Martha and the Smugglers

Smuggling

Smuggling was endemic around all of the coasts of Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Indeed it was considered to be something of a sport to  run rings around the excise men whose task it was to find smugglers, confiscate smuggled goods, and bring those responsible to justice. That was not easy, because many of the magistrates in North Pembrokeshire and elsewhere depended upon the smuggling gangs to provide them with cheap gin, rum, wine and other alcoholic beverages, and also with whichever luxury goods happened to be subject to high taxation at any one moment. Taxation or “duty” was the key, and anything which was heavily taxed and therefore expensive to buy was immediately an attractive proposition from the point of view of those involved in the smuggling trade.

In Wales, smuggling was attractive to the poor people because it provided them with a trading opportunity, and therefore with cash in hand, at a time when there was very little cash in circulation. So they established links with merchants who were involved in the smuggling trade in the taverns of Parrog and Newport and provided the shore parties  who would unload smuggling vessels at dead of night, spirit away the untaxed goods  and then move them on to the middle men who would eventually dispose of them. There were many hiding places in the farms and cottages close to the coast and also in sea caves and in the woods.  The men who were involved literally risked their own lives, especially if they were held to be responsible for injuring an excise man  or a constable during an affray.  Smuggling was also attractive to people like Martha, because they had no great love of the Westminster government and were only too happy to subvert the trading system and to assist in the distribution of illegal goods.

In the pages of the Saga there are a number of episodes related to smuggling and to the nocturnal activities of Will Owen and various other characters whom Martha counts as her friends. She gets too close to the action on one occasion, but she does not to seem to be unduly upset about it, and even after Will  becomes a servant at the Plas she continues to be a good customer for products that might come onto the market at a good price, with few questions asked.