Part 18 (2/2)
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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps.--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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+ps; (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 s.h.i.+ps' 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 s.h.i.+ps, but also in s.h.i.+ps from the East Indies, and in every s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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. s.h.i.+ps. 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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.
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