By an Order in Council of May 5, 1821, it was directed that henceforth all sums which were awarded for arrests on shore of any person concerned in smuggling should be paid in the following proportions. He who made the arrest was to have three-quarters of the reward, which was to be divided into equal proportions if there were more than one person. If there were any officer or officers present at the time of arrest, these were to have one quarter of the reward. The officer commanding the party was to have two shares, each of the other officers having one share. The reward payable for a smuggler convicted and transferred to the Navy amounted to £20. And here let it be added that the persons liable to arrest in regard to smuggling were: (1) Those found on smuggling vessels; (2) Those found unloading or assisting to unload such craft; (3) Those found to be carrying away the landed goods or concerned in hiding the same. But before conviction it was essential to prove that the seized spirits were foreign; that the vessel had come from foreign parts; that the party who detained the smugglers was a Customs Officer; and that the offenders were taken before a proper magistrate.
We now come to the year 1821, when the Commissioners of Inquiry made an important report touching the Revenue service. They suggested that the Riding Officers were not valuable in proportion to their cost, and so it came about that the Inspectors and superior officers, as well as a large number of the inferior classes, were dispensed with, but a small percentage of the lowest class was retained as a Preventive Mounted Guard, the annual cost of this being only the modest sum of £5000. This Preventive Guard was to be employed in watching for any gatherings of smugglers, and whenever any goods might be landed and carried up into the country, they were to be followed up by the members of this guard. They were also to maintain a communication between the different stations.
Up to the year 1821, from those early days of the seventeenth century and earlier, the Revenue cruisers were the most important of all the means employed for suppressing smuggling. But the same inquiry which had made its recommendations regarding the Riding Officers also reported that the efficacy of the vessels employed in protecting the Revenue was not proportionate to the expense incurred in their maintenance. They advised, therefore, that their numbers should be reduced, and that whereas they had in 1816 come under the care of the Admiralty, they should now be restored to the control of the Customs. But the officers and crews of these cruisers were still to be selected by the Admiralty. And thus in the year 1822 these recommendations were carried into effect, and a new order inaugurated.
It was by a Treasury Minute of February 15, 1822, that it was directed that the whole of the force employed for the prevention of smuggling "on the coast of this kingdom," was to be consolidated and transferred, and placed under the direction of the Customs Board. This force was to consist of the cruisers, Preventive Water-guard, and Riding Officers. And henceforth the commanders of cruisers were to receive their orders from the Controller-General of the Coastguard, who was to be responsible to the Board of Customs. The one exception to this change was that the Coast Blockade on the coast of Kent and Sussex, which had shown itself so satisfactory that it was left unaltered. The Preventive Water-guard became the Coastguard, and this—rather than the cruisers—should form the chief force for prevention of smuggling, the Riding Officers, or Preventive Mounted Guard, being merely auxiliary by land, and the cruisers merely auxiliary by sea. To what extent the number of cruisers were reduced can be estimated by stating that whereas there were forty-seven of these Revenue craft employed in England in 1821, there were only thirty-three two years later, these consisting of the Mermaid, Stag, Badger, Ranger, Sylvia, Scout, Fox, Lively, Hawk, Cameleon, Hound, Rose, Scourge, Repulse, Eagle, Tartar, Adder, Lion, Dove, Lapwing, Greyhound, Swallow, Active, Harpy, Royal George, Fancy, Cheerful, Newcharter, Fly, Seaflower, Nimble, Sprightly, Dolphin.
The first-class cruisers were of 140 tons and upwards, the second class of from 100 to 140 tons, and the third class were under 100 tons. In 1824 the cruisers on the Irish coast and the Scotch coast were also transferred to the Customs Board, and from that date the entire Coastguard service, with the exception of the Coast Blockade, was directed, as stated, by the Controller-General.
In the year 1829, the instructions were issued to the Coastguard. Afloat, these applied to the commanders, mates, gunners, stewards, carpenters, mariners, and boys of the cruisers. Ashore, they were applicable to the Chief Officers, Chief Boatmen, Mounted Guard, Commissioned Boatmen, and Boatmen, both sections being under their respective commanders. Each member of the Mounted Guard was provided with a good horse and sword, with an iron scabbard of the Light Cavalry pattern, as well as a couple of pistols and ammunition. The cruiser commanders were again enjoined to keep the sea in bad weather and at night, nor were they permitted to come to harbour except when really necessary.
In 1831 came the next change, when the Coastguard took the place of the Coast Blockade, which had done excellent duty for so many years in Kent and Sussex. The aim was to make the Coastguard service national rather than departmental. To promote the greatest efficiency it was become naval rather than civil. It was to be for the benefit of the country as a nation, than for the protecting merely of its revenues. Thus there was a kind of somersault performed; and the whole of the original idea capsized. Whereas the Preventive service had been instituted for the benefit of the Customs, and then, as an after-thought, became employed for protection against the enemy across the Channel, so now it was to be exactly the other way on. The Revenue was to be subservient to the greater and national factor.
In this same 1831, the number of cruisers had risen to thirty-five in England, but many of them had tenders. There were altogether twenty-one of these latter and smaller craft, their tonnage varying from twenty-five to sixty. And the next year the Mounted Guard was reorganised and the Riding Officers disappeared. With the cordon of cruisers afloat, and the more efficient Coastguard service ashore, there was a double belt round our coasts, which could be relied upon both for national and Revenue services. By this time, too, steam was invading the domain of the ship, and in 1839, besides the old-fashioned sailing cutters and tenders, there was a steamer named the Vulcan, of 200 tons, taken into the service, her duty being to cruise about and search for suspicious vessels. In some parts of the country, also, there was assistance still rendered by the Mounted Guard for watching the roads leading inland from the beach to prevent goods being brought up.
With this increased efficiency it was but natural that a change should come over the character of the smuggling. Force was fast going out of date. Except for a number of rather startling occasions, but on the whole of exceptional occurrence, violence had gone out of fashion. But because of the increased vigilance along the coast the smuggler was hard put to devise new methods of running his goods into the country without being surprised by the officials. Most, if not all, of the old syndicates of French and Englishmen, who made smuggling a roaring trade, had died out. The armed cutters had long since given way to the luggers as the smuggling craft. Stealth had taken the place of violence, concealments and sunken goods were favoured rather than those daring and outrageous incursions which had been in the past wont to take place.
And yet, just as a long-standing illness cannot be cured at once, but keeps recurring, so there were periods when the smuggling disease kept breaking out and seemed to get worse. Such a period was that between 1825 and 1843, but it was pointed out to the Treasury that so long as the high duties continued, "Your Lordships must look only to the efficiency of the Coastguard for the continued absence of successful enterprises, and that smuggling would immediately revive upon the slightest symptom of relaxation on the part of the Commissioners of Customs." The service was therefore glad to encourage Naval Lieutenants to serve as Chief Officers of the Coastguard.