SMUGGLING ON COENISH COASTS. 211 



till within a few years previously. Most families on the coast were more or less engaged 

 in it, and many of the houses had, and still have, secret underground chambers, which 

 could be entered only through the parlour cupboard, which was furnished with a false back. 

 Old grey-headed adventurers talked with evident pleasure of the exciting adventures of 

 their younger days, and of their frequent hairbreadth escapes. One sturdy veteran in 

 particular, who since he had dropped his profession of smuggler had on many occasions 

 risked his life in the effort to save the crews of shipwrecked vessels, told how he was 

 chased by a king's boat, how he threw himself overboard and swam for dear life, and how 

 he eluded, by diving, blow after blow dealt by an oar or cutlass, at last to escape safely 

 to land. The rowers who pursued may not have put forth their utmost strength, and the 

 blows may have been dealt with purposed inaccuracy, for in those days there were many 

 sailors in the navy who had been smugglers, and had a fellow-feeling for their kind- 

 " I can myself/' says Mr. Johns, " recollect having conversed some forty years ago with a 

 coastguardsman who had been a smuggler, and who had with his comrades been captured 

 by a revenue cutter. He and another were tried and convicted, and sentenced, as was- 

 then customary, to five years' service in the navy. While on board the vessel in which 

 they were to proceed to a foreign station, anchored at Spithead, they escaped from con- 

 finement, and threw themselves into the sea by night, with the intention of swimming 

 ashore. They had not, however, gone far when they were descried by the sentinel on board, 

 who gave the alarm, and they were fired at. My informant reached the shore in safety,, 

 hid himself for a short time, and being afraid to return to his own neighbourhood, 

 entered into the preventive service, and was at the very time I saw him, after the lapse 

 of some years, visiting his friends in his native village, and close to the scene of hi& 

 early feats of daring. His comrade was not so fortunate ; either he was struck by a bullet, 

 or became exhausted before he reached the shore, and was drowned. At all events, he was- 

 never seen again." 



About the same period, Mr. Johns tells us, he was, one fine summer evening, loitering 

 about the beach, near a small fishing- village, in a remote part of the county. It was 

 about four o'clock, the sea was as smooth as glass, and the wind so light that what- 

 ever vessels and boats were in sight were either stationary or sluggishly impelled by oars, 

 One fishing-boat only, about a hundred yards from shore, had its sails hanging idly from 

 the mast, but yet appeared to be creeping towards a quay which ran out between the 

 beach on which he was standing and the houses in which the coastguard resided. At the 

 very instant that she had advanced so far that the pier was interposed between her hull 

 and the houses a great splashing, as of boxes or kegs, or something else, rapidly thrown 

 in the water, was heard. Simultaneously a number of men ran down the beach into> 

 the water up to their waists, and then scampered up to their houses, each bearing an 

 armful of something. In a few minutes the boat capsized; probably this was done on 

 purpose, but as it was in shallow water no harm resulted. Some innocent-looking fishermen 

 soon righted her and baled her out. Mr. Johns learned later on that no less than 150 

 kegs of spirits were landed on that occasion right under the very noses of the coastguard . 

 It was a despe :ate venture, but the fishermen-smugglers had calculated that the officers 

 would not expect any attempt of the kind in calm weather, and had reckoned rightly. 



