Again on the 27th of the following February another desperate affray took place at No. 40, Martello Tower, Bopeep, in which a Coastguard was killed and three others were injured, one dying soon after. On this occasion the Coastguards captured 150 tubs.
Such occurrences were frequent, and afforded plenty of excitement for the more peaceful inhabitants.
"Why Smuggling was Winked at."
Much has been written, and much more might be said of the doings of runners of contraband goods ; for smuggling was the pastime, as well as the business, of almost every fisherman and
Two Well-known Smugglers' Haunts.
This old inn, often mentioned in tales of smuggling, stood, a hundred years ago, on the rising ground now occupied by West Marina Railway Station, at Bopeep, St. Leonards, on the road to Bexhill. It is referred to in "Banks' Smugglers and Smuggling, " and was the centre of a district often used by the smugglers, as offering facilities for running their contraband cargoes ashore, and the scene of frequent conflicts between them and the Blockade men.
tradesman of Hastings, until well into the 19th century. The following tale told by a tradesman of the town some years ago in the "Hastings News," who was well-known to the Editor as a long-shore smuggler. Sam B , said, "Well, you see, I was never a smuggler in a real way, I never went to sea. I was only a long shore man, -
