Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-08-16
In a Govt.

LOOKS Ou4uOuS, QOn'G H. TO see nearly
every gate-pOst and dike-bridge made
of old ships timber2 Easy enough
to tell that, from its bend, and
the tree-naiI holes. Ours is a bad coast,
you see : not rocky, but with long slO-
ping sands; and when the seas high,
and there's a gale on shore, a vessel
strikes, and there she lies, with the
waves Lift ng her bodily, and then let
ting her fall again upon the sands, sha-
king her all to pieces; first the masts
90, then a seam opens somewhere in her
sides, and as every wave lifts her and
lets her down, she shivers and loOsens,
till she as good as falls all to pieces, and
the shore gets strewu with old wreck.
Good wrecks used to be little fortunes
to the folk along shore, but that's all
altered now the coast GUARD look out
too sharp. Things are wonderfully
changed to what they were when was
a boy. Fine bit Of smuggling going on
in those days; hardly a farmer along
the coast but had finger Ia it, and ran
cargoes right up 10 the little towns in
land. The coast was not so well watch
ed, and people were bribed easier, I
suppose =; but, at all events, that sort Of
thing has almost died out now.
Never had a brush with the coast
guard or the cutter in my time, for we
vert all On the cut-and-Fun system (;
but had a narrow escape for my life
once. when a boats crew came down
upon US, and III tell you how it was.
We were strong party Of us down
on the shore off our point here at Mer-
thOrps; busy as could be night calm
aad still and dark, and one of those
fast-sailing French bOatS-chGSSe-D1G-
rees. they call them-landiDg a cargo
Carts and pack-hOrses and boats were
all at it; and the kegs of brandy, and
barrels Of tobacco, and parcels of lace
were coming ashore in tine style and L
and another in little boat Kept making
trips backwards and forwards between
the shore and the chISSe-nIGrce, landing
Observation-Disclosures little brandy-kegs,
you know, with a V. c., Vie1tT COg7lGc,-
branded on each.
don't knew how many journeys I'd
made, when all at once there was an
| alarm given, and as it were right out of
| the darkness, I could see a man-Of-
wars boat coming right down upon US,
/ While before I quite got over the first
/ fright, there was another in sight.
Such a scrimmage scamper;
| boats scattering in all directions; the
! French boat getting up sail or two,
| and all confusion; whips cracking,
/ wheels plOughing through the soft sand
and horses gallOping OFF to get to the
/ other side of the sand bank. We were
4 close aside the long, low chas sse-maree,
4 in cur bit of a skiff thing, when the
/ alarm was given, and pushed of hard
/ for the shore, which was about two hun
dred Yards distant, while on all sides
there were other boats setting US the ex-
/ ample, or following in our wake; IN
front of US there was q heavy cart back
ed as far out into the sea as she would
| stand, with the horses turned restlYe
and iibbiug, for there was a heavy load
| behind them, and the more the driver
Iashed them the more the brutes backed
out into the shallow water, while every
moment the wheels kept sinking far
ther into the sand.
I saw all this as the revenue cutters
boats separated, one making for the
chasse-maree, and the other dashing
after the flying lOng-shOre squadron
and as I dragged at my oar, had the
/ pleasure of seeing that we must e1Gnel
be soon overhauled, or else leap out in
to the shallow water, and run for 1t, anC
I said so to my companion.
go, hang it, no, " he cried: pull on
They'll stave in the boat, and we shal
lose all the brandy. "
I did pull on, for so far rom pe!ns
- lOVal, that was ready to run any r1sH
sooner than lose the little cargo we haC
: of a dozen brandy-kegs, and about th'
same number of packages; but ther'
2 seemed not the slightest prospect OF get
] ting off, unless we happened TO De IN
| observed in the darkness. However,
pulled on, and keeping of to the right
> we had the satisfaction of seeing tn
I revenue boat row straight on, as if no
! noticing us.
r Keep off little now, whispered
t cor we Shall be ashore"
z 0No, no-it's all right" A." was the re
a pIv; 'EVe are Just over the swatch {;
which is the local term given to the lon
channels washed out in the sand by tn
= eide. here and there forming deep tTeu
= ches along the coast, very dangerous 70
}, bathers.
ssBy jingo, they see us, ," whispered
< when my companion backed water, an
g ] the consequence was, that the boat
r. head turned right in-shOre, and W
fioated between the piles, and were ne1
moment, with shipped oars, out Of sigt
- in the outlet of the govt.
Now, Pm not prepared to give the d
rivation of the word So govt" ?" but ca
Or describe what it is,-namely, the tel
l. mination, at the sea-eOast, Of the Ion
Il Lincolnshire land-drains, in the shaE
u of lock with gates, which are opene
e. at certain times, to allow the dra1naG
g. to flow under the sand into the sea, Dl
o. carefully closed when the tide is up,
Us prevent flooding of the mRrsh-land
ID protected by the high sea bank, Whl'
an runs along the coast, and acts the pa
z, of cliffs. From these lOck-gatesy
OF square woodwork tunnel is formed
~ means of piles driven into the shOl
- and crossed with stout pIanks; and th
an covered water way in some cases ru
%. for perhaps two hundred yards rig
IN beneath the sand bank, then beneH
Die sA0 9''liNAJ 60 - - - ~l'tI - -,
ng the air blowing the tunnel up when {
sh- sea comes in, a couple Of square wood
zee pipes descend at intervals of some III
q, wards through the sand into the waite
~ way at high water, when the mouth
covered, aud the lock-gates closed, t
air comes believing and roaring
these pipes as every wave comes in; a
the at times, when the tunnel is pretty fu
- the water will, after chasing the q
on, rush out after it, and form a spray fou
faiu while as the waves recedel t
wind rushes back with a strange whi