bloggleration

Probblehem to go into second edition

2007-03-19T11:52:00.000+01:00

Heard that the Probblehem, the first book about our adventures in Bowen Cove, sold out again last week. So rather than another reprint it's going into a second edition with a new spanky bright cover. Still tells the story of how Plug found Sydney the Smuggler in a drawer in his grandparents cottage and met up with us smugglers back in Queen Anne's time.

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Smuggling in the Storms

2007-03-09T22:32:00.000+01:00

Had some interesting landings last week, what with those storms and everything. Thing is, the Revenue Cutter won't go out in that weather, which means we do. Almost lost The Windycutts down at Mupe Bay. Lot of rocks there and she got blown right in. Bit of damage but we managed to anchor her up. Quite a job getting the cargo off though. Ever tried rowing a boat in a gale and five foot waves? Sometimes wonder why I do it. I don't even drink brandy! Don't want to leave Isabel without a Dad. Or me without a me, come to that. I think it's just the excitement after you've been mending boots all day!

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the windycutts

Purbeck Quarrymen help us Smugglers

2007-02-19T21:06:00.000+01:00

The local Purbeck quarries are a gift for us West Country smugglers. Much of the stone is moved on by by sea. With all the boats to-ing and fro-ing the Excisemen don't notice an extra ship or two berthing alongside the stone ships. The quarries have a maze of passages and trenches, and if you're being chased you can dart down a tunnel and soon be hidden behind a pile of rubble, or a slab waiting to be dressed. The quarrymen are rewarded for helping us out...if you get my drift!

source: www.smuggling.co.uk/gazetteer_s_14.html

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Smugglerator

2006-08-23T10:18:00.000+01:00

This is me at work. Sorry about the back view, but can't really afford to show my face.

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The Windycutts

2006-08-23T09:41:00.000+01:00

The Windycutts is a smuggling lugger which features in Ged Duncan's latest Puzzling Smuggling children's novel. Sydney the Smuggler and Plug battle stormy seas and Customs men to bring back a secret cargo. But they are baffled when they discover what the cargo is.

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Saved by the Bladder

2006-08-15T12:09:00.000+01:00

"A woman of the name of Maclane, residing at Gosport, accustomed to supply the crew of Queen Charlotte with slops went out in a wherry to Spithead, when a sudden squall coming on, the boat sank; the watermen were drowned, but the life of the woman was providentially saved, by being buoyed up with a quantity of bladders, which had been secreted round her for the purpose of smuggling liquor into the ship, until she was picked up by the boat of a transport lying near."

Hampshire Chronicle of March 25th 1799

Source: www.burtonbradstock.org.uk
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King of Prussia

2005-12-28T22:54:00.000+01:00

Perhaps most famous smugglers in Cornwall were the Carter family of Prussia Cove, where John the eldest son, because of his admiration for Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, named the cove after him. His activities were notorious; he set up a small battery of cannons on the cliffs and used them on one occasion to fire upon the revenue cutter "Faery" when it got too close. Two years earlier, in 1801, he intercepted the revenue cutter "Brilliant" as she made for Penzance with contraband previously recovered from his operations. Fearing the displeasure of his customers, he bearded the boat, recovered his property, and returned the goods to them.

Source: http://www.connexions.co.uk/culture/smuggler.htm
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Hannibal of the Lee

2005-10-26T09:32:00.000+01:00

One of the most notorious smugglers known to have operated from Lee (Lee Bay - North Devon) was Hannibal Richards. Six foot tall, with long black hair, he and his five-foot wife moved here in 1789 from Morwenstow in Cornwall, where he had been one of the Cruel Coppinger's gang of smugglers.

Hannibal Richards lived at The Gwythers, then a farm, but soon returned to his old ways. He was well-known to the Collector and his name appears in, several reports but he seems never to have been convicted. Nevertheless he had several close shaves with the coastguard and revenue. After a raid in which he was the only one of his gang to escape he decided to retire. He died in 1849 at the age of 85. He and other members of his family are buried in the churchyard at Ilfracombe.

Source: Lee Bay - North Devon http://www.leebay.co.uk/n02_smuggelers_path.htm

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Smuggling Memories

2005-10-19T08:42:00.000+01:00

This is an extract from '1873 Reminiscences of Smugglers' found in the British Library. It contains accounts of smuggling from early in the C19th.

Source: British Library: http://bllearning.co.uk/live/text/ship/smugglers/

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Spout Lantern

2005-10-17T09:03:00.000+01:00

A Spout Lantern was used by smugglers to direct a light out to sea that would not be seen on land by revenue officers.

Source: Dorset and the Sea http://www.swgfl.org.uk/dorset/html/galleries/smuggling/spout_lantern.htm

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Offshore Shopping

2005-10-06T16:14:00.000+01:00

It was common for ships returning from India and China to 'hover' off shore and sell untaxed goods such as china, silks and cottons. The most celebrated case, being in 1763, when three East Indiamen lying in Falmouth harbour, reputedly sold £20,000 of goods to the local inhabitants in this way.

