The book Arran; - Cook Clan

FOLK HISTORY 133
On Wednesday evening a young man was shot in a salt boat,
between the Isles of Pladda and Arran, by a boat's crew belonging
to Captain Dowie, of the Prince Augustus Frederick, Revenue Cutter.
The crew of the smuggling boat having with their oars opposed that
of the Revenue's boat making a seizure of it. It is to be lamented
that the poor people on the coast should persevere in a trade which
by the laws of our country subjects their property to seizure, and
exposes their lives to destruction if they make any opposition to the
officers of Revenue—There have of late years been several instances,
where the lives of these unfortunate persons have been sacrificed
when attempting a feeble resistance to preserve a few bolls of salt.' ^
The next case affects the more famiUar commodity, and
carries on hke evidence of the dangers run by the iUicit
traffickers :
27 March 1817.—In the afternoon, a boat, with smuggled whisky
on board, set sail from the south end of Arran. After proceeding
a short way, the crew observed a revenue cutter lying off, and put
about. This was noticed by the cutter, and instantly a boat was
manned with ten hands, and sent in pursuit. The smugglers reached
the shore, and were in the act of carrying the whisky inland, when they
were overtaken, and the spirits seized. Before the cutter's men could
return to their boat, a number of the islanders collected, attacked
them, and attempted to rescue the spirits. A dreadful scuffle ensued,
in the course of which, two men and a woman were shot dead on the
spot, and a boy and a girl wounded. The two men killed are named
M'Kinnon, a father and son ; and the woman's name is Isabel Nichol.
9th September 1817.—This day, John Jeffrey, mate of the Prince
Edward revenue cutter, was brought to trial in Edinburgh, on an
indictment, charging him with having landed a party of the crew of
the said cutter on the island of Arran, in the month of March last,
in search of smuggled whisky, part of which he seized, and that he
commanded his party to fire upon the people who assembled on that
occasion, by which two men and one woman were mortally wounded,
and died soon after. After an impartial investigation, from which
it clearly appeared that the conduct of Mr. Jeffrey, who had been
> The Edinburgh Advertiser, October 1796, vol. C6, No. 3426 (Ayr, October 22).