Just as was the case at Looe the chief pursuits of Polperro men in the period from about 1750 to 1835 were only somewhat remotely connected with fishing, smuggling and privateering being much more to the taste of these hardy and reckless seafarers; and, as Mr Couch points out, the place was made for the enterprise. How universal the pursuit of smuggling was at Polperro may be gathered from the following extracts: “The smith left his forge, and the husbandman his plough; even the women and children turned out to assist in the unlawful traffic, and received their share of the proceeds.” The men, at all events, generally fell into two classes--“tub carriers,” who carried the “tubs” up the beach to the “cache,” or inland, as the case might be, slung back and front by the “tails”[F] provided for the purpose on the other side of the Channel; and the “batmen.” The former were paid five shillings and upwards a night according to the number of “tubs” they succeeded in carrying, and the latter, who gained their name from the “bat” or bludgeon which they carried and on occasion used for the protection of the carriers, were paid from fifteen shillings to a pound. [F] Pieces of rope secured round each end of the “tub” for this purpose and also for use should it be necessary to sling the “tubs” overboard to avoid capture.--_Smuggling Days and Smuggling Ways._ Of the speed and seaworthiness of the craft built at Polperro there have been left several testimonies. Here is one from the _History of Polperro_: “Fine craft too they turned out--clippers which, when manned by skilful and intrepid sailors, would scud away from the fastest of the Government cruisers and offer them a tow rope in derision.” One famous craft, the _Unity_, is said to have made five hundred successful trips, and have served on privateering expeditions without having met with a single serious misadventure. Such boats were, doubtless, also the notorious smuggling craft, the _Hope_, _Cruizer_, _Exchange_, and _Happy Brothers_, all of Polperro, and constantly engaged in trips to Roscoff in the first decade of the last century. Several of them were heavily armed as well as strongly manned, and there is little wonder that the “preventives” in this part of the west country were sometimes lax in the exercise of their duty, and lived for the most part on pretty good terms with the fisherfolk who were engaged in the contraband trade.