They were also to maintain a regular communication with the commander of any other vessel with which they had been instructed to cruise in concert. And cruisers were to be furnished with the laws relative to smuggling and not to exceed the powers vested in the commanders by law. As to any un-Customed or prohibited goods these were to be secured in the King's Warehouse at the next port, and care was to be taken that these goods remained undamaged or pilfered by the crew. And after the goods had been thus put ashore both the commander and mate were carefully to search the smuggling vessel, the boxes, and bedding of her crew to see if anything had been kept back.
Whenever a vessel was seized at sea precautions must be taken to ascertain the distance from the shore "by causing two points of land to be set, and the bearings thereof to be noted by two or more of your officers and mariners who are acquainted with those points of land, so that each of them may be in condition to swear to the bearings from the note taken by him at the time, to be produced by him upon the trial of the vessels."
Any papers found on board the smuggling craft were immediately to be initialled by the persons present, and no cruiser or any of her boats should be employed in carrying passengers or pleasure parties. The commander and mate were to keep separate journals of all the proceedings of the cruiser relating to wind and weather, bearings, and distances from the land, soundings, &c., every twenty-four hours so that the admiral could tell whether the cruisers had used every exertion to suppress smuggling, or had been negligent and slack in their duties. For this purpose the twenty-four hours were divided into three parts thus:—Midnight to 8 A.M., 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., and 4 P.M. to midnight. In each of these three divisions the commander was to fix his position by cross-bearings and soundings if in less than 30 fathoms. This was to be done a little before sunrise, at noon, and a little before sunset, provided that if the land were not seen or the cruiser be chasing a vessel, this fact was to be noted in the journal, and the bearings and soundings were to be taken whenever the land should be seen. An exact copy of this journal was to be sent after the end of each month to the admiral under whose command the cruiser happened to be placed.
The table on p. 228 is an example of the journal of one of these craft, and will show instantly the kind of record which was kept.
On the 1st of January, 1817, the Preventive boats were put under the control of Captain Hanchett, R.N., who was known as the Controller-General of the Preventive Boat Service. There was an effort made also in this department to obtain increased efficiency. And the following articles were ordered to be supplied to each Preventive boat:—one small flat cask to hold two gallons of fresh water, one small water-tight harness cask to hold provisions, one chest of arms and ammunition, one Custom House Jack, two "spying-glasses" (one for the watch-house, the other for the boat), one small bucket for baling, one "wall piece," forty rounds of cartridges, thirty muskets or carbines, preference being given to carbines with musket-ball bore where new ones are to be purchased, twenty light pistols, balls in proportion to the above, bayonets, cutlasses, pouches, tucks, small hand hatchets for cutting away rigging, musket flints, pistol flints, a set of implements for cleaning arms, a set of rummaging tools, and a dark "lanthorn." With this full inventory these open, oared boats could go about their work for long spells in bays, up creeks and estuaries, on the prowl for the smugglers by night.
Journal of His Majesty's Revenue Cruiser the "Vigilant," John Smith, Commander,
for the Month of July 18—
| Day of the Week and Month. | Wind. | Weather. | At Sea or in Port. | Observation made. | Soundings in Fathoms. | Occurrences and Remarks. | |
| Land Seen. | Bearings and Distances in Miles | ||||||
| July Monday 1st., Morning or first part | E.S.E. | Moderate | At sea | Red Head | W.N.W. 9 miles | Above 30 | Cruising in station spoke a vessel from the Baltic laden with hemp, &c., but sea running high, did not board her. Saw H.M. sloop Cherokee to the N.E. at 9 A.M. |
| Light, Bell Rock | S.W. by S. 12 miles | ||||||
| Noon or second part | Fifeness | W.N.W. 5 miles | 23 | Nothing remarkable occurred. | |||
| Isle of May | S.W. by W. 6 miles | ||||||
| Evening or third part | Fifeness | S. by E. 8½ miles | 12 | Lost sight of the Cherokee standing off and on in St. Andrews Bay. Sent out the boat with Mr. Jones, second mate, to visit the creeks. | |||
| Light, Bell Rock | E. by S. 9 miles | ||||||
Whenever any vessels were seized and condemned a full, descriptive account was sent to London regarding their size, breadth, depth, burthen, age, where built, draught, scantlings, the nature of the wood, how fastened, whether the craft appeared strained, how many guns she carried, what was the probable expense of having her refitted, how long she would last when this had been done, whether she had the reputation for rowing or sailing quickly, and what was her value. If it was recognised that she was a serviceable vessel she was not to be destroyed but employed in the Preventive service.
Among the names of the Revenue cutters about this time were the Scorpion, Enchantress, Jacobus, and Rattlesnake. There was a good deal of smuggling now going on in Essex, and the last-mentioned was employed to watch the river Blackwater in that district. Lieutenant Neame, R.N., was also ordered to proceed to the Blackwater with the lugger Fortune, and arrived there to take charge of the Rattlesnake. This was in September 1818; and here let us remark that although the Preventive Water-guard originally had charge of the whole coast of England, yet a few months before the above date—it occurred actually in July 1817—the staff between the North and South Forelands was withdrawn, and this part of the coast was placed under the charge of the Coast Blockade. Under the arrangement of 1816, when the cruisers had been put under the care of the Admiralty, the Preventive Waterguard had come under the authority of the Treasury, but now, in 1817, came the change mentioned. Towards the close of 1818 this Coast Blockade, instead of being confined merely to that coast between the two Forelands, was extended till it reached on the one side Shellness by the mouth of the East Swale, and on the other right away down Channel to Cuckmere Haven (between Newhaven and Beachy Head).
The history of this change may be summed up as follows. It was suggested in the year 1816 by Captain M'Culloch of H.M.S. Ganymede (which was one of the vessels employed in the prevention of smuggling between Dungeness and North Foreland) that it would be advantageous to land the crews of the vessels employed on the cruisers and Naval ships engaged in preventing smuggling. The men were to be put ashore every day just after sunset and so form a guard along the coast during the night. In the morning, just before sunrise, the men were to be put on board their ships once more. So the experiment was tried and was found to be so successful that this method of guarding the coast was adopted by a Treasury Minute of June 19, 1817. The district between the Forelands was assigned to Captain M'Culloch, who had with him the officers and crew of H.M.S. Severn. Those boats and men which had belonged to the Preventive service stationed between the Forelands were withdrawn, and the entire protection of this district was left to Captain M'Culloch's force. This was known as the Coast Blockade, and was afterwards extended as just mentioned to Sheppey and Seaford.