The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft

tch-The Fowey Smugglers-Tom Potter, of Polperro-The Devi

ly recording facts, legends were still in the making throughout this westernmost part of the island. We may, in our innocence, style Cornwall a part of England; but the Cornish do not think of it as such, and when they cross the Tamar into Devonshir

y to remain ignorant, for not only was he a dread figure of local folklore from about the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but he was written up in 1866 by the Reverend R. S. Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow, who not only collated th

ng damsel who had ridden to the shore to see the sight. He grasped her bridle, and, shouting in a foreign tongue, urged the doubly-laden animal to full speed, and the horse naturally took his usual way home. The damsel was Miss Dinah Hamlyn. The stranger descended at her father's door and lifted her off her saddle. He then announced himself as a Dane, named Coppinger, and took his place at the family board and there remained until he had secured the affections and hand of Dinah. The father died, and Coppinger succeeded to the management and control of t

for long the terror of those shores, and her name was the Black Prince. Once, with Coppinger aboard, she led a revenue cutter into an intricate channel near the Bull Rock, where, from knowledge of the bearings, the Black Prince escaped scathle

m bordering on the sea. When the day of transfer came, he and one of his followers appeared before the lawyer and paid the mo

cliff called "Steeple Brink." Here the precipice fell sheer to the sea, 300 feet, with overhanging eaves a hundred feet from the summit. Under this part was a cave, only to be reached by a rope-ladder from above. This was "Coppinger's Cave." H

urse, far from happy or calm. Although, when his father-in-law died, he had insensibly acquired possession of the stock and farm, there remained in the hands of the widow a considerable amount of money. This he obtained from the helpless woman by instalments, and by force. He would fas

was but six years of age, he was found one day, hugging himself with delight, and pointing down from the brink of a cliff to the beach, where the body of a neighbour's child was found

water, went with the wind." A wrecker, watching the shore, saw, as the sun went down, a full-rigged vessel standing off and on. Coppinger came to the beach, put off in

stories is a strictly unhistorical Coppinger; and that, in short, they are mainl

information is available, but what we have entirely demolishes

d was given shelter beneath the roof of Mr. William Arthur, yeoman farmer, at Golden Park, Hart

d December 23 1792, kindly

stian name was Ann-elder of the two daughters of Ackland Hamlyn, of Galsham, in Hartland, and in the registers of Hartland church may be found this entry: "Daniel Herbert Coppinger, of the

sociates, chopped off the head of an excise officer is not to be credited. Tales are told of revenue officers searching at Galsham for contraband, and of Mrs. Coppinger hurriedly hiding a quantity of valuable silks in the kitchen oven, while her husband engaged their attention in permitting them to find a number of spirit-ke

en a prisoner in the King's Bench Prison. With him was one Richard Copinger, said to have been a merchant in Martinique. Nothing is kno

taple, and died there on August 31st, 1833. She lies bur

remely well as a smuggler, and had not only a farm at Trewhiddle, but another at Roscoff, in Brittany. A daughter, says Mr. Baring-Gould, married a Trefusis, son of Lord Clinton, and Copp

ing sentiment of Cornwall in a sketch he

surprise. At sea, just beyond the billows, lay the vessel, well moored with anchors at stem and stern. Between the ship and the shore, boats, laden to the gunwale, passed to and fro. Crowds assembled on the beach to help the cargo ashore. On one hand a boisterous group surrounded a keg with the head knocked in, for simplicity of access to the good cognac, into which they dipped wh

swered a gruff, hoarse voic

ere no clergyman hereabout? Does no minister

there is,' said th

off does he li

onder, sir, wi

and poured, with pastoral diligence, 'the l

have contributed illuminating chapters to it, and would not, are dead, and those who now would are

ll be judged by his inviting his rural dean to ascend to the roof of the church-tower with him, for sake of the view: the view disclosing not only a

