SMUGGLERS' BATTLES PART 5 - 'Baccy For The Clerk, 1780 to 1789.

SMUGGLERS' BATTLES PART 5

'Baccy For The Clerk, 1780 to 1789.

A history of the skirmishes seen across Britain during the "golden age" of smuggling, gleaned from newspaper accounts from the time it shows how far both side would go to gain success.

November 1780;

    Information having been received at the excise office, that a large party of smugglers, with a considerable quantity of run tea and other goods, were expected yesterday morning in town, a strong detachment from Col. Harcourt’s Regiment of Light Horse was early sent to intercept them. 

Poultry Compter

    These meeting with the smugglers, near Paddington, a smart skirmish ensued, which was continued through Holborn and several other streets, till they came to near Duke’s Place and other eastern parts of the town, the usual repositories of these adventurers. 
    The soldiers here prevailing, the smugglers dispersed and several horses and coaches, with their cargoes, conveyed safe to the King’s warehouse. 

    There were 12 men with horses and five coaches, all fully laden. Several of the smugglers were greatly hurt, one in particular so much wounded, that he was carried to the London Hospital with very little hopes of recovery. 

    Nine others were taken, eight of whom were committed by the Lord Mayor for further examination to the Poultry Compter and the ninth to that of Wood Street. 

November 1781;

The very impressive Deal Castle 

    A letter from Dover received on Tuesday, mentions a great riot having happened on Sunday evening between some smugglers on horseback and the military, when after some hours desperate skirmish they took from the smugglers 18 loaded waggons of different sorts of India merchandise, which they safely lodged in Deal castle, to the amount of 26,000l. During the skirmish, it is said, many lives were lost. The Deal gang were becoming a thorn in the government's side, as such Deal started to attract a lot of military activity.

June 1782;

Monday last a seizure was made near Lombard Street, by Mr Phillips, a surveyor of the land carriage and three assistants, of India goods supposed to be worth 30,000l, being the greatest quantity of goods ever brought to the customs house at one time. The same evening, 13 bags of tea were seized (by the same party) near St. Giles, but after a very long and most dangerous engagement, the tea was retaken by the smugglers and the officers bruised in a most terrible manner.

February 1783;

A letter from Deal, Feb 11.

“On Saturday night last Messers Hubbard and Harris, officers of excise, with upwards of 60 of General Douglas’s Light Dragoons, came to this town and proceeded to break open several store houses at the north end of the town, to search for contraband goods. The proprietors of the different buildings, however, and a large body of townsmen assembled together to oppose them. The soldiery fired, the townsmen returned fire, a number of shots were exchanged, but, luckily, I do not hear of any lives being lost. 

    At last, however, the excisemen and dragoons, finding a powerful body against them, thought proper to decamp. A small quantity of goods were seized, but cannot learn the particulars. Three of the dragoons horses have died of their wounds. At present all is quiet and peaceable.”

May 1784;

Deal May 2.

    A desperate contest took place on Friday evening last, between Capt. Bray, of one of His Majesty’s cutters stationed here to watch the smugglers and the noted Brown, who committed so many depredations during the late war and has been outlawed. 

    Being a native of Deal, there was no one who should be bold enough to attempt to apprehend him, since the war he carried on the practice of smuggling and on Friday last he sailed out of Dunkirk with a cargo of contraband goods. Capt. Bray had watched him very narrowly and about 10 o’clock on Friday evening a terrible firing was heard in the Downs, occasioned by an attack made by Capt. Bray, in a row boat, on Brown who was also in a row boat. 

    Capt. Bray boarded him and though Brown presented a blunderbuss, both of them not half a yard distant from each other, Capt. Bray was not daunted. One of his men, seeing his brave master in this situation, with a cutlass cut Brown’s cheek clean off, Bray mounted a stroke and with his cutlass nearly severed his head from his body and so put a period to this pirates life. Bray lost one man, Brown had, with himself, three killed and two wounded and two taken prisoner.

July 1784;

    On the 29th ult, Capt. Stephens, of the Monkey cutter on the Lowestoft station, having received information of a large cargo of contraband goods being intended to be landed that night, immediately put to sea and having cleared the land, soon fell in with two smuggling cutters, one of 14 the other of 2 guns. 

    An action immediately commenced and was maintained with great bravery on one side and with much obstinacy on the other, for near four hours and twenty minutes. When the Monkey being much disabled, her Captain losing his left arm in the course of the first few minutes of the engagement and having 12 men killed and 21 wounded, was unable to prevent the smugglers from landing their cargo, which they did in open day and in triumph. The smuggling cutters were well manned, the Monkey only carries 12 guns and 60 men, above half were killed or wounded in the engagement.

July 26^th; 

    The Oresters sloop of war, Captain Ellis, commander, lying in Cowes Road having advice that two smuggling vessels had arrived at Christchurch Point at the mouth of the Avon, on Wednesday, laden with teas, brandy ect from Guernsey and Jersey. 

    They made a feint of sailing eastwards and arrived at Christchurch very unexpectedly on Thursday evening. But, the smugglers had already landed their cargoes (the same that the troops from Lymington were in quest of) and were most of them in all about 300 in the town and neighbourhood. 

    When the Oresters came near shore she manned two tenders and sent them alongside the smugglers, demanding of those on board to surrender. This summons was immediately answered by a discharge of small arms, whereby several of the Oresters crew were wounded and as it is reported the Captain of the tender killed.

