The District has proved a popular haunt for smugglers using the Rivers Crouch and Blackwater to land contraband.
The golden period for smuggling was from 1730 to 1830 when smugglers pitted their wits against the Revenue men.
The trade was so frequent that the Customs employed two cutters manned by up to 30 men as well as riders who patrolled the coast on horseback.
Often cargoes such as Oysters from the Crouch were carried for sale in France with brandy making o profitable cargo for the return trip.

Such was the profit that smugglers normally outnumbered the Revenue Men and were prepared to battle to protect their cargo and prevent capture.

Many local residents turned a blind eye to the activity due to resentment against law and order or fear of reprisals from the smugglers. This activity helped to form some of the many stories of ghosts and strange lights which abound on the coastline areas of our District with relatively few such stories inland.

The best known smuggling family to use the Crouch were the Dowsetts which saw the notorious William Dowsett establish a reputation as untouchable.
Williams brother John Dowsett operated the Big Jane which carried six brass six-pounders and was involved with several battles with Revenue cutters in the Crouch until it was taken in 1780 after an 11 hour chase with the Revenue Cutters Bee and Argus
The Dowsetts were so well known that they were often used by traveller’s to travel from France to England. John Harriot of Stambridge ( Later to form the London River Police) wanted a passage home and came to an arrangement with the smugglers. At dinner before the trip he was invited to join in the toast 'Damnation to all Revenue laws and officers' Harriot was a MP and protested, pointing out that the abolition of the revenue laws would mean the end of smuggling and which the toast was amended to 'Revenue Laws and Officers for ever'.

William Dowsetts dominance ended in 1778 when the Revenue cutter Bee chased a forty ton cutter called Neptune, commanded by William Dowsett, from the Crouch until she grounded on the Barrow Sand. The Neptune was damaged by gunfire from the Bee until her crew abandoned ship and the Neptune was found to contain 391 half ankers(four gallons of spirits), two wholes of brandy, rum and Geneva, 8 cwt tea and 3 cwt coffee. 3 weeks later the Revenue cutter Bee captured another 40 ton cutter Waggon commanded by Dowsett.

Enforcement against smugglers was not a co-ordinated operation until, 1822 when the Preventative Water Guard were formed under one command. This group organised patrols by boat and foot and came to be known by a name that we recognise now of HM Coastguard. The efforts of the new Coastguards proved the death knell for large scale smuggling although of course it has continued to flourish to this day . The modern day smuggler trades in people or drugs rather than brandy or fine lace.