heir places being filled by pensioners. During the
war considerable service was also rendered by the Revenue cruisers, by
capturing the Russian ships in the Northern Seas, for we must
recollect that, just as in the wars with France, there were two
centres to be dealt with, viz., in the north and south. The war with
Russia, as regards the sea service, was prosecuted both in the Narrow
Seas and in the Black Sea, and the Russian trade was badly cut up. As
many as eleven Russian ships were captured by means of these British
cutters, and no less than eight of these prizes were condemned. The
fact is worthy of being borne in mind when considering the history of
these craft which have long since passed from performing active
service.

The next modification came in 1856, when it was resolved to transfer
the control of the Coastguard to the Admiralty; for in spite of the
great change which had been brought about in 1831, all the Coastguard
officers and men while being appointed by the Admiralty, were none the
less controlled by the Customs. However, this condition was now
altered, but in the teeth of opposition on the part of the Customs,
who represented to the Treasury that considerable inconvenience would
result from this innovation. But on the 1st of October 1856, the
control of the Coastguard was transferred to the Admiralty, as it had
been foreshadowed. And with that we see practically the last stage in
the important development which had been going on for some years past.
It was practically the finale of the tendency towards making the
service naval rather than civil.

For the moment, I am seeking to put the reader in possession of a
general idea of the administrative features of the service, which is
our subject, during the period between 1822-1856. At the
last-mentioned date our period devoted to cutters and smugglers
practically ends. But before proceeding to deal with the actual
incidents and exciting adventures embraced by this period, it may be
convenient just to mention that these changes were followed in 1869,
when the services of civilians employed in any capacity in the
Coastguard were altogether dispensed with, and since then the general
basis of the Coastguard development has been for the better defence of
our coasts, so as to be vigilant against any disembarkation by a
foreign power, at the same time providing to a certain extent for the
manning of the ships of the Royal Navy when required. Thus, the old
or