Name of cruiser limits of her sphere

Rye Pembroke to Lundy Island Discovery Milford to Swansea Dolphin Milford to Exmouth Hastings " " " Woolwich Downs to Falmouth Swan " " " Fly Off Folkestone Dispatch " "

This fairly well covered the region to which goods were likely to be run from the Continent as well as that from which the owlers were wont to export their wool.  From an entry among the documents preserved in the Custom House at Newcastle, dated September 1729, we can see that also the north-east coast was guarded thus:—­

  NAME OF CRUISER LIMITS OF HER SPHERE

Cruiser                 Flamborough Head to Newcastle
Deal Castle             Newcastle to Leith
Spy                     Firth of Forth to Newcastle

And about the last-mentioned date the Deal Castle had succeeded in capturing four French smuggling craft and brought them into Shields.

To the other side of England the Isle of Man, which was a veritable contraband depot, used to send quantities of dutiable goods, Liverpool being the favourite destination, and it was a more difficult matter here to deal with than in many other ports.  On October 9, 1713, the Collector at Liverpool writes to the Board of Customs that he thinks a sloop would be of little service for that port.  Some time ago they had one, which was not a success “by reason of ye dangerousness and difficulty of the harbour and ye many shoales of sand, which often shift in bad weather.”  The Manxmen were a thoroughly lawless, desperate species of smugglers, who stopped at nothing, and were especially irate towards all Revenue and public officials, recognising no authority other than might and a certain respect for the Duke of Atholl, the owner of the Isle of Man.

Among the letters to Southampton there is a record dated June 14, 1729, which shows that a number of his Majesty’s sloops were appointed by the Admiralty to cruise off the coasts of the kingdom to prevent the exporting of wool and the running of goods by the import-smugglers.  For instance, the Admiralty sloop Swift was appointed to cruise between Portland, Poole, and Jack-in-the-Basket off the entrance to Lymington Harbour, Hants, her commander being a Captain Cockayne.  Similarly the sloop Success (Captain Thomas Smith, commander) was to cruise between Portland and Spithead, and the Rye (Captain John Edwards) between the Isle of Wight and Beachy Head to the eastward.  It was part of the duty of the Revenue officers at Southampton to see that these three ships constantly cruised on their station, and if their commanders were found negligent of this