Where there are isolated coasts, there has always been smuggling. In this post we bring a couple of smugglers’ tales in poetry and film. Where does the word ‘smuggler’ originate? The Danish have ‘smugle’, Swedish ‘smug’ with Anglo-Saxon ‘smugan’ and Icelandic ‘smug’, all meaning variations on ‘lurk, creep and hole’. Adam Smith, the 18th century economist advocating free trade describes a smuggler as “a person who, though no doubt blameable for violating the laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating those of natural justice, and would have been in every respect an excellent citizen had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so.”
In this clip, watch 1929 archive footage of ‘run running’ from Havana, Cuba. The title reads: Rum running! Pathe cameraman secures unique pictures of problem now exercising British and American Governments following dramatic sinking of Schooner “I’m Alone” and capture of dauntless Captain Randell and Crew.
A Smugglers’ Song Published in 1906, the popular poem by Rudyard Kipling presents rather a romanticised view of smuggling considering the penalties for those caught being very severe.
A Smugglers’ Song
Published in 1906, the popular poem by Rudyard Kipling presents rather a romanticised view of smuggling considering the penalties for those caught being very severe.
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,
Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark –
Brandy for the Parson, ‘Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don’t you shout to come and look, nor use ’em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again – and they’ll be gone next day!If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining’s wet and warm – don’t you ask no more!If you meet King George’s men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you “pretty maid” and chuck you ‘neath the chin,
Don’t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one’s been!Knocks and footsteps round the house – whistles after dark –
You’ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty’s here, and Pincher’s here, and see how dumb they lie
They don’t fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!‘If You do as you’ve been told, ‘likely there’s a chance,
Rudyard Kipling
You’ll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood –
A present from the Gentlemen, along ‘o being good!