# Manx Primary Source Archive — Transcription

**Source image:** `20260219_140942.jpg`  
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-25 19:26  
**Method:** Automated (Claude Batch API — claude-opus-4-6)

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or Ireland; or should they be discovered and pursued
in the Solway Firth, or on the Costs of Cumberland,
Lancashire, & Cheshire, they escape over the Flatts and
Sands where Vessels of large Size, and different
Construction, cannot pass. That it is almost
equally impossible for the Officers on Shoar to give
any effectual check to them, as their Correspondence
with the common People upon these Coasts of England
and Scotland, and upon the South and North
sides of the Solway Firth, is so well established
that the least appearance of Danger from thence
is conveyed to them by Signals, which at the same
time inform them to what parts they may with
safety Steer. To this may be added their great
expedition in clearing their Boats, and the formidable
Numbers that appear on very many of these Occasions,
for that within these few years the manner of carrying
on this Commerce is greatly altered; Formerly the
People of the Island, or those living immidiately on
the Sea Coast, brought over their Goods at their own
Hazard, and after burying them in the Sands, or
secreting them in Rocks or other Places of difficult
access, they sought for Purchasers on Shore. But of
late the Smugglers, dispersed through all the different
parts of the Country, have formed themselves into
Societies, who depute some of their Number to purchase
the

MS 09707/6/326
AP 40B-24