I came across this story and thought it might interest you.
A local tale of Smuggling Brandy in Teignmouth South devon
Taken from reminiscences and reflections of an Old West County Parson Rev W. H. Thornton in about 1840
I was a young man when Captain Rotham owned the lugger called ‘Traveller’ in partnership with a Mr Screw of Teignmouth. The Traveller was a fast little ship and its captain went frequently to Cherbourg in France calling in at St Helier in the Channel Islands and coming home to the hamlet of Mincombe. or Maidencombe.
There were watchers there keeping a lookout for the Coast Guard men Preventive Men, and it was only on dark nights that Captain Rotham would come inshore. He would signal with a light from his ship and wait until he saw a signal from the cliffs that it was safe. Then he would load up his contraband into a boat and row ashore. His cargo was usually 120 kegs each containing for gallons of illicit French brandy,
A number of very poor labouring men from Stokeinteignhead would be waiting on the shore. Each man took two kegs which weighed altogether about 70 lbs( 31.8 Kilo).
In total silence the long line of men carried their kegs up the cliff and across the fields avoiding the lanes and roads, climbing over walls and field boundaries as they walked through Stokeinteignhead across the hills and then down to Combe Cellars.
Combe Cellars was a centre of the smuggling trade. From there the men were taken across the river Teign and on the other side they once more took up their loads and toiled on to Number Moor, where the kegs were hidden in marshy or boggy ground.
It is hard to realise how difficult, how hard times were for people then, so hard that they found it necessary to do this dangerous work. They were paid, for all their hard work and for carrying those heavy loads a very long distance. Five Shillings or about 20 pence. If they had been caught they would probably have been sent to prison.
If there was no signal on the cliff that it was safe to come ashore Captain Northam would put his kegs into the sea, each one weighted with a sandbag and tied to a raft to keep them all together, so they would be easy to find again.
When that was done he would sail away in his ship in whichever direction the winds took him running before the wind avoiding the Coast Guard’s sailing cutter.
The kegs were often left in the sea for a week or two then in the dead of night, one raft after another would be brought ashore with its kegs still attached and then carried away as before.
However sometimes before they could be recovered the sea would become rough and the some of the kegs would break off form the raft to be recovered by passing fishermen much to their delight for they could either drink the brandy or sell it.
On one occasion a boat carrying stone came into Teignmouth from Babbacombe Bay and of Mincombe she found a raft with a number of brandy kegs attached. The boat picked the kegs out of the sea and went on its way into the harbour at Teignmouth. When they got there they reported their find to the Coast Guard men they informed their officer who came and congratulated them and promised a reward.
All went well until one of the Preventive men found he was thirsty and went to poured a cup of water from the ship’s water cask.
No sooner than he had put the cup to his lips and taken a swig he started back as if he’s been shot, for instead of water he had taken a mouthful of undiluted brandy. They ships crew had been unable to resist the temptation and filled their water cask with Brandy before reporting the find.
You have to remember that brandy smugglers carried undiluted spirit, they diluted it 100 percent, that is they added water, to make it drinkable.
The Government confiscated the Stone boat and it was broken up even though it was quite valuable £700 that was a considerable amount.