Cornish coast, Jonathan Couch, historian of Polperro, tells us of an exciting incident at Fowey, in the smuggling way. On one occasion, the custom-house officers heard of an important run that had taken place overnight, and accordingly sent out scouts in every direction to locate the stuff, if possible. At Landaviddy one of these parties met a farm-labourer whom they suspected o

s, cutlasses, and muskets, and had brought a loaded gun upon the scene, which they trained upon the cave; while a man with flaring portfire stood by and dared the officers to re

vice was maintained for years. As late as 1832 the luggers Eagle, thirty-five tons; Rose, eleven tons; and Dove, of the same burthen, were well kno

mselves old enough to recollect the circumstances, have it from their parents

the Lottery, of Polperro, well known for her fast-sailing qualities, as well as for the hardihood of her crew. With the springing up of the breeze, there was little

ements of their watchful enemies, and commenced to make preparations for resistance, whereupon the revenue boats opened fire; but it was not until they had approached closely that the smugglers ret

names of those who formed the crew were sufficiently well known to the authorities, and the smugglers accordingly found themselves in a very difficult position; not indeed on account of smuggling, but for the resistance they had offered to authority, resulting in what was technically murder. They all scattered and went into hidin

and at length one of the crew of the Lottery, Roger Toms by name, more weary than his fellows of hiding, an

ers, and the entire population of Polperro, against the informer, Toms, may readily be imagined. To in any way aid these natural enemies of the people was of itself the

to secure him and hold him prisoner until after the trial of Bowden, and would not otherwise harm him. They added, mysteriously, that things might go worse with Toms if he continued to hide away; for they would be certain sooner or later to find him. The greatly alarmed woman at last arranged that they should capture him when accompanying her across the

went down into the cabin of the Lottery, and there saw Potter wit

to again return to Polperro, and was given a small post as und

; for it was-and it still is-a weird, lonely place, overhanging the sea, with a solitary ancient church well within sound of the waves that beat heavily upon the little sands. It was an easy

themselves; and, in the expressive slang of to-day, they were "the Limit," the ne plus ultra of militant ghostdom. People rash enough to take the church-path through Talland after night had fallen were sure to hear and see strange semi-luminous figures; and they bethought them then of the at once evil and beneficent reputation owned and really enjoyed by Parson Dodge, the eccentric clergyman of Talland, who was reputed an exorcist of the first quality. He it was who, doughty wrestler with the most obstinate spectres, found himself greatly in demand in a wide geographical area for the banishing of troublesome ghosts for a long term of years to the Red Sea; but it was whispered, on the other hand, that he kept a numerous band of diabolic familiars believed by the simple folk of that age to resort nightly to the vicarage for their orders, and then to do his bidding. T

id his Nummy Dummy," all would doubtless have been well; this form of exorcism being in Cornwall of grea

those savage spooks and mischievous, Puck-like shapes, were really youthful local smugglers in disguise, engaged at one and the same time in a hig

e commercial and rollicking dogs, and Talland was in fact the scene of many a successful r

rs or so ago. They are pursy cherubs, of oleaginous appearance and of this-worldly, rather than of other-worldly paunch and deportment. In general, Talland churchyard is rich in such carvings; death's-heads of appalling ugliness to be seen in company with middle-aged, double-chinned angels wearing what look suspiciously like chest-protectors and pyj

was wrought; and now that more conventional and pretentious memorials have taken its place, to serve the turn of folk less simple, there ar

pitaph to the

RT M

perro, who

Sea the 24th

ar of our

e 40th Year

f Life mos

ings to

My utter

y, My s

t, which R

antly st

on the Of

us blood

o rest, and

ave don

I may R

erlasti

. Let us trust he has duly won to that everlasting bliss that not even smugglers are denied. The mild and forgiving terms of the epitaph are to be noted with astonishment; the usual run of sentiment to be observ

the waterside parish of Mylor, near Falmouth. Details of the incident in which this "Cus-toms house officer" (spelled here ex

moment we ca

omas James, age

the 7th Dec. 181

St. Mawes in a

ficer and expired

l in luckless

t the murderou

e, which late in

ned-of life i

e work of some passionless hireling, paid for his verses. H

aising encounters, and there could nowadays be none who should be able to deny the truth of them. But we will leave all that to the novelists, merely pointing out that facts continually prove themselves at least as strange as fiction.

siderable place, in its day. Also the owners of it must have been uncommonly fond of good liquors, for it has a "secret" cellar, so calle

honesty of John Knill, a famous native and resident of the town in the second half of the eighteenth century, who was Collector of Customs in that port, and in 1767 was chosen Mayor. His action in equipping some small craft to serve as privateers against smugglers

und to be full of contraband goods, including a great quantity of china, some of it of excellent quality. Wearne conceived the brilliant idea of taking some samples of the best for his own personal use, and filled out the baggy breeches he was wearing with them, before he made to rejoin the boat that had put him aboard. This uncovenanted car