MARITIME HISTORY 



long reach of coast to be watched by three vessels, especially when the duty on brandy was nine 

 shillings a gallon and the smugglers could afford to sell it for three. The lapse of years had brought 

 no improvement, and a parliamentary committee of 1783 reported that the trade was carried on 

 1 with the most open and daring violence in every accessible part of the coast.' As an example, in 

 the same year, a smuggling cutter went aground near Orford and when the revenue officers appeared 

 the smugglers fought and at first drove them off. Returning reinforced to the attack they seized part 

 of the cargo, but an armed gang broke into the storehouse the same night and carried off the goods. 1 

 In 1784 a seizure was made near Woodbridge after a savage fight, wherein half a dozen officers and 

 all the smugglers, headed by 'the noted George Cullum of Brandestone,' were wounded. As a rule 

 ' the majesty of the law ' was inoperative, and ashore, at any rate, there was usually insufficient 

 physical force ; in June, 1778, a gang of 140 smugglers worked a cargo near Orford, when there 

 were six customs officers present, who could do nothing but look on. In theory the revenue officers 

 could require the assistance of troops ; in practice the soldiers did not like the work and commonly 

 came too late to be of use. In view of the open way in which the smugglers transacted their 

 business they could hardly have required many hiding places, but one under the pulpit of Rishangles 

 church is assigned to them. 2 The story of concealment, or storage, in churches is common to several 

 counties and may be true of Suffolk and Cornwall. The smugglers were often accused of giving 

 information abroad ; it is certain that our government, especially during the Revolutionary and 

 Napoleonic wars, often obtained it from them, and some of them were protected from prosecution 

 for that reason. 



The close of the Napoleonic war saw the beginning of the end of smuggling. The exhaustion 

 of the Treasury induced the ministry to try new methods of repression, and there were now men 

 available in any number to line the coast. In 1 818, at the suggestion of Captain William 

 McCullock, R.N., the ' coast blockade ' of Kent and Sussex was instituted, forming a chain of posts 

 within hail of each other, and, in a modified form, the system was extended to the remaining 

 counties. In Suffolk several of the disused martello towers were handed over to the coast blockade 

 service. The Navy men were not open to the intimidation, and were less amenable to the bribery 

 that had coerced or persuaded their civilian predecessors ; therefore an era of evasion and trickery 

 succeeded the frank violence with which cargoes had previously been run. It had been intended 

 that the ' blockade ' should be performed entirely by seamen of the Navy, but the hardships, and the 

 severe restrictions as to social intercourse with their neighbours locally, caused them to show so much 

 distaste for it that, before long, civilians of all kinds and trades had to be enrolled. The results were 

 not satisfactory ; desertion and collusion became prevalent, and in 1829 the formation of a mixed 

 civilian and naval force, under the name of coastguard, was commenced. At first this body was 

 under the control of the Customs department, but in I 831 it was transferred to the Admiralty and 

 became naval in organization. Before 1845 it was maintained purely for revenue protection, but in 

 that year a regulation was made that every seaman appointed should bind himself to serve in the 

 fleet upon an emergency, and this was the first step in the fashioning of the present coastguard. 

 The change was completed by 19 and 20 Vict. cap. 83, which authorized the Admiralty to maintain 

 a force of 10,000 men as a reserve for the Navy, composed of men who had served in it and were 

 liable to be called upon to rejoin it. From May, 1857, the districts were placed under the command 

 of captains of the Navy, and the coastguard is now far more a military than a revenue force. 



It was considered, in 1 7 16, that the English forts, compared with the continental standard, 

 were over-gunned ; in consequence Landguard was reduced, by a warrant of 6 July, from sixty-three 

 to twenty guns, but as deviations from the order were permitted, it is doubtful whether it was fully 

 put into effect. 3 The construction of a new fort, rather nearer the estuary, was begun in 1 7 17, and 

 finished in 1720 ; 4 this mounted twenty guns, and ten more were added in 1745. In 1752 it was 

 furnished with ten 32-pounders, twenty-five 18-pounders, and fifteen 6-pounders ; there was 

 barrack accommodation for 200 men. 5 The war with the revolted colonies (1776-83) caused 

 the construction of supplementary works, completed in 1782 ; s lines were thrown up inside 

 the ' fleet,' which formerly made the point an island at high tide, but which now served as a moat 

 for the new defences, and batteries were built north and south of the fort. Most of these works 

 were maintained until 181 5, but have now disappeared. It was perhaps as well that the fort was 

 never attacked, for in 181 1 the area within was filled up with wooden buildings, and three powder 

 magazines adjoined the kitchen. 7 That the hospital was so foul and unhealthy that sick men were 

 usually sent to Harwich was, at that date, no doubt considered a minor detail. There were twenty- 

 five guns in the fort, which contained five bastions and forty-one casemates. 8 Another battery 

 outside — Beauclerk's — mounted eleven 42-pounders, but the north and south batteries of 1782 are 

 not mentioned in 181 1. In 1865 the armament consisted only of five guns for saluting purposes, 



1 Ipstvicb Journal, Feb. 1783. ' Eastern Counties Mag. ii, 81. ' W. O. Ordnance, Establishments, i. 



4 Leslie, op. cit. 67. * Add. MSS. 22875. 6 Leslie, op. cit. 78. 



' W. O. Ord. Estimates, xxx. * Ibid. Engineers, cxlvii. 



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