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gameraboy2 · 11 months

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Sneak it Through: Smuggling Made Easier by Michael Connor, 1984

#sneak it through #smuggling #michael connor #1984 #1980s #vintage

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deepwaterwritingprompts · 20 days

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Deep Water Prompt #3250

I smuggle ships carrying stolen goods past the patrolled part of the river. There is a second river, deep underground, deadly and rife with wild magic but free of guards and checkpoints.

#creative writing #writing prompt #ships #smuggling #rivers #worldbuilding

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clove-pinks · 12 days

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'A smuggler shown at different stages and points of his chosen profession', 19th century coloured etching (Wellcome Collection).

Odd choice to depict "The Smuggler's Death" at bottom centre followed by "The Smuggler's Return," when reading left to right. No matter what direction you go, death is but a temporary obstacle in his career.

#age of sail #smuggling #maritime history #you expect to see a life of crime punished in this type of print #but actually he's immortal

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pratchettquotes · 6 months

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I'VE NEVER BEEN VERY SURE ABOUT WHAT IS RIGHT, said Bill Door. I AM NOT SURE THERE IS SUCH A THING AS RIGHT. OR WRONG. JUST PLACES TO STAND.

"No, right's right and wrong's wrong," said Miss Flitworth. "I was brought up to tell the difference."

BY A CONTRABANDISTOR.

"A what?"

A MOVER OF CONTRABAND.

"There's nothing wrong with smuggling!"

I MERELY POINT OUT THAT SOME PEOPLE THINK OTHERWISE.

"They don't count!"

Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

#DEATH #bill door #miss flitworth #reaper man #discworld #terry pratchett #philosophy #morality #ethics #right and wrong #good and bad #certainty #relative #smuggling #contrabandistor #places to stand #they don't count

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vox-anglosphere · 1 year

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Few fishing villages are as picturesque as Polperro in Cornwall

#Polperro #Cornwall #English villages #fishing port #seacoast #pirates #smuggling #sailboats #harbour #coastline #scenery

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ammg-old2 · 10 months

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In the last decade, cacti have exploded in popularity, becoming a mainstay of hipster decor around the world – from the homes of China’s growing middle class and the meticulous cactus gardens in Japan to the fashionable cafes of Europe.

In the US alone, sales of cacti and succulents surged 64% between 2012 and 2017; a market that is now estimated to be worth tens of millions. But rising demand has met a thorny problem: cacti are extremely slow-growing, with some species taking decades to grow from seed to full maturity. Hence, many opt for the shortcut: pulling them right out of the ground.

For land managers and scientists who work with cacti, the problem appears to be on the rise. While the precise scale is difficult to measure, and catching thieves red-handed in remote deserts is nearly impossible, major busts offer clues. In 2014, more than 2,600 stolen cacti were seized at US borders – up from 411 just a year before. But law enforcement officials and field scientists say that data represents only a tiny fraction of cactus actually being stolen.

“When I first started we rarely investigated cactus theft,” said one US Fish and Wildlife Service detective, who asked not to be named due to the undercover nature of his work. He has covered the south-west region for more than a decade and says the problem is increasing. “Now we are prosecuting cases involving thousands of plants at a time. The demand is so high that I fear we can’t stop the illegal trade going on.”

While many plants fall victim to underground cactus cartels, a seemingly more benign form of theft has become part of the problem, too. International visitors who come to the south-west specifically to view rare cactus in the wild sometimes take a souvenir home, and social media is exacerbating the problem.

“We’ve had Austrian, German and Italian collectors express strong interest on social media for these plants and they share GPS coordinates,” said Wendell “Woody” Minnich, the former president of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. “Some of these people come to steal, especially when a new species is identified. They hide the plants in their suitcase and take them back to their greenhouse in Europe.”

Minnich, 71, has been a cactus grower and nursery operator in New Mexico for 50 years. He said the internet had significantly accelerated theft of rare, slow-growing cactus species over the last decade. A case in point: Sclerocactus havasupaiensis, which is native to one drainage at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was being auctioned on eBay in early January by a seller in Ukraine. It was just one of more than 365 internationally protected plant species that are openly traded on Amazon and eBay.

