Willis and other seamen being landed every night from
H.M.S. _Severn_ to act as guard at different points along the coast.

In the annals of smugglers and cruisers there are few more notable
incidents than that which occurred on the 13th of January 1823, in the
English Channel. On this day the Revenue cutter _Badger_ was cruising
off the French coast under the command of Lieutenant Henry Nazer, R.N.
He was an officer of the Excise, but the cutter at that time was in
the service of the Customs, her station being from the South Foreland
to Dungeness. About 7.30 A.M. the officer of the watch came below and
told him something, whereupon Nazar hurried on deck and observed a
suspicious sail on the starboard tack, the wind being E.S.E. The
_Badger_ was at that time about nine or ten miles off the French
coast, somewhere abreast of Etaples, and about six or seven leagues
from the English shore. The craft which was seen was, to use the
lieutenant's own language, "a cutter yawl-rigged," which I understand
to signify a cutter with a small lug-sail mizzen, as was often found
on smugglers. At any rate, he had every reason to believe that this
was a smuggling craft, and he immediately made sail after her. At that
hour it was just daybreak, and the smuggler was about three or four
miles off--to the eastward--and to windward, but was evidently running
with sheets eased off in a westerly direction.

But when the smuggler saw the _Badger_ was giving chase he also
altered his course. It was a fine, clear, frosty morning, and the
_Badger_ quickly sent up his gaff topsail and began to overhaul the
other, so that by nine o'clock the two vessels were only a mile apart.
The _Badger_ now hoisted his Revenue pendant at the masthead,
consisting of a red field with a regal crown at the upper part next
the mast, and he also hoisted the Revenue ensign (that is to say "a
red Jack with a Union Jack in a canton at the upper corner and a regal
crown in the centre of the red Jack") at his peak. These signals
instantly denoted that the ship was a Revenue cruiser. Lieutenant
Nazar also ordered an unshotted gun to be fired as a further signal
that the smuggler was to heave-to, but the stranger paid no attention
and hoisted no colours. Ten minutes later, as it was perceived that
his signals were disregarded, the _Badger's_ commander ordered a shot
to be fired at her, and this was immediately returned by the smuggler
with one of her stern guns. From this tim