Excerpt from The King's CustomsThe fascinating annals of the smugglers (the Sea Cocks, ' after whom was named the country-seat of a modern Chancellor of the Exchequer, at once their enemy and prey) require no introduction. Yet another matter is worth passing comment - Jche very close connexion which has always been maintained between h.m. Customs and h.m. N avy. From the first the welfare of the F leet has depended upon the efficiency of our Service. In days of old the merchants' natural disinclination to meet the demands of the King's Customers was mitigated by the knowledge that the King in return would protect such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions (as the Prayer Book still puts it) from the violence of foreign foes and of the pirates who used to swarm in the narrow seas.

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