hich had kept them below water; or they had found
these casks floating on the sea, and had no doubt been either lost or
intentionally thrown overboard by some smuggling vessel while being
chased by a Revenue cruiser. It became a very difficult matter to
ascertain under such circumstances whether the master were speaking
the truth or the reverse, for it was not altogether rare for the kegs
to be picked up by fishermen in the manner indicated. So the only way
out of this dilemma was for the commanders of the cruisers to bring
such craft as the above to the nearest Custom House, where the master
could be brought ashore and subjected to a cross-examination as to
where they found these casks and what they proposed doing with them.

A seizure was made at Deal about the year 1818 consisting of
thirty-three packages of China crape and silk. These had been very
artfully concealed in the ballast bags of a lugger called the _Fame_,
belonging to London. One package was found in each bag completely
covered up with shingles or small stones, so that even if a suspicious
officer were to feel the outside of these bags he would be inclined to
believe that they contained nothing but ballast, and if he opened them
he would think there was nothing else but stones, for the goods were
carefully squeezed into the centre of the bags and surrounded with a
good thickness of shingle. Another dodge which was discovered at
Shoreham on a vessel which had come from Dieppe was to have the iron
ballast cast in such a form that it was not solid but hollow inside.
By this means a good deal of dutiable stuff could be put inside the
iron and then sealed up again. There was a ship, also, named the
_Isis_, of Rye, which fell into disgrace in endeavouring to cheat the
Customs. She was a smack of 26-16/94 tons burthen, her master being
William Boxhall. It was while she was lying at her home port that one
of the Revenue officers discovered a concealment under her ballast,
the entrance to which was obtained by unshipping two bulkhead boards
forward. There was one concealment on each side of the keel, and each
contained enough space to hold from twenty to twenty-four ankers of
spirits.

Along the Kentish coast a good deal of smuggling used to go on by
means of galleys which were rowed by six, ten, and even twelve oars.
As these were navigated by foreigners and sailed under foreign papers,
the Customs officers were a little puzzled as to what exactly could be
don