The risk would be immense to commercial property; and pillage, in spite of the gates, and every precaution which could be taken, would probably be as extensive as it has been from the Warehouses, or from his Majesty"s Dock Yards, where the want of an appropriate Police has been the cause of many abuses.
Police as recently exemplified, is quite a new science in political oeconomy, not yet perfectly understood; it operates as a restraint of the most powerful kind upon all delinquents who would be restrained by nothing else. To the system of vigilance which pervades the criminal actions of labourers upon the River, joined to the imminent danger of detection, is to be attributed the general success of the Marine Police, in preventing depredations.
Wherever a proper Police attaches, good order and security will prevail; where it does not, confusion, irregularity, outrages, and crimes must be expected; wherever great bodies of aquatic labourers are collected together, risk of danger from turbulent behaviour, will be greater in proportion to the number of depraved characters, who, from being collected in one spot, may hatch mischief, and carry it into effect much easier in Docks than on the River. A Police only can counteract this; and to the same preventive system will the commerce of the Port be indebted for securing both the Docks and the Pool against Conflagration. In fine, under every circ.u.mstance where Property is exposed, a preventive Police must be resorted to, in order to be secure.]
The fact is, that the system of River depredations grew, and ramified as the Commerce of the Port of London advanced, until at length it a.s.sumed the different forms, and was conducted by the various cla.s.ses of delinquents, whose nefarious practices are now to be explained under their respective heads.
1st. _River Pirates._--This cla.s.s was generally composed of the most desperate and depraved characters, who followed aquatic pursuits.
Their attention was princ.i.p.ally directed to ships, vessels, and craft in the night, which appeared to be unprotected; and well authenticated instances of their audacity are recounted, which strongly prove the necessity of a vigorous and energetic Police. Among many other nefarious exploits performed by these miscreants, the following may suffice to shew to what extent their daring and impudent conduct carried them.
An American vessel lying at East-lane Tier, was boarded in the night, while the Captain and crew were asleep, by a gang of River Pirates, who actually weighed the ship"s anchor, and hoisted it into their boat with a complete new cable, with which they got clear off.--The Captain hearing a noise, came upon deck at the moment the villains had secured their booty, with which they actually rowed away in his presence, impudently telling him, they had taken away his anchor and cable, and bidding him good morning. Their resources afforded them means of immediate concealment. No Police then existed upon the River, and his property was never recovered.
A similar instance of atrocity occurred about the same time, where the bower anchor of a vessel from Guernsey was weighed, and, with the cable, plundered and carried off in the same manner.
Although only these two instances of extraordinary audacity are specified, others equally bold and daring could be adduced if the limits of this Work would admit of it. When vessels first arrive in the river, particularly those from the West Indies, they are generally very much lumbered. Ships in this situation were considered as the harvest of the River Pirates, with whom it was a general practice to cut away bags of _Cotton_, _Cordage_, _Spars_, _Oars_, and other articles from the quarter of the vessels, and to get clear off, even in the day time as well as in the night. Before a Police existed upon the River all cla.s.ses of aquatic labourers having been themselves more or less implicated in the same species of criminality, generally connived at the delinquency of each other, and hence it followed, that few or none were detected while afloat and the evil became so extensive.
It was frequently the practice of these River Pirates to go armed, and in sufficient force to resist, and even to act offensively if they met with opposition.--Their depredations were extensive among craft wherever valuable goods were to be found; but they diminished in number after the commencement of the war; and now since the establishment of the Marine Police they have almost totally disappeared.
On the return of peace, however, if a system of watchful energy is not maintained, these miscreants must be expected (as on former occasions on the termination of wars) to renew their iniquitous depredations in great force, as numbers of depraved characters may then be expected to be discharged from the Army and Navy.
