{"id":"01KG8AMDKSNKR4WK2AXJZ20F9Q","cid":"bafkreiagla26y4iusunslnj3wryrb2xx37mshwnek4homltof4olt5ek4u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6870,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6810,"text":"man is let pass; and so on, till the whole boat’s crew, averaging about\r\nsixteen men, are examined. The chief of police then descends into the\r\nboat, and walks from stem to stern, eyeing it all over, and poking his\r\nlong rattan into every nook and cranny. This operation concluded, and\r\nnothing found, he mounts the ladder, touches his hat to the\r\ndeck-officer, and reports the boat _clean_; whereupon she is hauled out\r\nto the booms.\r\n\r\nThus it will be seen that not a man of the ship’s company ever enters\r\nthe vessel from shore without it being rendered next to impossible,\r\napparently, that he should have succeeded in smuggling anything. Those\r\nindividuals who are permitted to board the ship without undergoing this\r\nordeal, are only persons whom it would be preposterous to search—such\r\nas the Commodore himself, the Captain, Lieutenants, etc., and gentlemen\r\nand ladies coming as visitors.\r\n\r\nFor anything to be clandestinely thrust through the lower port-holes at\r\nnight, is rendered very difficult, from the watchfulness of the\r\nquarter-master in hailing all boats that approach, long before they\r\ndraw alongside, and the vigilance of the sentries, posted on platforms\r\noverhanging the water, whose orders are to fire into a strange boat\r\nwhich, after being warned to withdraw, should still persist in drawing\r\nnigh. Moreover, thirty-two-pound shots are slung to ropes, and\r\nsuspended over the bows, to drop a hole into and sink any small craft,\r\nwhich, spite of all precautions, by strategy should succeed in getting\r\nunder the bows with liquor by night. Indeed, the whole power of martial\r\nlaw is enlisted in this matter; and every one of the numerous officers\r\nof the ship, besides his general zeal in enforcing the regulations,\r\nadds to that a personal feeling, since the sobriety of the men abridges\r\nhis own cares and anxieties.\r\n\r\nHow then, it will be asked, in the face of an argus-eyed police, and in\r\ndefiance even of bayonets and bullets, do men-of-war’s-men contrive to\r\nsmuggle their spirits? Not to enlarge upon minor stratagems—every few\r\ndays detected, and rendered naught (such as rolling up, in a\r\nhandkerchief, a long, slender “skin” of grog, like a sausage, and in\r\nthat manner ascending to the deck out of a boat just from shore; or\r\nopenly bringing on board cocoa-nuts and melons, procured from a knavish\r\nbum-boat filled with spirits, instead of milk or water)—we will only\r\nmention here two or three other modes, coming under my own observation.\r\n\r\nWhile in Rio, a fore-top-man, belonging to the second cutter, paid down\r\nthe money, and made an arrangement with a person encountered at the\r\nPalace-landing ashore, to the following effect. Of a certain moonless\r\nnight, he was to bring off three gallons of spirits, _in skins_, and\r\nmoor them to the frigate’s anchor-buoy—some distance from the\r\nvessel—attaching something heavy, to sink them out of sight. In the\r\nmiddle watch of the night, the fore-top-man slips out of his hammock,\r\nand by creeping along in the shadows, eludes the vigilance of the\r\nmaster-at-arms and his mates, gains a port-hole, and softly lowers\r\nhimself into the water, almost without creating a ripple—the sentries\r\nmarching to and fro on their overhanging platform above him. He is an\r\nexpert swimmer, and paddles along under the surface, every now and then\r\nrising a little, and lying motionless on his back to breathe—little but\r\nhis nose exposed. The buoy gained, he cuts the skins adrift, ties them\r\nround his body, and in the same adroit manner makes good his return.\r\n\r\nThis feat is very seldom attempted, for it needs the utmost caution,\r\naddress, and dexterity; and no one but a super-expert burglar, and\r\nfaultless Leander of a swimmer, could achieve it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS3273YPPET2Q8S3ZWFQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKXE22EVNFPHN05H5NQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKXZCJC021Q3N37F3C6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.473Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:48.240Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}