"Mudlarks" were only small fry who hung about the stern quarters of ships at low water to receive and carry on shore any pickings they might secure. The "scuffle-hunters" resorted in large numbers to the wharves where goods were discharged, and laid hands upon any plunder they could find, chiefly the contents of broken packets, for which they fought and "scuffled." Before leaving this branch of depredation mention must be made of the plunder levied on his Majesty's Dockyards, the Naval Victualling and Ordnance Stores, which were perpetually pillaged, as were the warships, transports, and lighters in the Thames, Medway, Solent, and Dart. Over and above the peculations of employees, the frauds and embezzlements in surveys, certificates, and accounts, there was nearly wholesale pillage in such articles as cordage, canvas, hinges, bolts, nails, timber, paint, pitch, casks, beef, pork, biscuit, and indeed all kinds of stores. No definite figures are at hand giving the value of these robberies, but they must have reached an enormous total. "FENCES." The extensive robberies described above were, no doubt, greatly facilitated by the many means that existed for the disposal of the stolen goods. Never did the nefarious trade of the "receiver" flourish so widely as then. This, the most mischievous class of criminal, without whom the thief would find his calling hazardous and unproductive, was extraordinarily numerous at this period. There were several thousands in the Metropolis alone, a few of them no more than careless, asking no questions about the property brought to them for purchase, but the bulk of them distinctly criminal, who bought goods well knowing them to be stolen. Many had been thieves themselves, but had found "receiving" a less hazardous and more profitable trade; they followed ostensibly some reputable calling--kept coalsheds, potato warehouses, and chandler's shops--some were publicans, others dealt in secondhand furniture, old clothes, old iron, and rags, or were workers and refiners of gold and silver. These were the rank and file, the retailers, so to speak, who passed on what was brought to them to the wholesale "receivers," of whom at that time there were some fifty or sixty, opulent people many of them, commanding plenty of capital. These high-class operators had their crucibles and their furnaces always ready for melting down plate; they had extensive connections beyond sea for the disposal of valuables, especially of jewels, which were taken from their settings to prevent recognition.