2d. _Night Plunderers._--These were composed chiefly of the most depraved cla.s.s of watermen, who a.s.sociated together in gangs of four or five in number, for the purpose of committing depredations on the cargoes of lighters and other craft employed in conveying goods to the quays and wharfs. Their practice was to a.s.sociate themselves with one or more of the watchmen who were employed to guard these lighters while cargoes were on board, and by the connivance of these faithless guardians of the night, to convey away in lug boats every portable article of merchandize, to which, through this medium, they often had too easy access.
These corrupt watchmen did not always permit the lighters under their own charge to be pillaged.--Their general practice was, to point out to the leader of the gang those lighters that were without any guard, and lay near their own, and which, on this account, might be easily plundered. An hour was fixed on for effecting the object in view. The Receiver (generally a man of some property) was applied to, to be in readiness at a certain hour before day-light to warehouse the goods. A lug boat was seized on for the purpose. The articles were removed into it out of the lighter, and conveyed to a landing-place nearest the warehouse of deposit. The watchmen in the streets leading to this warehouse were bribed to connive at the villainy, often under pretence that it was a smuggling transaction, and thus the object was effected.
In this precise manner was a quant.i.ty of ashes and hemp conveyed in 1798, to the house of an opulent Receiver. Several other cargoes of hemp, obtained in the same manner, were conveyed up the river, and afterwards carted in the day-time to the repositories of the purchaser, till by the vigilance of the Police Boats, a detection took place, and the whole scene of mischief was laid open.
This species of depredation went to a great extent, and when it was considered that the very men who Were appointed to guard property in this situation were themselves a.s.sociates in the criminality, and partic.i.p.ated in the profit arising from the booty; and that matters were so arranged as to secure the connivance of all those who were appointed to situations with a view to detect and apprehend delinquents; it ceases to be a matter of wonder, that the plunder in this particular line was excessive.
In many instances where goods could not be plundered through the connivance of watchmen, it was no uncommon thing to cut lighters adrift, and to follow them to a situation calculated to elude discovery where the pillage commenced. In this manner have whole lighter loads even of coals been discharged at obscure landing places upon the river, and carted away during the night.
Even the article of Tallow from Russia, which, from the unwieldiness of the packages, appears little liable to be an object of plunder, has not escaped the notice of these offenders: large quant.i.ties have been stolen, and an instance has been stated to the Author, where a lighter loaded with this article was cut from a ship in the Pool, and found next morning with six large casks of tallow stolen, and two more broken open, and the chief part plundered and carried away. In short, while the river remained unprotected nothing escaped these marauders.
3d. _Light-Hors.e.m.e.n_, or Nightly Plunderers of West India ships.--This cla.s.s of depredators for a long period of time had carried on their nefarious practices with impunity, and to an extent in point of value, that almost exceeds credibility; by which the West India planters and merchants sustained very serious and extensive losses.
The practice seems to have originated in a connection which was formed between the Mates of West India ships[55] and the criminal Receivers, residing near the river, who were accustomed to a.s.sail them under the pretence of purchasing what is called _sweepings_, or in other words, the spillings or drainings of sugars, which remained in the hold and between the decks after the cargo was discharged. These sweepings were claimed as a perquisite by a certain proportion of the Mates, contrary to the repeated and express rules established by the Committee of Merchants, who early saw the evils to which such indulgences would lead, and in vain attempted to prevent it. The connivance, however, of the Revenue officers became necessary to get these sweepings on sh.o.r.e, and the quant.i.ty of spillings were gradually increased year after year by fraudulent means, for the purpose of satisfying the rapacity of all whose a.s.sistance and collusion was found necessary to obtain the object in view.
[Footnote 55: It is not here meant to criminate all the Mates of ships in this trade; for a large proportion are known to be men worthy of the trust reposed in them.]
