Smuggling

Before we dwell for a while on oyster culture as it is now carried on, it may beinteresting to note that the excitement of smuggling often proved attractive, and sometimes profitable, to Whitstable fishermen. Hasted remarks that "The Street (meaning Whitstable Street, not the strip of hard ground running out to sea, known locally as the 'Street') is very populous, and the inhabitants of it thriving, consisting mostly in the fishing and oyster dredging, the coal trade, the passage boys to and from London, and in the shops which supply the whole of them with the necessaries of life, and above all the illicit trade of smuggling, though that has been within these few years much more than at present."

He also mentions that, in 1734, there were twenty-two boats engaged in the oyster fishery, but that, at the time he wrote, in 1790, there were upwards of seventy, besides six colliers and two hoys for passengers and goods. A perusal of the Kentish Post or Canterbury News Letter, and other local papers published in the eighteenth century, gives a vivid impression of the prevalence of smuggling carried on by the smack owners at Whitstable, frequent allusions being made to seizures of brandy and other contraband goods, among which ostrich feathers appear to have ranked high.

One export house alone, at Cherbourg, in 1768, was said at the time to be shipping 200 gallons of brandy a month, for smugglers to convey to England and Ireland. A rather peculiar lantern, with a funnel about six feet long, was used on board the smacks, which made the light visible, without radiation, at the spot where the receivers were known to be watching on shore. The contraband, once landed, was speedily distributed among the people of high and low degree, who, scrupulously honest in other respects, did not hesitate to "do" the Customs if they had the chance. Coal-carts, with false bottoms, formed one means of distribution, and a convenient one for Whitstable spirit-runners, as large quantities of coal were brought there by sea for sale inland.

I have in my possession a glass Dutch demi-john, covered in basket work, which has a curious tale of its own, in that it was tied to the stern-chain of a Kentish hoy near Whitstable, which belonged to a relative of mine, in order that his skipper might be involved in trouble. The skipper, who is still alive, says he was able to clear his character, though the Revenue men took him to Canterbury to explain matters to the magistrates.

A reliable tale is told of a dredger, lately deceased, who was in all innocence dredging for oysters, and had the misfortune to drag up a line of submerged brandy kegs, at the very time that a Revenue vessel was trying to find them. He dropped them in hot haste and sailed away, for the penalty, if his action had been observed, would have been a severe one. Brandy kegs were frequently sunk in this way until the coast was clear, and the receivers, under cover of darkness, able to recover them.

In those days English guineas fetched a rare price in France, twenty-eight shillings or their equivalent not being unusual. To satisfy this foreign demand for a sound commodity, some English sailors, belonging to a vessel sailing from Faversham, proposed to take three hundred guineas across the channel. Unfortunately for these speculators the ship was detained at Faversham under suspicion, and learning this in time, the sailors deposited their gold in a pot of tar. The vessel lay at Faversham for twelve months and was finally condemned to be broken up and sold. Those who were "in the know" attended the sale, and again secured possession of the guineas by buying the tar-pot.

Copperas.

The collection of green copperas or green vitriol used to afford occupation to a consider­able number of fishermen where it was to be found on the beach, being washed out from the cliffs near Herne Bay. Six buildings specially built for the trade were used for the purpose of manufacturing from this product of iron pyrites a black dye, ink, and the green crystals of sulphate of iron employed as a tonic by doctors. A more rapid method of obtaining these products has been found by chemists, and copperas is no longer collected in any large quantity. It may not he generally known that copperas exposed to the weather is soon reduced to powder, and can then be, with great advantage, applied to improve b the growth of vegetables. An experiment also showed that a slight sprinkling produced a crop of grass twice as heavy as that grown on land which hid not been so treated. It is also a good weed killer.

Salt Pans.

There are still traces, too, at Whitstable, of some very early salt "pans," and the memory of this medieval industry for obtaining salt by evaporation of sea-water survives in the name of the neighbouring parish of Seasalter.

Roman Cement.

At one time the flatsmen used to dredge up boulder stones, about the size of a man's head, and sell them to manufacturers of Roman cement, but the more excellent qualities of Portland cement have deprived the flatsmen of that mode of making money.