contraband. In 1824 she worked five voyages, and on
each occasion she carried, besides her legitimate cargo, as much as
eight tons of tobacco under her coals. And there was a Danish-built
sloop named the _Blue-eyed Lass_ belonging to Shields, with a burthen
of 60 odd tons, also employed in the coal trade. She was a very
suspicious vessel, and was bought subsequently by the people of Rye to
carry on similar work to the other smuggling craft. All sorts of
warnings were sent to the Customs Board giving them information that
_The Rose in June_ (needless to say of Rye) was about to have
additional concealments added. She was of 37 tons burthen, and had
previously been employed as a packet boat. They were also warned that
George Harrington, a noted smuggler resident at Eastbourne, intended
during the winter months to carry on the contraband trade, and to land
somewhere between Southampton and Weymouth. He had made arrangements
with a large number of men belonging to Poole and the neighbouring
country, and had obtained a suitable French lugger.

In 1826 the smacks _Fox_ and _Lovely Lass_ of Portsmouth were seized
at that port with kegs of spirits secreted under their bottoms in a
thin contemporary casing, as shown in the accompanying diagram. The
ingenious part of this trick was that there was no means of
communication into the concealment from the interior of the vessel.
Thus any officer coming aboard to search would have little or no
reason to suspect her. But it was necessary every time this vessel
returned from abroad with her contraband for her to be laid ashore,
and at low water the kegs could be got at externally. To begin with
there were pieces of plank two inches thick fastened to the timbers by
large nails. Then, between the planks and the vessel's bottom the tubs
were concealed. The arrangement was exceeding simple yet wonderfully
clever. Practically this method consisted of filling up the hollow
below the turn of the bilge. It would certainly not improve the
vessel's speed, but it would give her an efficacious means of stowing
her cargo of spirits out of the way. And it was because of such
incidents as this last mentioned that orders were sent to all ports
for the local craft and others to be examined frequently _ashore_ no
less than afloat, in order that any false bottom might be detected.
And the officers were to be careful and see that the name of the ship
and her master painted on a ship corresponded with the