“Do a Google search on Sclerocactus and you can find people in Russia selling them,” said Minnich. “I have been on public lands in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado where years ago Sclerocactus were everywhere, and recently I found just a bunch of little holes in the ground.”

#environmentalism #ecology #botany #plants #cacti #national parks #crime #theft #smuggling #usa #saguaro #sclerocactus havasupaiensis

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newyorkthegoldenage · 5 months

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Brooklyn's leading rum runner, Vannie Higgins, and 36 of his men were caught by Treasury agents off of Clifton, Staten Island, December 1, 1931, as they were running in through the Verrazano Narrows in a converted British minelayer. But they had missed their supply ship in the night fog, so the U.S. Attorney's office had no option but to let them go.

Photo: Associated Press

#vintage New York #1930s #bootleggers #rum runners #Prohibition #Volstead Act #Dec. 1 #1 Dec.#vintage Staten Island #vintage NYC #smuggling

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mythical-mushrooms13 · 6 months

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ancientorigins · 1 year

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Some of the most infamous pirate tales that fascinate us were set in ports that served as a hub for the black market and as secret strongholds.

#pirates #privateer #strongholds #marauders #black market #smuggling #ships #ports #ancient #ancient origins #history

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dougielombax · 11 days

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Who would try smuggling a beehive through an airport?!

Why?

What for?!

#dougie rambles #personal stuff #no context #beehive #bees #save the bees #airport #smuggling #hypothetical #shitpost #sort of #i think

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onionmaester · 10 months

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Davos Seaworth: A Lifetime of Smuggling

An aspect of Davos' backstory which I do not believe I have seen discussed much, likely because to my knowledge it appears to have only been brought up fairly briefly, is the age of which Davos first became involved in illegal smuggling and the potential implications of this own his character, backstory and general morality.

The first time he had seen the Wall he had been younger than Devan, serving aboard the Cobblecat under Roro Uhoris, a Tyroshi known up and down the narrow sea as the Blind Bastard, though he was neither blind nor baseborn. Roro had sailed past Skagos into the Shivering Sea, visiting a hundred little coves that had never seen a trading ship before. He brought steel; swords, axes, helms, good chainmail hauberks, to trade for furs, ivory, amber, and obsidian.

Here Davos is shown reflecting on his experiences while serving upon the Cobblecat, which was the first ship he served on, and notes he saw the wall during this time and was "younger than Devan" at this point.

“My son is not quite twelve. I am the King’s Hand. Give me another letter, if you would.”

In this same chapter, Davos remarks that Devan is "not quite twelve", therefore indicating that Davos was presumably no older than eleven himself (at the maximin) when he first joined the crew of the Cobblecat. We do not know much of Davos' childhood prior to this, but it is known that he grew up in Flea Bottom which is the poorest slum of King's Landing.

The HBO show does state he is a "Crabber's son" (for the record though I have only ever seen clips of the show) but this does not appear to be mentioned anywhere in the books. Instead we get this;

“That may be so,” Davos said, “but when I was a boy in Flea Bottom begging for a copper, sometimes the septons would feed me.”

So we know young Davos was a beggar, so likely not from a family with any stable employment or means to support themselves. When Davos' family is brought up, only his wife and sons are mentioned. He is never alluded to having living parents, siblings, cousins etc. Given his family-oriented nature, one might also expect he'd be at least a bit guilty if he had abandoned any family to join the Cobblecat's crew (although granted it has been decades). So while I do not think its outright stated that Davos is an orphan, it seems likely.

I feel the reason why this might be important to note, and why it might have some notable implications, is because it shows how and why Davos became involved in smuggling in the first place. One criticism I have seen of Davos' character a few times is that he does not necessarily feel like the type of man who'd break the law for profit for many years, as he is one of the most morally upright and honest characters in ASOIAF.

While I do think these criticisms have some merit, I also think that there is nothing about being a criminal which necessarily means Davos would prevent Davos from being a generally moral man. This is especially the case in Westeros, which is a highly stratified feudal society where the commons have little protection or upward morbility.

