Bonaparte is on record as declaring that 'during the war, all the information I received from England came through the smugglers'. He was so enamoured of the service they provided - including the delivery of newspapers which, upon arrival in France, were taken by courier to the Minister of Police in Paris - that he designated the port of Gravelines the exclusive entry point for British free traders. Thus the City of Smugglers was established.
'Free trading' has always been a very profitable enterprise. The audacity of the smugglers, particularly those who operated along the Kent and Sussex coastlines during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was nothing short of remarkable. The landing of contraband was not confined to a couple of jack-the-lads and the odd rowboat. The Trade was carefully controlled and financed, in many cases, by London merchants. Smuggling gangs operated with impunity, often in broad daylight. Hundreds of men and beasts of burden could be employed at any one time, forming caravans that delivered the goods from the coast to warehouses on the outskirts of London. Pitched battles between smugglers and Revenue men - who relied on troops for support and who were often outnumbered - were not uncommon, resulting in many casualties and deaths on both sides.
One of the most profitable aspects of the smuggling business, however, was the deployment of the guinea boats. The trade, most of it conducted under the guidance of the house of Rothschild, was carried out in the manner described. The sums involved beggared belief, with rowing galleys carrying up to 30,000 guineas at a time. In 1811, smugglers transported a total of almost 1,900,000 guineas or 49,000,000 francs. In today's money, that would equate to nearly ?65,000,000.
Fanny Burney, the eighteenth-century diarist, referred to Deal as a '
The character of Ezekiel Morgan is based loosely on the Kent smuggler, George Ransley, leader of the Blues, one of the county's most infamous gangs. Ransley, like Morgan, employed his own surgeon and a firm of lawyers. In 1826 Ransley and his cohorts were convicted of the murder of a quartermaster of the Coast Blockade (a forerunner of the Coast Guard); Ransley was transported to Tasmania, where he ended his days as a free settler in Launceston.
Many of the locations in the novel are real and were indeed used by smugglers. The Smack Aground pub and the church at Warden Point on the Isle of Sheppey, did exist but are now long gone, demolished due to severe coastal subsidence. But Warden Manor, home of Sir John Sawbridge and his pigeon loft, is still there.
The Admiral's residency at Deal was located on Queen Street; its strong room was the repository for both navy and army pay chests, with bullion regularly being landed in the town. In 1813, for example, HMS
The oyster platforms at Seasalter and Whitstable were frequently used to offload French prisoners of war so that they could be transferred ashore. I took the inspiration for Jess Flynn's smallholding from Pye Alley Farm near Seasalter, which was one of many houses that provided escapers with food and shelter. That farm still stands.
Should anyone wish to delve more deeply into the world of the smugglers, I would recommend the splendid website run by author Richard Piatt. The site's address is www.smuggling.co.uk.
Rochester Museum is an excellent source for anyone wishing to know more about prisoners of war and their life on the Medway hulks. The museum has under its roof a mock-up of a prison hulk, complete with a 'black hole', and is well worth visiting. I'm indebted to the museum's curator, Steve Nye, who very generously took time off from his busy schedule to answer my questions and give me the guided tour.
I'm also grateful to Gavin Daly from the University of Tasmania, whose article 'Napoleon and the City of Smugglers 1810-1814' set me on the right track.
Little has been written on the lives of prisoners in the hulks. Two books of note, however, are Louis Garneray's
