about fifty tubs of spirits or, instead, a large amount of silk
and lace. Under the ladder in the forepeak there was a potato locker
extending from side to side, and under this, extending above a foot or
more before it, was the concealment. Further forward were some loose
planks forming a hatch, under which was the coal-hole. This appeared
to go as far as the bulkhead behind the ladder, and had the
concealment been full, it could never have been found, but in walking
over where the coals were, that part of the concealment which extended
beyond the locker which was empty sounded hollow: whereupon the
officers pulled up one of the planks and discovered the hiding-place.
It was decided in 1837 that, in order to save the expense of breaking
up a condemned smuggling vessel, in future the ballast, mast, pumps,
bulkheads, platforms, and cabins should be taken out from the vessel:
and that the hull should then be cut into pieces not exceeding six
feet long. Such pieces were then to be sawn in a fore-and-aft
direction so as to cut across the beams and thwarts and render the
hull utterly useless. The accompanying sketch well illustrates the
ingenuity which was displayed at this time by the men who were bent on
running goods. What is here represented is a flat-bottomed boat, which
perhaps might never have been discovered had it not been driven ashore
near to Selsey Bill during the gales of the early part of 1837. The
manner in which this craft was employed was to tow her for a short
distance and then to cast her adrift. She was fitted with rowlocks for
four oars, but apparently these had never been used. Three large holes
were bored in her bottom, for the purpose which we shall presently
explain.
[Illustration: Flat-Bottomed Boat found off Selsey.
The sketch shows longitudinal plan, the method of covering with net,
and midship section.]
Built very roughly, with half-inch deal, and covered over with a thin
coat of white paint, she had a grommet at both bow and stern. She
measured only 16 feet long and 4 feet wide, with a depth of 2 feet 2
inches. It will be noticed that she had no thwarts. Her timbers were
of bent ash secured with common French nails, and alongside the
gunwales were holes for lacing a net to go over the top of this boat.
Her side was made of three deal planks, the net being made of line,
and of the same size as the line out of which the tub-slings were
always made. The holes in her floor were made for the water to get in
and keep her below the surface, and the net, spreading from gunwale to
gunwale, prevented her cargo of tubs from being washed out. It was in
order to have ample and unfettered room for the tubs that no thwarts
were placed. She would be towed astern of a smack or lugger under the
water, and having arrived at the appointed spot the towrope would be
let go, and the grapnels attached to both grommets at bow and stern
would cause her to bring up when in sufficiently shallow water. Later
on, at low tide, the smugglers' friends could go out in their boats
with a weighted line or hawser and sweep along the bottom of the sea,
and soon locate her and tow her right in to the beach.
In order to prevent certain obvious excuses being made by dishonest
persons, all British subjects were distinctly forbidden to pick up
spirits found in these illegal half-ankers, only officers of the Royal
Navy, the Customs, and the Excise being permitted so to do. But it was
not always that the Revenue cruisers were employed in catching
smugglers. We have pointed out that their duties also included
Quarantine work. In the spring of 1837 it was represented to the
Treasury that there was much urgent distress prevailing in certain
districts of the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland owing to
the failure of the last harvest. Sir John Hill was therefore directed
to proceed to Scotland and take such steps as might be necessary for
the immediate supply of seed, corn, and potatoes, and the officers and
commanders of the Revenue cruisers were directed to afford him every
assistance.
[Illustration: Plan of the Schooner _Good Intent_ showing Method of
Smuggling Casks.]
In the previous chapter attention was called to the singular
inappropriateness of calling a smuggling vessel the _Good Intent_.
That was a smack belonging to the year 1824, which was found at Rye.
But this name seems to have had a certain amount of popularity among
these ingenious gentlemen, for there was a smuggling schooner named
the _Good Intent_ which was seized in the year 1837. How cleverly and
effectively she was fitted up for a smuggling voyage can be
ascertained by considering the accompanying longitudinal plan. She had
a burthen of 72 tons, and was captured by the Revenue cruiser _Sylvia_
in Mount's Bay on the 14th of March. The plan denotes her principal
features, including her sail-room and general store right aft.
