letter which the Collector of
Hull was compelled on November 12 (1778) to write. In this epistle he
informs Mitchell that either he or his mate, one of them, must remain
on board the _Swallow_ at night, when lying in the Humber. For it
appeared that two days earlier both were ashore. The mariner who had
the midnight watch on board the cruiser saw a vessel, supposed to be a
privateer, come right up the Humber into Hull Roads, sail around the
naval tender there lying, then sail round the _Swallow_, and finally
down the river again. Although there were twelve or fourteen men on
the supposed privateer's deck, yet the _Swallow's_ watchman did not
even hail her, Mitchell and his mate being ashore all the while.

Such incidents as the above show that there undoubtedly was cause for
the complaints of the Customs Board that the commanders of their
cruisers were not doing all that might have been done towards
suppressing the evil at hand. On the other hand, it was equally true
that the delinquents with whom these commanders had to contest were of
a particularly virulent and villainous type. Thus, between the
negligence of the one side, and the enterprise of the other, his
Majesty's revenue had to suffer very considerably. No better instance
of the potency of this lawlessness could be afforded than by an event
which happened in the summer of 1777. Everyone knows, of course, that
those were the days when men had to be impressed into the service of
the Navy, so that, when any of these hardy smugglers were captured,
they were valuable acquisitions to the Service, and far more useful
than many of the disease-stricken crews which so often had to be
shipped to make up a man-of-war's complement. In the year we are
speaking of a number of smugglers who had been captured on the North
Sea were put on board H.M. tender _Lively_ by Captain O'Hara of the
Impress service, the intention being to convey these men to one of his
Majesty's ships at the Nore. The tender got under way and was
proceeding to her destination when the smuggler-prisoners mutinied,
overpowered the _Lively's_ crew, and carried the _Lively_ into
Flushing.

And similar examples of the impudence and violence of other North Sea
smugglers could also be quoted. On the 7th of May 1778, Captain Bland,
of the _Mermaid_ Revenue cruiser, was off Huntcliff Fort, when he
sighted a smuggling shallop.[9] Bland promptly bore down, and as he
approached hailed her. But the shallop answered