The following is a copy of an advertisement issued at the time :
"Sale of a Privateer. To be sold by Auction, on March, 1759, at the Swan Hotel. ' The Fox' Privateer Cutter (Richard Harman Commander) 70 tons, Carries 8 Guns (4 and 3 pounders), and, swivils. She has accommodation for 40 men. Is a good sailor, and quite fit for sea. Enquire of Thomas Breeds, At the Swan Hotel, Hastings."
In front of what is now Breeds Place, several Privateer Cutters were laid up at the close of the French War, 1816. Privateering had been a popular pursuit of the seafaring portion of the townspeople, for though attended with as much, and perhaps more risk than smuggling, as every privateer carried guns, it was a pursuit that paid well. Nine gunboats hailed from Hastings, when the war was at its height, each mounting two 18-pounders ; and eleven fishing-boats, each armed with two 12-pounder carronade.
I have already said that smuggling gradually died out about the first quarter of the 19th century, and one of the last old smugglers named Tilden lived in the Queen's Road, Hastings, some 40 years ago. He was badly injured in his legs by a fall from the East Cliffs while engaged carrying tubs up a rope ladder, and he was always ready to relate his experiences to a willing listener.. I remember him very well.
[The usual method was to go alongside, under the pretence of trading ; they frequently mastered the crew, clapped them under the hatches, and then plundered and afterwards scuttled the ship. It is said that owing to these murderous acts, the Hastings Mariners acquired the appellation of "Chop-backs. "]
