Privateers, Smugglers and Revenue men


     The Smugglers
     The smugglers or “Free Traders” (as they preferred to call themselves) of the 1670’s had an extensive network around the Kentish coast. Littered with a selection of small inlets and natural harbours they had the perfect opportunity to import and export whatever goods would bring them the most profit. The most common of these in the 17th century was Owling, the illegal smuggling of wool out of the country, around 1700 it is thought that 150,000 packs of wool per year were being shipped out illegally from Kent and Sussex, within days of a shearing.. The Kentish gangs of the Romney marches being the most notorious and people from all walks of life were involved. From fishermen to sailors and even local vicars and gentry the extensive tax free profits available by becoming involved with illicit trade was as tempting then as it is to the drug runners of the modern age.
     The gangs were well organised and there were a number of different roles within the gang. At the top would be the silent figures, the gang leader and his associates normally either some local gentry like a squire or wealthy business man out for some easy profits. Along with these figures of importance would be the bookkeeper who kept the accounts. The owling trade was often controlled by Huguenot families who had come to England as refugees from religious persecution, and who retained close links with their relatives across the Channel. The continental clothiers conspired with the English wool producers to ensure that the trade continued, and cargoes of lace and brandy were shipped back in   part-payment for the prized high quality wool.

     There was also the network of informers and bribed officials to keep the trade flowing, at the bottom you would have the local townsfolk involved in the operation, these would include not just the fishermen and folk on the direct coast involved with taking the goods to the shore but also the local farmers who’s barns were used to hide the them. Along with the landing party employed to carry the goods would be a sizeable force of men with cudgels or bats for protection, though as the law became stiffer in its opposition of the trade firearms became more prevalent.

     In 1662 the crime of smuggling was made punishable by death, however this was often lessened to deportation to the colonies as it would bring more profit for the Crown where the prisoners would be sold off as virtual slaves to plantation owners for the length of there sentence. If however a smuggler had been directly involved with the death of an excise man or official then he could quite easily find his way to triple tree at Tyburn and a turn of 3 high tides in a gibbet suspended in the Thames.

      Privateers
     Privateers are in basic pirates with a letter of marquee. This letter given by the respective country allowed that ships captain and his crew to pirate foreign powers vessels as long as they gave a percentage of the booty found back to the monarch who had granted the letter. Both English and French privateers were heavily involved with the smuggling trade during the 17th Century, especially when heavy navy escorts and blockades put pay to easy pickings on the high seas. The privateers would be fairly fearless men however, used to the exciting but usually dangerous job of capturing there prey at sea. The privateers life could pay very well compared to working on a navy or merchant vessel, however the work was hard and the life of most privateers fairly short due to the chances taken to capture enemy vessels intact.

     Privateers would have been professional seamen often with prior experience from the navy. As such they were highly sort after by the royal navy to serve for them, as in this period there was a severe shortage of experienced crews. If the privateers had been caught involved with the smuggling the most likely outcome would have been the impounding of there ship and a heavy fine for the captain. If this fine was to large for the captain to pay then both he and his crew would have been forced to serve a sentence of years on a royal navy vessel or until such a time as they could buy there freedom.

     The Revenue Man or Riding Officer
     During the civil wars larger taxes had been placed on import / export goods to pay for the war effort by both sides. After the war had finished the government decided to keep this easy form of extra income and started to look to new methods to prohibit the illicit trading of goods. Before the gathering of revenues had being given out to private individuals but in 1671 Charles II created the board of customs and the revenue men were born. The revenue or riding officers as they were sometimes known were employed for the single task of tracking down and putting a stop to the smugglers illegal trade. Along with the power to raise the local militia to assist them and arrest anyone they thought involved, the revenue men were both despised and feared across the coast’s of England. Of course what often happened was the revenue officer would himself become involved with the free traders, annually picking a scapegoat to keep his employers happy while he made a handsome profit with his bribes. However as the 17th century came to a close a greater effort was made to crack down on the smugglers of the Kentish coast, and by the end of the Napoleonic era it was all but gone.


 

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