The connection thus formed, and the necessary facilities obtained, from the sale of sweepings, recourse was at length had to the disposal of as much of the cargo as could be obtained by a licence to nightly plunderers, composed of Receivers, Coopers, Watermen, and Aquatic Labourers, who having made a previous agreement with the Mate and Revenue Officers, were permitted, on paying from thirty to fifty guineas, to come on board in the night,--to open as many hogsheads of sugar as were accessible,--and to plunder without controul. For this purpose, a certain number of bags dyed black, and which went under the appellation of _Black Strap_, were provided.--The Receivers, Coopers, Watermen, and Lumpers, went on board at the appointed time, for all these cla.s.ses were necessary. The hogsheads of sugar and packages of coffee, &c. were opened; the black bags were filled with the utmost expedition and carried to the Receivers, and again returned to be refilled until daylight, or the approach of it, stopped the pillage for a few hours. On the succeeding night the depredations were again renewed; and thus, on many occasions, from fifteen to twenty hogsheads of sugar and a large quant.i.ty of coffee, and also in some instances rum (which was removed by means of a small pump called a Jigger, and filled into bladders with nozzels,) were plundered in a single ship, in addition to the excessive depredations which were committed in the same ships by the Lumpers or labourers who were employed during the day in the discharge of the cargo.--Instances have been adduced, and judicially proved, of various specific ships having been plundered in an excessive degree in this manner; and it has been estimated upon credible authority, that previous to the establishment of the Marine Police, above one-fifth of the whole fleet suffered by nightly plunder.--The ships subject to this species of depredation were generally known from the characters of the Mates or Revenue Officers who were on board, and were denominated _Game Ships_, where the aquatic labourers, called Lumpers, would on every occasion agree to work without wages, and even solicit their employers to be preferred on these terms, trusting to a general licence to plunder for their remuneration.
This nefarious traffic had long been reduced to a regular system. The mode of negociation necessary to obtain all the requisite advantages for carrying into execution these iniquitous designs, was not only perfectly understood, but in most cases, where new Officers were to be practised upon, a plan of seduction was resorted to which seldom failed to succeed, when one or more of the old pract.i.tioners in this species of criminality happened to be stationed in the ship.--In this particular line of aquatic depredations, (which certainly was the most mischievous,) scenes of iniquity have been developed, which, from their extent and magnitude, could not have been credited had they stood on any other foundation than that of regular judicial proofs.
4th.--_Heavy Hors.e.m.e.n_, otherwise denominated Lumpers of the most criminal cla.s.s, who generally selected ships where plunder was most accessible, either from the criminal connivance of the Mates and Revenue Officers, in permitting nightly plunder, or from the carelessness or inattention of these Officers.
This cla.s.s, many of whom occasionally a.s.sisted in the depredations committed during the night, were exceedingly audacious and depraved.
They generally went on board of West India ships, furnished with habiliments made on purpose to conceal sugar, coffee, cocoa, pimento, ginger, and other articles, which they conveyed on sh.o.r.e in great quant.i.ties, by means of an under waistcoat, containing pockets all round, denominated a _Jemie_; and also by providing long bags, pouches, and socks, which were tied to their legs and thighs under their trowsers.
It is a well-established fact, which does not admit even of the shadow of a doubt, that these miscreants, during the discharge of what they called a _Game Ship_, have been accustomed to divide from three to four guineas a-piece every night from the produce of their plunder, independent of the hush-money paid to Officers and others, for conniving at their nefarious practices.
Long habituated to this species of depredation, they became at length so audacious, that it was found extremely difficult to controul them where a disposition existed to protect the cargo from pillage, and where no seduction had taken place.--And indeed, so adroit had this cla.s.s of Lumpers become, that no ship escaped plunder in a certain degree, wherever they were employed, in spite of the greatest vigilance and attention on the part of many of the shipmasters.
