Customs Dodges

[alf corbyn]

HI ALL. THERE WERE MANY WAYS OFF SMUGGLING YOUR CIGARETTES AND BOOSE IN TO THE COUNTRY. sorry about the shouting. how about hiding in an upturned bucket using as a seat while peeling spuds?. cheers. alf

[Frank Ferri]

Ah!.. YOU must have got that from "OOR WILLIE" in the SUNDAY POST" If yir no Scoats, Yil No git it !
Frank..

[Russ Kennedy]

Hi All,
My first ship was the St Essylt, running to South America. We had Chinese stewards and cooks etc, they were amazing at getting things through customs, not so much into the UK but into the SA countries, especially Argentina. Sometimes they came unstuck, but it didn't seem to bother them. I remember one trip they bought a load(must have been about a couple of hundred) of foldy up alarm clocks in Hamburg, hid them in the transom space below the steering gear to sell in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately a rummage squad boarded when we were lying off BA, and they found them. The old man was not amused, but the Chinese just wrote it off as bad luck. I would guess that the stewards would have a back up plan, probably cigarettes, buy for 10 shillings for 200, sell for £1. Usually funded your trips ashore!!

Russ K

[john sutton]

theres the story about the liverpool docker taking a wheelbarrow ful of sawdust out of the dock gates.dock policeman got all excited an searched right through the sawdust,found nothing.same thing the following day ,ang again,after 2 weeks they realised he was stealing wheelbarrows
sutton

[happy daze john in oz]

Las Palmas, many of the lads would hide bottles inside the large boxes the Las Palmas dolls came in. Up the gangway and M.A.A. would sus them out, grog gone to bond store. Me I got smart, shoved two bottles down my trousers, took the lid off the box as i walked up the gang way. we had a few good nights on that one.

[happy daze john in oz]

Les at one time there was a cafe in the K.G.V docks run by the unions. Cheapest food in town, even the shipping people used it. All the food came from ships in dock, meat, fruit etc.

[Geoff Anderson]

Original post deleted by Les

hi all. hi les it was called the robin hood effect .take from the rich and give to the poor. haha.
i remember coming into cardiff docks, everybody had extra fags etc.all stashed in our favorite places. two old customs men came on board,everybody thought we were going to get away with it ,that was until the old man told them about the problems he'd had with an ab. he was on pills of some sort and had pulled a gun on one of the crew. the next thing we knew was a couple of whistle blasts and we had 10 extra scroungers on board in no time at all.[this was before radios].from the messroom alone they got 4000 smokes. by the end of thier scrounging they had to borrow pillow cases to cart off the contraband gear. it was not a happy crew,the ab disappeared and didnt sign off. but i understand some of the boys found him in a pub and beat the crap out of him.

and now for a welsh shanty

oh i've an aunty kitty
and she only has one t---y
it is long ,thin and pointed
and the nipples double jointed
best wishes geoff

[john sutton]

i was on the Accra in 50,s ,the jokers in the crew used to hide empty doll boxes or cigarette cartons on the trunking in the alleways so that the rummagers found them witheir mirrors and torches.there would be a note inside"ha,ha,got you that time
john sutton

[Geoff Anderson]

hi all . we used to fill the blowers up with flour, and make some scratches on the screws to make it look tampered with.they would pull the nozzle down .and the air would blow the floor out. with any luck, all over them . we also had one guy who made a pipe out of fag tins ,[remember the old 50fag tins,i think they were players] anyway he built this pipe with these tins even lagged it.put it in the middle of the mess . the customs men must have thought it was christmas, they pulled it apart with real gusto . only to find empty tins. best wishes geoff

[Frank Ferri]

ref post#6

UCL.. KG5 Docks, You gave a few bob to the Taxi drver before you left the docks, this as gratuity for the police for a clear unhindered passage 1950s
Frank