‘Free Trade’ was a saviour for struggling fishermen, farmers and miners who needed an income when the weather was bad, the tin trade poor, or the pilchards scarce. Smuggling was a community venture everyone played their part in: storing, transporting, and selling the contraband. There was a fast tax placed on tea and tobacco from 1688 onwards, while spirits,silks and lace were forbidden from being imported creating a need for these contraband goods to be made available for all rungs of society. ‘Free Trade’ was thought to be okay and the customs men were vastly unpopular.
In East Cornwall, smuggler banker Zephania Job ran the tradefrom Polperro, further down Cornwall it was led by John and Harry Carter of Prussia Cove. Because smuggling is recenthistory, the folklore is often centred around historic figures such as Zephania Job, Amram and Jochabed Hooper of Looe, Silas Finn of Rame and the Parson Richard Dodge of Talland church. Reverand Dodge covered up the smuggling operation he ran up Bridle Lane by concocting a tale, The Spectral Coach, about a coach with headless horses that terrorized the cliffs and fields from Talland to Polperro.
The smuggling tales often take place on shore and the smugglers learn something in the tale. Fisherman Tom Warren of Paul learned not to tease those who appeared smaller than him in an encounter with the spriggans, Silas Finn or Finnygook, paid the ultimate price for breaking the Cornish code of keeping quiet about smuggling activities and protecting friends and neighbours. The Smugglers of Penrose found family to be of the highest value.