On this same note; there is also another thing worth mentioning when considering the time Davos become a smuggler... the tenure of Tywin Lannister as Hand of the King.

A Wiki of Ice and Fire calculates Davos' birthdate as being no later than 260, although notes that Davos was likely born a few years earlier. Tywin was Aerys' hand from 262–281 AC, and one of his famed actions is removing the pro-smallfolk reforms. I've seen this theorised as contributing to the eventual rise of the Kingswood Brotherhood and their initial popularity with the smallfolk.

So judging by what we know; Davos was born into extreme poverty in a society in which distinctions between classes are part of the law, and likely grew up during a time where the rights and conditions of commoners were being taken away and decreased.

I do not mean to claim Davos is free of fault; he has cheated on his life, he associates with morally ambiguous folk such as Salladhor Saan (A pirate who has no scruples with pillaging innocent civilians) or Stannis Baratheon (a very fascinating character as well).

But I do think this history and context could be worth noting to inform how Davos grew up, and how he is the man that he is. He got into smuggling when he was young enough to possibly not fully grasp the implication of this, and likely continued all those years because smuggling was his main skill-set to support himself, and later his family.

Transitioning to being a legitimate merchant would likely carry a number of obstacles; having to explain where he gained his wealth and cargo he'd have to sell at first, paying tariffs, making himself more well-known to authorities which could risk his old crimes being uncovered and making it easier to arrest him for them. I do not think it is a contradiction between Davos generally being good-natured, but also continuing to do the (dishonest) job he is best at. Especially when his commitment to his family is such a major part of his character that it also likely was why he continued the job of a smuggler to support them.

#davos seaworth #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf analysis #asoiaf theory #stannis baratheon #house seaworth #smuggling #salladhor saan #tywin lannister #aerys ii targaryen #cobblecat #Roro Uhoris #devan seaworth

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marryat92 · 11 months

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"A famed smuggler, Will Watch, kissed his Sue": an illustration from Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties collected by W.B. Whall, Master Mariner (Internet Archive).

According to Whall, "Will Watch" dates from "probably about 1820," and Captain Marryat quotes the lyrics in The King's Own at the start of chapter 13, identifying it as "sea song":

Through the haze of the night a bright flash now appearing,

“Oh, ho!” cried Will Watch, “the Philistines bear down;

Bear a hand, my tight lads, ere we think about sheering,

One broadside pour in, should we swim, boys, or drown.”

Sea Song.

“Now, Willy, what do you think of La Belle Susanne?” said McElvina, as they stood on the pier, about a stone’s throw from the vessel, which lay with her broadside towards them. Not that McElvina had any opinion of Willy’s judgment, but, from the affectionate feeling which every sailor imbibes for his own ship, he expected gratification even in the admiration of a child.

— Frederick Marryat, The King's Own

It is perhaps noteworthy that the smuggler McElvina (also spelled M'Elvina) is romantically linked with his own Sue, eventually marrying her.

#frederick marryat #captain marryat #sea songs #shanties #age of sail #will watch #the king's own #british literature #ships sea songs and shanties #w b whall #smuggling #smugglers #illustration

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workersolidarity · 5 months

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🇺🇦 🚨 ⚠️

UKRAINIAN MEDIA REPORTING A THIRD OF ALL HUMANITARIAN AID SENT TO UKRAINE REMAINS UNACCOUNTED FOR

According to reports in Ukrainian media, the State Customs service of Ukraine has said that around a third of all Humanitarian Aid intended for 200 military units did not reach their intended recipient after clearing customs.

“During 9 months of 2023, as a result of the joint measures of the Department for Combating Smuggling and Customs Violations of the State Customs Service and the Department of Internal Audit of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, more than 9,000 instances of the movement of humanitarian aid goods intended for 200 military units were checked,” the agency is quoted as saying.

In the course of their operations, the state agency was able to establish more than 3'000 cases where deliveries to military units went unconfirmed.

Another 387 reports indicating possible criminal action were filed by the agency and 320 protocols alleging violations of customs rules for humanitarian aid intended for military units were also filed.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews