urthen,
carried no fewer than 16 guns and a crew of fifty. During the year
1783 she had made several runs near Torbay, and on each occasion had
been able to land about 2000 casks of spirits, as well as 4 or 5 tons
of tea. Afterwards the whole of this valuable cargo had been run
inland by about 200 men, in defiance of the Revenue officers. Then
there was the _Ranger_, a bigger craft still, of 250 tons. She carried
an enormous crew for her size--nearly 100--and mounted 22 guns. She
had been built at Cawsand, that village which in smuggling days
attained so much notoriety, and stands at the end of a delightful bay
facing the western end of Plymouth Breakwater. This vessel had a
successful time in landing cargoes to the east of Torbay without
paying the lawful duty. And there were many fishing-boats of from 18
to 25 tons, belonging to Torbay, which were at this time accustomed to
run across the Channel, load up with the usual contraband, and then
hover about outside the limits of the land. When they were convinced
that the coast was clear of any cruisers they would run into the bay
and land, sink or raft their cargoes, according to circumstances.

And now, leaving for the present actual skirmishes and chases in
which the Revenue cruisers were concerned, let us look a little more
closely into their organisation. From the report by the Commissioners
appointed to examine the Public Accounts of the kingdom, and issued in
1787, it is shown that the Custom House cruisers were of two classes:
(1) Those which were owned by the Board, and (2) Those which were
hired by contract. And as to this latter class there was a further
subdivision into two other classes; for one section of these vessels
was furnished by the Crown, no charge being made for the hire. But her
outfit, her future repairs, in addition to the wages and victualling
of the crew, and all other expenses, were paid out of the produce of
the seizures which these cruisers effected. After this, if anything
remained beyond these deductions, the residue was to be divided
between the Crown and the contractor. Very often, of course, when a
fine haul was made of a L1000 worth of cargo, there was quite a nice
little sum for both parties to the contract, and a few other, smaller,
seizures during the year would make the business quite a profitable
undertaking. But when the amount of seizures was not sufficient to
defray the expenses the deficiency was supplied by the contractor and