Source: Smuggling in Cornwall. http://www.connexions.co.uk/culture/smuggler.htm

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William Arthur - Gower Smuggler

2005-09-27T08:38:00.000+01:00

Small remote bays such as Pwlldu and the aptly named Brandy Cove were undoubtedly used more than any other location to land 'the goodies', and it was at the nearby Great Highway Farm that Devonshire-man and illicit trader William Hawkin Arthur lived. Ideally located, Arthur soon gained the reputation of being Gower's smuggling king.

Arthur's smuggling gang would set to work as soon as a vessel had sheltered secretly within the dusk of a secluded evening shore. The illicit goods would then be swiftly unloaded and hauled by pack horses halfway through the deep valley at Bishopston to the quiet lane (today known as Smugglers' Lane) leading to Highway.

Source: http://www.explore-gower.co.uk/smuggling.html

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Suspicious Stranger

2005-09-22T01:48:00.000+01:00

A stranger and his wife were being rowed from Swanage to Poole in the 1820s and were curious to see a line of corks bobbing the the water. The boatman explained that they were lobster pots – they were actually markers for kegs of brandy hidden underwater (known as ‘sewing the line’).

The stranger insisted on pulling up the ‘lobster pots’, only to discover the kegs of brandy – unfortunately for the boatman and the smugglers, the stranger turned out to be the new Chief Customs Officer for Swanage and the smugglers were arrested the next time they went out to collect their loot.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2005/06/28/coast05walks_stage4_feature.shtml

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Ship Sighted

2005-09-20T16:04:00.000+01:00

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Report just out....in 1813

2005-09-14T08:42:00.000+01:00

A report written in 1813 about the Rye and Hastings area estimated the annual illicit import of brandy, gin and other spirits into this locale alone was between 3 and 400,000 gallons a year! Just prior to this, a report on the import of tea suggested that of 24 million pounds of tea drunk in England each year, some 13 million pounds was brought in by smugglers.

Source: Smuggling in Kent www.digiserve.com/peter/smug.htm

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Cornish Smuggler Ghost

2005-09-12T09:35:00.000+01:00

The brother and sister team, the Fyns, were notorious smugglers and pirates, who used Looe Island as their base. Black Joan, as she was universally known, was the more fearsome of the two and is credited with the murder of a Negro whose ghost is now said to haunt the island.

From 'Smuggling in Cornwall'
www.connexions.co.uk/culture/smuggler.htm

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French Peter and the Customs Man

2005-09-09T08:27:00.000+01:00

French Peter was a smuggler who at one time had a price on his head, and a local anecdote tells how an innocent young customs man, John Tallman, visited the inn seeking information about French Peter. This inn is at Osmington, Dorset and is now called 'The Smugglers!'

"The landlord plied him with brandy and stories of French Peter's brave deeds and ferocious temper. With each glass the stories became bolder, and the young preventive's eyes wider. So when French Peter's ship, the Hirondelle, dropped anchor in the bay below the pub, Tallman was not quite so anxious to make his acquaintance. He turned to the landlord for help, and Emmanuel suggested he hide up the chimney in what is now the Old World Bar.

No sooner had the lad hauled himself up the flue but French Peter came in the door. Peter's greeting 'How do you fare, Manny?' wasn't met with the customary warmth. Emmanuel put his finger to his lips, rolled his eyes, and pointed at the large fireplace, then asked Peter if he'd like his usual glass of gin. The Frenchman, who drank only cognac (presumably not the stuff he imported) was quick to sense that something was not quite right, and replied 'I'm feeling a bit of a sea-chill today, Manny, perhaps I'll have a tot of brandy, and what about a warming fire in yonder grate?'

The two men set to work with damp twigs, heather and rotting leaves, and soon the choking smoke brought the unfortunate revenue man out of his hiding place, much to the amusement of the watching locals. After a further large tot, he was dusted off and sent back to Weymouth."

The Ordnance Survey Guide to Smugglers’ Britain, Richard Platt 1991
www.smuggling.co.uk

The Smugglers' Inn http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/13/13903/Smugglers_Inn/Osmington_Mills

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hansomby-ponsonby seen at large

2005-09-06T10:13:00.000+01:00

Well he could hardly be seen 'at small' could he. After his shameful efforts in 'the probblehem' Mr Hansomby-Ponsonby has been seen out and about again in Bowen Cove. He was looking less than happy, which is understandable as he had just been outwitted by a miniature smuggler only a few centimetres tall. Gran, who is not one to gloat, took the photo for this blog. Mr Hansomby-Ponsonby did not seem to be saying much, but may have been muttering something like, 'I'll get you!'

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