Immediately forward of this was the first concealment on the port side
only. Entrance was gained by means of a slide which was nailed up, and
here many casks could easily be stored. Next to this came the after
bulkhead, but forward of this was also a false bulkhead, the distance
between the real and the false being 2-1/2 feet, and affording a space
to contain 138 kegs.
Under the cabin were coals, and around the coals under the cabin deck
were placed some kegs. The fore bulkhead had also a false bulkhead 2
feet 5 inches apart, and this space held as many as 148 kegs. Under
the deck of the forepeak were also 21 kegs. The length of these kegs
was 17 inches, and they were nearly a foot in diameter. Each cask
contained 4-1/2 gallons of French brandy. This vessel was found to
have merely limestone ballast in her hold, but her illicit cargo was
more valuable to her than if she had been fully laden with the
commodity which she usually and legitimately traded in. Later in the
same year, and by the same cruiser _Sylvia_, this time off Land's End,
the Jersey schooner _Spartan_, a vessel of 36-1/2 tons, was seized, as
she was found to be fitted up with similar concealments (see sketch).
[Illustration: The Schooner _Spartan_.
1. Hollow beam.
2. Opening for entering No. 3.
3. Place of concealment.]
One day about the middle of the last century a 16-ton Grimsby
fishing-smack named _Lord Rivers_ left her native port and journeyed
south. Her owner and master was in a dismal frame of mind, and
complained to his mate that things were pretty bad, and he was
becoming remarkably poor. The fishing was not prospering so far as he
was concerned, and so after thinking the matter over he was proposing
to take the ship over to Boulogne and get a cargo of between thirty
and forty gallons of spirits. His mate heard what he had to say and
agreed to go with him. So to Boulogne they proceeded, where they
purchased the spirits from a dealer, who brought the spirits on board,
not in casks but in skins and bladders, making about fifty in all.
These were deposited in the smack's hold, and she then cleared out of
harbour and went to the fishing-grounds, where, to make matters appear
all right, she remained twenty-four hours, for the purpose of
obtaining some oysters by dredging. Whilst on the fishing-grounds the
spirits were stowed in a neat concealment at the stern of the vessel
on both sides abaft the hatchway. Before long the smack got going and
ran into Dover with the oysters and her spirits, lowered her sails,
and made everything snug. In due course the bladders of spirits were
got out of the hold in small numbers, and placed in baskets and
covered over with a sufficiently thick layer of oysters to prevent
their presence being detected. These baskets were taken to a
neighbouring tap-room, the landlord of which bought as much as he
wanted, and a local poulterer bought the rest of the spirits and
oysters as well.
[Illustration: Deck Plan and Longitudinal Plan of the _Lord Rivers_
(see Text).]
But the local Coastguard had for a long time been suspicious of this
vessel, and evidently this was not her first voyage in the smuggling
trade. He had watched and followed the man who took the bladders
ashore, and now came on board to see what he could find. The deck plan
will clearly convey to the reader the way in which the smack was
fitted up with concealments. The letters A and A indicate two portions
of the deck planking, each portion being about a couple of feet long.
These were movable, and fitted into their places with a piece of
spun-yarn laid into the seams, and over this was laid some putty
blackened on the top. At first sight they appeared to be part of the
solid planking of the deck, but on obtaining a chisel they were easily
removed. There was now revealed the entrance to a space on each side
of the rudder-case in the false stern capable of containing thirty or
forty gallons of spirits. This in itself was conclusive, but when the
Coastguard also found that the putty in the seams was soft and fresh,
and that a strong smell of spirits emanated from this cavity, it was
deemed that there was more than adequate reason for arresting the
smack even though the hold was quite empty.
Thus the _Lord Rivers_ came to a bad end.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] The ceiling of a ship signified the inside planks.