The Collier Captain

I once had a long, long talk with a collier captain
Strolling down by the quayside
The hold was full of tobacco
Sailing up the Esk on the tide

Chorus
Give me a guinea for me brandy
Make me a profit on the job
Give me a guinea for me brandy
It’s the King’s excise men that we rob

The men kept the ship at Old Saltburn
John Andrews was the licensee
A Scotsman came down from the mountains
For to try and make his fortune by the sea

Beware of the Mermaid and the Eagle
The King’s ships are sailing out to sea
They’ll come and they’ll wreck the Morgan Rattler
And send the figurehead to Whitby

Ye salty lads of Cleveland come and listen
Don’t sail the same tide as Andrews men
Be a jet miner or a whaler
Cos the excise men will get you in the end.

Picture of ship on a shore with horse and cart in foreground

Collier brig unloading on beach
Painting circa 1790

British colliers were typically made with strong hulls that allowed them to be beached in places where there was no harbour. At low tide, carts were taken alongside the collier and coal was unloaded into them. When the railways were built this provided competition for the colliers that delivered to coastal towns, but some continued in this trade for much of the 19th century.
Brigs were prominent in the coastal coal trade of British waters. 4,395 voyages to London with coal were recorded in 1795. With an average of eight or nine trips per year for one vessel, that is a fleet of over 500 colliers trading to London alone. Other ports and coastal communities were also served by colliers trading to Britain's coal ports.
From Wikipedia

Painting of ship moored beside houses with red tiled roofss

A Collier Brig moored in Whitby, artist unknown.
Image credit: Whitby Museum

Smuggling on the Yorkshire Coast

Smuggling, the avoidance of paying duties ( taxes) on imported and exported goods, used to be an accepted way of life for the English coastal villages in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In the remote isolated communities around the coastline of Britain most of the villagers, including clergymen, local gentry, farmhands and some corrupt Customs Officers were involved.

Along the Yorkshire coast from Robin Hoods Bay to Saltburn by the Sea, including Whitby and Staithes, where the houses pile on top of one another and contraband could speedily be hidden, smuggling was rife.

The imposing of custom duties on imported and exported goods started in the 13th century, The tax known as ‘tunnage’ on wine and spirits was 3s 4d per barrel. In 1558 the tunnage per barrel increased hugely to 53s 4d, which made smuggling more lucrative.

At that time there were only 13 official ports around the coastline where the duties could be paid.
The Custom service then, only existed to collect duties at Custom Houses at the ports, and not to prevent smuggling.

The additional tax known as excise duty was introduced in the Civil War (1647-7) to pay for Cromwell’s army, it was a tax levied on imported goods before they could be resold and consumed.
By then smuggling had developed into a full-scale industry, so Charles 11 created the Board of Customs who became responsible for collecting the duties. These Revenue Officers were provided with cutter ships, stationed at ports around the coastline, to patrol the coast to catch the smugglers.

The Yorkshire Coast smugglers dealt mainly with Holland and northern France as they had historic links with them, having previously smuggled wool out to there. The main goods smuggled in were over proof Geneva gin, French brandy, tobacco, silk and spices and any other overtaxed items.

Smuggling was a dangerous business, but it was also very lucrative. The profit margin varied with the prevailing rates of duty, but typically tea cost 7d a pound on the Continent and could be sold in England for 5s. Tobacco cost the same and fetched 2s 6d at home. A tub of gin or brandy cost £1 and found English customers at £4 even before ‘letting down’ to a drinkable strength. Diluted, the profit would have been even greater.

Picture of men on a boat in a cove with horse in foreground

Landing the contraband. Painting by George Morland, circa 1793
Image credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

The ships that brought the contraband from the Continent would hover offshore of the coastal fishing villages, and send signals to the local fishermen, who would sail out in their fishing cobles and pick it up. On the shore armed gangs, often with horses, would be waiting to ‘spirit away’ the run goods.

Many smugglers became wealthy men, and their exploits are still celebrated in local folklore.
One of the most famous smugglers in Whitby was Captain John Johnson, known as “Lucky Jack.”
Johnson was a master mariner who commanded a fleet of smuggling ships. He was known for his daring raids and his ability to outsmart the revenue cutters.

Another famous smuggler was Andrew Snape, known as “King Snape.” Snape was a powerful and influential figure in Whitby. He owned several pubs and inns, which he used as bases for his smuggling activities.

Captain Harold Hutchinson, the Officer in Charge of the Dragoons Guards who were stationed in Whitby for three years to clamp down on smuggling, was appointed the Customs Officer when the Guards left Whitby. However he wasn’t averse to taking contraband from smugglers and then selling it on himself. He made so much money in his time that he had built a large house on Skinner Street called ‘Harold Mansion’, which he reputedly turned into a brothel.

The Ship Inn, Old Saltburn.

Saltburn’s most famous smuggler was John Andrew. Known as the ‘King of the Smugglers’, he was the landlord of the Ship Inn at Old Saltburn, c1790.

Andrew went into partnership with a brewer from Kirkleatham called Thomas King, and together they bought a fast-sailing lugger called the ‘Morgan Rattler’, to specifically use for smuggling. He used his smuggling gains to buy White House Farm at Saltburn and joined the landed gentry. He also served in the local militia and was promoted to Captain.

Throughout his long, illustrious career as a smuggler, John Andrew always managed to evade the Excise men. In 1817 he was elected the Master of the Hounds at the newly formed Roxby and Cleveland Hunt, and he hunted with them until his death in 1835.

A King’s Cutter bearing down on a lugger carrying contraband goods.
Painting by Charles Dixon.
Image credit: Project Gutenberg

The ‘Mermaid’ and the ‘Eagle’ were the two King’s cutters that patrolled the Yorkshire Coast to catch smugglers, both ships were stationed at Newcastle.
The 112-ton 10 gun Mermaid, commanded by John Carr, had a crew of 30, and its extent of cruising was Berwick to Spurn.
The similar size Eagle, commanded by George Whitehead, with a crew of 24, its extent of cruising was from Tynemouth to Yarmouth.

The Whitby Times, 31st August 1790 reported:
“Yesterday se’nnight The Fawn, smuggling lugger, with a thousand ankers of rum, brandy and Geneva to amount of 6000 gallons, was taken and sent into Whitby, by the Eagle cutter, Captain George Whitehead, in the service of the revenue of that port; with the assistance of the Mermaid, Captain Carr. The Fawn is a fine clinch-built vessel of 90 tonnes built at Flushing four months since, mounting six four pounders and six swivels.
Her crew consisted of twenty men.”

Smuggling just about ceased after the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) when the Government introduced a new tax, income tax, and simplified the punitive customs and excise duties and smuggling became no longer profitable.

About Mick

Mick Haywood is a traditional folk singer & folk song collector who has run and organised folk clubs and festivals for many years. He now lives in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

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