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 depôt, 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 duty the matter was to be reported to the Board of
Customs. The Revenue craft were apparently not above suspicion, for in