Chapter 14

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.

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.