shore, and probably it
would be a sou'wester, so there would be nothing suspicious in that.
(2) Cotton stays or a waistcoat tied round the body. This waistcoat
was fitted with plenty of pockets to hold as much as possible. (3)
This was a bustle for the lower part of the body and tied on with
strings. (4) These were thigh-pieces also tied round and worn
underneath the trousers. When all these concealments were filled the
man had on his person as much as 30 lbs. of tea, so that he came
ashore and smuggled with impunity. And if you multiply these 30 lbs.
by several crews of these Deal boats you can guess how much loss to
the Revenue the arrival of an East Indiamen in the Downs meant to the
Revenue.

Another old dodge, though different in kind, was employed by a
smuggling vessel when at sea and being chased towards evening, or on
one of those days when the atmosphere is hazy or foggy. To prevent her
canvas being a mark against the horizon, the lugger would lower her
sail, and her black hull was very difficult to distinguish in the
gathering gloom. This happened once when the smuggling cutter
_Gloire_, a vessel of 38 tons burthen belonging to Weymouth, was being
chased about midnight in January of 1816 by the Revenue cutter _Rose_.
The smuggler had hoped to have been able to run his goods ashore at
Bowen Bottom, Dorset, but the _Rose_ was too smart for him, launched
her galley, and seized her with a full cargo of half-ankers.

CHAPTER XII

THE WORK OF THE CUTTERS

If the reader will carry his mind back to 1787 he will recollect that
in this year we saw a reformation in the system of the Revenue
cruisers, and the practice of employing hired craft was discontinued.
This reformed system went on until the year 1816, when a highly
important change occurred in the administration of these vessels.

On the 5th of April in that year all the Revenue cruisers which
previously had been under the control of the Board of Customs now
passed into the hands of the Admiralty. The general object was to
adopt more effectual means for putting a stop to the smuggling, and
these vessels were of course to be employed in co-operation with the
ships of his Majesty's Navy afloat and the Revenue officers on shore.
Due notice was accordingly sent from the Customs office informing the
commanders of cruisers that they were to place themselves under the
orders of the Admiralty in the future. But the cost of these cruisers
was still to be bor