5th. _Game Watermen_, so denominated from the circ.u.mstance of their having been known to hang upon West India ships under discharge for the whole of the day, in readiness to receive and instantly convey on sh.o.r.e _bags of sugar_, _coffee_ and _other articles_, pillaged by the Lumpers and others in the progress of the delivery of the cargo, by which they acquired a considerable booty; as they generally on such occasions were employed to dispose of the stolen articles, under pretence of their being a part of the private adventures of the crew, for which service they usually pocketed one moiety of the price obtained.--It was by such a.s.sistance that Mates, Boatswains, Carpenters, Seamen, and Ship Boys, have been seduced, and even taught to become plunderers and thieves, who would otherwise have remained honest and faithful to the trust reposed in them. Many of the watermen of this cla.s.s were accustomed to live in a style of expence by no means warranted, from the fair earnings of honest industry in the line of their profession.--An instance has been known of an apprentice lad in this line having kept both a mistress and a riding horse out of the profits of his delinquency.
6th. _Game Lightermen._--This cla.s.s, which is composed of the working, or Journeymen Lightermen, who navigate the craft which convey West India produce and other merchandize from the ships to the quays, are, with some exceptions, extremely loose in their morals, and are ever ready to forward depredations by the purchase or concealment of articles of considerable value, until an opportunity offers of conveying the property on sh.o.r.e. Many of these Lightermen, previous to the establishment of the Marine Police, were in the constant habit of concealing in the lockers of their lighters, _sugar_, _coffee_, _pimento_, _ginger_, &c. which they received from Mates, and other persons on board of West India ships.--These lockers are generally secured by a padlock; they are calculated to hold and conceal considerable quant.i.ties of goods, whether stolen or smuggled, which were seldom taken out until after the discharge of the lighter, unless in certain instances where skiffs attended them.--When completely unladen, the practice has been to remove to the road where empty craft usually lies a-breast of the Custom-house quay, and then carry away the stolen or smuggled articles--and it has not seldom happened that many of these Lightermen have, under pretence of watching their own lighters while laden at the quays, or in connivance with the Watchmen selected by themselves, actually plundered the goods under their charge to a very considerable amount, without detection.
Nor does it appear that the nefarious practices of these Lightermen have been confined to West Indian produce alone. Their criminal designs were directed to almost every species of merchandize placed under their charge; and the tricks and devices to which they were accustomed to resort, clearly evinced that their plans for obtaining pillage had long been systematized, and that they seldom permitted any opportunity whereby they could profit by making free with property under their charge to escape their attention. As a proof that this a.s.sertion is well grounded, the following authenticated case, among others which could be detailed, is stated as an instance of the extreme rapacity of this cla.s.s of men.--A Canada merchant, who had been accustomed to ship quant.i.ties of oil annually to the London market, finding (as indeed almost every merchant experiences) a constant and uniform deficiency in the quant.i.ty landed, greatly exceeding what could arise from common leakage, which his correspondents were quite unable to explain; having occasion to visit London, was resolved to see his cargo landed with his own eyes; so as, if possible, to develope a mystery heretofore inexplicable, and by which he had regularly lost a considerable sum for several years.
Determined therefore to look sharp after his property, he was in attendance at the wharf in anxious expectation of a lighter which had been laden with his oil on the preceding day; and which, for reasons that he could not comprehend, did not get up for many hours after the usual time.
On her arrival at the wharf, the proprietor was confounded to find the whole of his casks stowed in the lighter with their bungs downwards.
Being convinced that this was the effect of design, he began now to discover one of the causes at least, of the great losses he had sustained; he therefore attended the discharge of the lighter until the whole of the casks were removed, when he perceived a great quant.i.ty of oil leaked out, and in the hold of the vessel, which the Lightermen had the effrontery to insist was their perquisite. The proprietor ordered casks to be brought, and filled no less than nine of them with the oil that had thus leaked out. He then ordered the ceiling of the lighter to be pulled up, and found between her timbers as much as filled five casks more; thus recovering from a single lighter-load of his property, no less than fourteen casks of oil, that, but for his attendance, would have been appropriated to the use of the Lightermen; who, after attempting to rob him of so valuable a property, complained very bitterly of his ill usage in taking it from them.
