A talk by Mark Bullen
Mark Bullen launched our new season’s series of evening talks with an amusing insight into the history of old time smuggling in the eighteenth century.
For a start, he informed us that an image like this is misleading as such a ship would have been unable to get close to shore, and if it did, it would have been unable to get out to sea again.
The boats used by smugglers were luggers which had a mast close to the bows and a sail hung from a diagonal spar.
The Customs and/or Excise men had cutters which patrolled near shore. They were 70ft x 22ft wide with fore and aft rigs and a deep keel. These cutters flew coloured flags to identify them, much like police vehicles can be identified by colour today. Originally these official flags were red; later they were blue.
Mark is a retired Customs Officer whose hobby is research and collecting anything on smuggling. He has an extensive library of about 600 books and 40 prints and has written several books on the subject. He brought along some fun home-made props to illustrate his talk which brought the subject alive in a light-hearted way, including “four candles”!
The aim of smugglers in the 18th century was, of course, to make money and avoid paying customs duties but also for the thrill. In times of war, the king raised money by putting taxes on items much in demand such as salt, candles, soap, tea, tobacco and silk. As a consequence, these items were smuggled into the country. Soap was smuggled into England via Minehead from Ireland. The “soap boilers” of Bridgwater complained that they were being robbed of their livelihood.
The King hired private merchants to charge duties. Each Customs Port, eg Plymouth, was headed by a Customs Collector. Legitimate traders paid their duty at the Customs House. The Customs Collectors frequently kept some of the duty for themselves so, in order to fight corruption, the King set up the Board of Customs in 1671. The Board of Excise followed in 1683. Tax was levied on a huge range of items and double duty was sometimes charged. Once again Customs duty was charged on salt, candles, soap, tobacco and tea but also white powder for wigs and dice, which had to be stamped with a royal cipher. Revenue duty was charged on home produced goods including newspapers, chicory, malt, bricks, horses, windows and even bachelors! Customs duty was paid at ports. Excise duty was paid in pubs. Sometimes Customs Officers and Excise Officers had fights over the seizure of goods as they received substantial rewards for the goods. Customs and Excise were separate departments until 1909 when they merged to form the board of Customs and Excise.
Smuggling operations needed much organisation, customers, manpower and transport all of which needed funding. Wealthy people like Magistrates or Vicars might fund the smuggling but avoided any direct involvement, much like the drugs barons of today. The smuggling workforce might number up to 150 people. In the 18th Century the Revenue officers were few and far between. Working alone, armed with a pistol and a sword, they would be foolhardy to tackle such a large band of armed men, so they might agree to turn a blind eye or receive a small amount of seized goods at intervals to hand over to the King.
Ingenious methods were employed to smuggle goods and avoid capture, for example small barrels (or “tubs”) of gin from Holland holding 4 and a half gallons or “half an anchor” could be roped alongside the smuggling lugger attached to sinking stones. If caught by a revenue cutter the rope could be cut and the cargo sink to be retrieved later. It was called “sinking a crop”. Each tub weighed the same as a sack of potatoes so the “tub men” needed to be incredibly strong to carry them off the shore and maybe up cliffs. The Channel Islands had a lucrative industry making thousands of these small barrels.
If smuggled goods were seized they were taken to a Customs House and later sold or destroyed. If a smuggler was caught and taken to court the chances of punishment were minimal as he would probably appear before the magistrate who actually funded the smuggling operation and the jury could consist of friends and relatives.
The good times of 18th century smuggling ended at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1816 when many sailors were redeployed to Martello Towers and blockaded the coast. In 1815 duties were slashed and smuggling disappeared.
