which was not a success "by reason of ye dangerousness and
difficulty of the harbour and ye many shoales of sand, which often
shift in bad weather." The Manxmen were a thoroughly lawless,
desperate species of smugglers, who stopped at nothing, and were
especially irate towards all Revenue and public officials,
recognising no authority other than might and a certain respect for
the Duke of Atholl, the owner of the Isle of Man.

Among the letters to Southampton there is a record dated June 14, 1729,
which shows that a number of his Majesty's sloops were appointed by the
Admiralty to cruise off the coasts of the kingdom to prevent the
exporting of wool and the running of goods by the import-smugglers. For
instance, the Admiralty sloop _Swift_ was appointed to cruise between
Portland, Poole, and Jack-in-the-Basket off the entrance to Lymington
Harbour, Hants, her commander being a Captain Cockayne. Similarly the
sloop _Success_ (Captain Thomas Smith, commander) was to cruise between
Portland and Spithead, and the _Rye_ (Captain John Edwards) between the
Isle of Wight and Beachy Head to the eastward. It was part of the duty
of the Revenue officers at Southampton to see that these three ships
constantly cruised on their station, and if their commanders were found
negligent of this duty the matter was to be reported to the Board of
Customs. The Revenue craft were apparently not above suspicion, for in
November of 1729 the Southampton officers of the Customs reported to
headquarters that this very sloop, the _Swift_, every time she went
across to Guernsey in connection with her duties of prevention, used to
bring back quantities of wine, brandy, and other dutiable goods under
the pretence that they were the ship's stores. The intention, however,
was nothing less than that which dominated the actions of the smugglers
themselves--the very class against which the _Swift_ was employed--for
Captain Cockayne's men used to find it no very difficult matter to run
these goods ashore clandestinely under the very eyes of the unsuspecting
Customs officers. The Commissioners of the Customs therefore sent down
strict instructions that the _Swift_ was to be rummaged every time she
arrived at Southampton from Guernsey. We shall have reason presently to
refer more especially to the Channel Isles again, but it may suffice for
the present to state that they were in the south the counterpart of the
Isle of Man in the north as being a depot whence