7th. _Mud-Larks_, so called from their being accustomed to prowl about, at low water, under the quarters, of West India ships; (or at least that cla.s.s which were denominated _Game_, these being mostly the objects of pillage;) under pretence of grubbing in the mud for _old ropes_, _iron_, and _coals_, &c. but whose chief object, when in such situations, was to receive and conceal small bags of sugar, coffee, pimento, ginger, and other articles, and sometimes bladders containing rum, which they conveyed to such houses as they were directed, and for which services they generally received a share of the booty.--These auxiliaries in this species of pillage were considered as the lowest cast of thieves; but from a general knowledge of the Receivers in the vicinity, they frequently afforded considerable a.s.sistance to the Lumpers, Coopers and others, who collected plunder in the progress of the ships" delivery.
8th. _Revenue Officers._--Notwithstanding the laudable severity of the Commissioners of his Majesty"s Customs and Excise, in making examples of their inferior servants by immediate dismission, on proof made of any offence, or even neglect of duty; a certain cla.s.s of these officers, who are denominated _Game_, have found means to promote pillage to a very extensive degree, not only in West India ships, but also in ships from the East Indies, and in every ship and vessel arriving and departing from the River Thames, of which it is to be lamented, that too many proofs have been adduced. This cla.s.s of officers generally make a point of at least having the appearance of being punctual and regular in their attendance upon their duty, and by never being found absent by their superior officers obtain preferences, where such can be given, with respect to those particular ships which afford the best harvest, either from being under the charge of Mates or others, with whom they have had criminal transactions in former voyages, or from the cargo being of a nature calculated to afford a resource for plunder. They are also generally acquainted with the _Copemen_ or Receivers, with whom and the other officers, after seducing the Mate, (if not already seduced) they negociate for the purchase of whatever can be plundered.
In those seasons of the year, when the crouded state of the port renders it necessary to have recourse to _extra_ and _Glut Officers_, the general distress of this cla.s.s of men, and the expectations most of them have formed of advantages by being placed on board ships of a certain description, render it an easy matter to seduce them; and by such means had every obstruction been removed to the perpetration of these excessive robberies, in all their ramifications, which had so long afflicted the port of London.[56]
[Footnote 56: In the throng season of the year at least 900 inferior Customhouse officers, and about 300 Excis.e.m.e.n, are stationed on board of ships in the Port of London, besides 82 Customhouse watermen and 36 superior Officers who do duty on the River Thames. The fair allowance of the established Tide Officers may be from 50_l._ to 55_l._ a year.
The preferable Officers having 3_s._ 6_d._ a day only when employed, are supposed to receive wages for 2-3ds. of the year; while the extra Officers, who have only 3_s._ a day, are not supposed to be employed above half the year: and the Glutmen not more than two months in the throngest part of the season.
Men in such situations having a trust committed to them of great magnitude and importance, in the protection of a Revenue amounting to more than Seven Millions, and receiving wages inferior to common labourers, with pecuniary pressures upon them, arising from the wants in many instances of large families, a.s.sailed on all hands by temptations to connive at evil practices, as they relate both to the Revenue and the Individual--What can be expected from them?--Humanity, policy, and even justice pleads for an increase of salary, as the best means of preserving their morals and increasing the Revenue. Other Regulations through the medium of the Police System might be established, whereby their purity might be secured, and the Revenue eased of a considerable expence, by reducing the number employed at present, often in promoting mischievous instead of useful purposes.]