    This alarmed the crews and brought them down to the shore in great numbers, the Oresters bringing her guns to bear thereon to prevent their going on board, which however many of them effected regardless of the cannon shot flying around them. The action lasted from six until nine in the evening when victory was declared for the royalists, many of whom are wounded and some killed, several of the smugglers are also wounded.

    The Oresters departed on Friday morning taking with her the two smuggling vessels, supposed to be worth more than 4000 pounds and also their long boats which the crews had sunk with the hopes of preserving. One of the smugglers vessels was quite new and this was her first trip.

When the Oresters docked at Cowes a letter was sent explaining the full extent of the battle on the 26^th, “the smuggling cutter mounting 24 six and nine pounders, laden with 6000 casks of spirit and near 13 tons of tea. The Oresters had 2 killed and 9 wounded. The smuggling cutter is supposed to be the British Lion and had all her crew killed except 15 men who are confined in irons, this was the 5^th smuggling vessel the Oresters has captured, Captain Ellis received a slight wound in his arm during the action.”

    On the 27^th January 1786 George Coombes was hanged and then gibbeted near Christchurch harbour for the murder of  William Allen, master of the Oresters.

March 1785;

Packhorse Bridge near Drigg Carleton

    Customs officers seized of 12 ankers of spirit and 8 chests of black tea which had just been landed by a smuggling cutter (which lay still in sight), together with the horses and three carts at Ravensglass in Millom.  But in escorting the whole seizure to His Majesties warehouse in Whitehaven, the next day they were attacked on the high road near Drigg Carleton by several persons.

    Several of them on horseback all of them armed, their faces blackened and most of them disguised as women, who rescued the goods and carried the whole off. On the news reaching Whitehaven the military were dispatched with several officers of the customs in pursuit of the smugglers, they returned unable to effect a thing.

May 1785;

    On Thursday 25^th May a desperate contest took place at Town Malling, in Kent, between three revenue officers and a gang of smugglers, consisting of six or seven armed horsemen.

    After several discharges on both sides, four of the smugglers were secured, two of them being wounded in the body, one in the shoulder and another in the arm. On seeing their companions fall the rest rode off.

June 1785;

    The Hawk and Lark revenue lugger stationed at the port of Falmouth fell in with the Happy Go Lucky smuggling shallop belonging to Cawsand and commanded by one Thomas Wellard, when the said shallop , being hailed by the customs house lugger to bring to, the crew of the said shallop  feloniously fired into the Hawk, whereupon an engagement ensued which lasted a considerable time.

Pendennis Castle

    The smugglers finding themselves overpowered by the revenue vessel and their commander killed and several others killed and wounded, thought fit to surrender and being taken possession of were after committed to Pendennis Castle.

    From whence after knocking down the sergeant and some of the sentinels they made their escape between seven and eight o’clock, a reward of one hundred pounds has been offered by His Majesties Customs for the discovery of the offenders.

August 1786;

    A letter from Dunwich (15^th), in Suffolk has the following article: “Last Friday a smuggling vessel having got into a creek near this town, which runs by the side of a wood, in which they land their goods. Some revenue officers, having got intelligence of it, went and seized the vessel and going under the hatches to see what they could find there, the smugglers shut down the hatches and put out to sea immediately. The officers have not since been heard of, it is feared they have been thrown overboard.

August 1787;

    Fowey, Aug 4^th. Yesterday Robert Bundle, officer in the customs in this port, in company with John Edwards and Lawrence Gill, excise officers, fell in with six horses loaded with 12 cwt of hyson tea, which they made a seizure of.

After a very obstinate resistance made by the six daring smugglers, in which contest two horses were shot dead, one smuggler killed and excise officer John Edwards dangerously wounded between the shoulders. The goods are safely lodged in the customs house.

November 1787;

Honiton, November 4^th. 

    Yesterday morning three excise officers, on being informed that a party of smugglers would return from the sea coast laden with spirits by way of Roncombe’s Gulf turnpike gate, lay in wait for them near that place.

The Roncombe Lane Turnpike

    The body of smugglers, six in number with horses laden with spirits had artfully sent two of their number on before, on being attacked by the excise officers offered up their goods, at which the officers told them to give up their horses and be gone. They begged the officers a drink and while they were making preparations for that purpose the other smugglers caught up and a furious and bloody engagement ensued.

    The excisemen being armed stood their ground for some time, particularly Mr  Jenkins of Honiton and Mr Scott a supernumerary from Ottery division. These two being knocked down with large stones thrown by the smugglers were overpowered by numbers who taking their cutlasses from them exercised them with more than savage barbarity, while those who had not got weapons made use of large stones until they left their mangled carcasses most horrid objects to behold. The other exciseman saw the danger his person was in and made his escape.

September 1789;

    The Ferret excise cutter fell in with a smuggling lugger at anchor on the coast of Cornwall and the weather falling calm, two boats from the Ferret attempted to board her, under the command of Captain Morris and his mate Mr Parry.

    On the boats coming along side they were attacked in a most desperate manner, which put them under the necessity of firing on the lugger (but not until the Captain and five men were much wounded, some of them it is feared mortally) they soon obliged the smugglers to beg for mercy, two being killed and several wounded.

    When Captain Morris with great humanity ordered his men to cease firing ran his own boat between his consort and the lugger. The smugglers took to their boat and got on shore, where they found protection from the country people who had been hovering about in sight during the whole action.