Chapter 38: Smuggling in the Navy
Chapter 38 The Navy’s Smuggling Problem
Arthur read the penny-worth Poor Man’s Guardian with interest, and it wasn’t until he reached the end of the article that he realized something was wrong.
The founder of the Poor Man’s Guardian, Hesselington, was a man who hung on the Scotland Yard watch list.
Although in 1824 the Prohibition of Workers’ Associations Act has been repealed, the censorship of publications has been gradually liberalized, but although the threshold is not set on the surface, but behind the scenes there are still a lot of small tricks.
Because workers were mostly poor, they were unlikely to have much money left over to spend on anything other than food, clothing, shelter and transportation.
So in order to prevent the Workers’ Federation from creating influential publications, the British government began to impose a stamp duty on newspapers and raise their price to four pence, in order to limit the sales of newspapers by raising their costs.
Since there was a plan at the top, there was naturally a countermeasure at the bottom, which is why there was a proliferation of various unseen tabloids on the streets of London.
As long as there was no tax, the penny price was enough to cover costs and still make a profit.
Unfortunately, Arthur’s newspaper buying has never had the opportunity to get such a good price.
One minute the street newsboys were hawking cheap papers for a penny, but as soon as he passed, the only regular choices left were the Times, the Morning Herald, and the Manchester Guardian.
Arthur grabbed Elder’s paper, leaving him to chat with Darwin beside him while he drew a few random strokes on the paper with the pencil in his hand.
Arthur had finished reading the paper and was about to strike up a conversation when he suddenly saw the little man drawn in Elder’s hand.
He frowned for a moment, and in a flash, a light flashed in his head and he snapped his fingers, “Elder, how are you practicing your drawing skills?”
Elder yawned, “It’s going okay, why do you ask?”
Arthur smiled and said, “I want to ask you to do an errand, if it works out, the reward is not a problem. The Greenwich Police District is still somewhat flush with office funds this quarter.”
“Wow?” Elder heard that there was a reward, and immediately came into the spirit, “You want to ask me to help you draw a map?”
“Not just maps.” Arthur picked up his teacup and took a sip, “You should know ‘General Thief’ Fred, right?”
“Fred? Of course I know of it! I even asked him to help me get rid of the smuggled goods I brought over last time.”
Arthur was originally drinking his tea well, who knew that he almost choked on a mouthful of water when he heard Elder’s words.
“What did you say?!”
Arthur drew a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth, “You? Smuggling? And involved with Fred?”
Who knew that Elder was mixed up about it, as if he didn’t care at all that he had committed a crime.
He rested his legs on the table and leaned back in his chair, saying, “What’s the big deal? The Royal Navy smuggles, who doesn’t know?”
Darwin on the side was originally quietly reading a book, but hearing this explosive news, his face changed in shock.
Arthur, on the other hand, supported his elbow and moved forward, “Tell me about it in detail, I’m short of big cases lately.”
Just after Arthur’s words, Elder’s face turned green.
He lowered his voice and cursed, “Arthur, what the hell, are you still planning to send me in? Besides, that smuggled item isn’t mine, I helped my uncle sell it. That old thing wasn’t satisfied after I sold it, he thought I sold it for a low price and didn’t even give me a penny.”
Arthur also lowered his voice and said, “Then you’re a tainted witness, I can help you fight for leniency, just get your uncle in. A Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy is also enough for me to eat for many years. Don’t worry, when I get promoted and become rich, I will definitely not forget you.”
Elder exasperatedly said, “Who will cover me if you get him in? Is there something wrong with your head! Besides, if you arrest him, then wouldn’t you put the Mediterranean Fleet Admiral in with him?”
Hearing this, Darwin on the side also came over, “There’s also the matter of the Mediterranean Fleet Admiral in here?”
Elder gasped, “That’s not true! Are you planning to bring Thomas Hardy, the First Sea Lord, into this as well?”
Arthur had intended it as a joke, but before he could even begin to ask, Elder was on the verge of giving a full account.
He hurriedly shouted, “Hold it! You mustn’t say any more, and if you go any further are you going to put Prince William, the Royal Marshal of the Navy, in it too?” Elder was stunned, then raised his hand and punched Arthur in the chest, “You kid can do it! No wonder you can be a police inspector, how do you know?”
Arthur hurriedly covered his mouth, and swept his eyes around until he realized that no one was paying attention to them before he returned.
“I don’t know anything, just say Royal Navy, don’t get into specific individuals.”
Elder spread his hands, “It’s not really a big deal.
Think about it, while the treatment of officers in the Royal Navy is good, the sailors are poorly treated ah!
It would be better if they were at war, after all, they can still share in the spoils of war, but it’s peacetime now.
Under normal circumstances, the income level of sailors running merchant ships can be three or four times higher than that of sailors, and even five or six times higher if there is a high season of transportation.
Moreover, the Royal Navy’s training is so strict, internal regulations are rigid, who has nothing to do would like to become a sailor?
Every day at sea floating, money can not earn a few.
The navy has a hard time recruiting every time, so much so that the recruiting officer even uses kidnapping as a tactic.
There must be a rumor in your hometown that when the Navy recruiter came to recruit soldiers, but the local farmers didn’t want to go, so they ganged up and kidnapped a few outsiders who were passing by to deliver the goods.
Or maybe they got criminals who were supposed to be exiled on a ship, and had agreed to be exiled, but ended up on the ship and couldn’t be released.
The treatment is so poor that to this extent, if the Ministry of Navy still does not allow the brothers to smuggle something, still not let people live a good life?”
Darwin nodded slightly as he listened, “Although I don’t know why, I think what you said seems to be somewhat reasonable.”
Hearing this, Arthur laughed helplessly, “Every time I hear you talk about the Royal Navy, it always makes me feel like this place is rotten from top to bottom. But if that’s the case, why are they still so battle-hardened?”
Elder rolled his eyes, “It’s still because of the money, of course! Even though the big guys are paid dead wages, if it happens to be a time of war, the Admiralty has a clear price tag.
Destroying one enemy ship rewards the entire ship with a bounty of five shillings per person for the number of enemies destroyed.
When an enemy ship is captured and towed back to the harbor, the government buys the enemy ship at market price.
As for the spoils of war, the rule within the navy is that the captain takes a quarter, the fleet commander takes an eighth, and the rest is divided among the sailors.
With this, even if the Royal Navy was bad, it still managed to beat the French who didn’t even dare to go out of the harbor.
In their eyes, the French ship is not an enemy at all, that is floating in the sea of gold.
In the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy could complete two rounds of shelling in three and a half minutes.
Admiral Rotheram’s frigate dared to chase after the French battleships, and it was still the first time to bite the tail and start a gangway battle despite the numerical disadvantage, and he alone took out a dozen French sailors with his saber.
As for the French, given three and a half minutes, it is estimated that the cannonballs have not even been taken out of the ship’s hold, raising the white flag time is enough!”
Speaking here, Elder again mysteriously covered his mouth and said, “I’ll tell you a secret, you can’t tell others ah!
I’ve heard from my uncle that some captains have earned more than three hundred thousand pounds of property after 22 years of fighting the Napoleonic Wars.
When the captain eats meat, the sailors who follow him naturally drink soup. Do you think there can be no fighting in such a case?”
At the end of his words, he sighed again, “It’s a pity that Napoleon is not fighting for his life, if he had held out for another ten years or so, wouldn’t I have been able to get so rich too? What a useless thing!”
Arthur glanced at the guests at the table beside him and realized that everyone else was looking at them with strange eyes.
So, Arthur could only cough and remind Elder, “Let’s talk about how you know Fred.”
(End of chapter)