9th. _Scuffle-Hunters_--so denominated probably from their resorting in numbers to the quays and wharfs where goods are discharging, under pretence of finding employment as labourers upon the landing places and in the warehouses, and from the circ.u.mstance, of _disputes_ and _scuffles_ arising about who should secure most plunder from broken packages. This cla.s.s of men, who may fairly be considered as the very sc.u.m of society, frequently prowl about with long ap.r.o.ns, not so much with a view to obtain employment, as for the purpose of availing themselves of the confusion which the crowded state of the quays often exhibits, and the opportunity of obtaining plunder; in which object they have too frequently been successful, particularly when admitted into the warehouses as labourers, where they have found means to pilfer and carry away considerable quant.i.ties of sugar and other articles, in which they were not a little countenanced, by similar offences committed by journeymen coopers and others, who, under the colour of sanctioned perquisites, abstract considerable quant.i.ties of sugar, thereby subjecting the proprietors to an acc.u.mulated loss: for, in addition to the first cost or price of the article, the duties which have been paid form no inconsiderable part of the ultimate value. It is only necessary to resort to the Journals of the House of Commons, and the Appendix to the Report of the Dock Committee in 1796, in order to be satisfied, that the plunder in the warehouses has been excessive. And if credit is to be given to the evidence then brought forward, and also to the affidavits of persons, who have worked for many years in the sugar warehouses, the loss sustained on an importation of 140,000[57] casks of sugar has not fallen much short of .100,000 a year.[58]
[Footnote 57: Sugar and Rum imported into the Port of London, from the 25th of March 1798 to the 25th of March 1799:--
Casks, Casks, Islands. Ships. Sugar. Rum.
Jamaica 151 64,108 17,279 Antigua 14 5,258 715 St. Kitt"s 14 6,137 755 Barbadoes 17 7,961 65 Granadoes 18 6,806 443 Mountserat 6 2,742 568 Nevis 4 1,867 418 Dominica 14 4,152 400 St. Vincent 26 10,147 908 Tortola 3 789 109 Sundry Places, } including captured } Islands, &c. } 106 32,739 2,271 --- ------- ------ 373 142,760 23,931 --- ------- ------]
[Footnote 58: Independent of the excessive pillage by the labourers in the Warehouses, which has been rendered but too evident from the detections of Offenders since the establishment of the Marine Police, the samples alone, which on an average are said to amount to 12_lb._ per hhd. (instead of 1-1/2_lb._ per hhd. in conformity to the Regulations of the West India Merchants, of the 12th of June 1789,) make a net aggregate of 1,470,000 pounds of sugar, which at 10_d._ per pound amounts to 61,250_l._ a year!]
10th. _Copemen or Receivers of Stolen Commercial Property._--This mischievous cla.s.s of men may be considered as the chief movers and supporters of the extensive scene of iniquity which has been developed and explained in the preceding pages of this Chapter. They were heretofore extremely numerous, and divided into various cla.s.ses.[59]
Those denominated _Copemen_ formed the junto of wholesale dealers, who were accustomed to visit ships on their arrival, for the purpose of entering into contract with such Revenue Officers or Mates as they had formerly known or dealt with, and such others as they could by means of friendly officers seduce to their views.
[Footnote 59: See the "Treatise on the Commerce and Police of the River Thames," for a particular account of these cla.s.ses.]
Their negociations were carried on in a language and in terms peculiar to themselves; and commenced by settling the price of
_Sand_ by which, in their cant language, was meant _Sugar_.
_Beans_ or _Coffee_.
_Pease_ -- _Pimento_ or _Pepper_.
_Vinegar_ -- _Rum_ and _other Liquors_.
_Malt_ -- _Tea_.
It was their custom to afford a.s.sistance wherever such articles were to be procured by providing _Black Straps_, (_i.e._, the long black bags already mentioned) to contain sugar, and calculated to stow easily in the bottom of boats, without being discovered on account of the colour. They also procured bladders with wooden nozels for the purpose of containing rum, brandy, geneva, and other liquors, and furnished boats to convey the plunder from the ships during the night.
Some of these Receivers had acquired considerable sums of money by their nefarious traffic, and were able to tempt and seduce those who would permit them to plunder the cargo, by administering to their wants by considerable advances of money which, however, rarely amounted to a moiety of the value of the goods obtained, and frequently not 1-4th part, particularly in the article of Coffee.