Marconi 7/8 Watt VHF Telephone Equipment Type HP55 & HP56 (VHF) as purchased for Waterguard use on the Land Boundary in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

 

 

 

To see the full specification select the 'button' below.

::: Marconi type HP55 & HP56 Radios :::

The Waterguard used a special tape, made by Rabone Chesterman Ltd. and supplied by the Board of Trade, calibrated in feet and tenths, to measure the space occupied by a vessel's deck cargo.

 

 

 

 

To see the tape in use, select the 'button' below.

::: Deck Cargo Measurement :::

Waterguard staff at airports were exposed to high levels of noise, particularly from jet engines. During the 1960's the Commissioners took this seriously and made arrangements for the issue of Ear Defenders for use on the tarmac.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Inspector General of Waterguard's consideration of the need for Ear Defenders in August 1963, can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right.	::: The need for 'Ear Defenders' - Aug 1963 :::
The Inspector General of Waterguard's September 1963 reply to the Welfare Officer about the need for Ear Defenders can be seen by selecting the 'button' on the right.	::: The need for 'Ear Defenders' - Sept 1963 :::

Ear plugs issued about 1967 at London Airport after audiometric test at the BOAC Medical Centre.

Assistant Preventive Officers on rummage duties, either with a Station Crew or with a Mobile Crew, were issued with a pair of boiler suits, a set of tools, a holster and a 'heavy duty' attaché case. Officers often augmented this official issue with a 'ships issue' torch, additional screwdrivers and wrenches.

 

 

 

Shown in this painting - 'Memories of Rummage' by Lukman Sinclair - in addition to a Preventive Officers uniform jacket and cap, is an attaché case with shoulder strap containing some seized King Edward cigars, an extending, adjustable mirror, an official gas proof torch, a leather belt and holster containing a spanner, jemmy and two screwdrivers. Also shown is a brass seal on a chain.

Drug Detection Dogs were introduced during the late 1960s. The dogs were trained, and remained, the property of the RAF - they had their own 'pay book'! The handlers were Customs & Excise Assistant Officers who were also trained by the RAF.

The dog shown working here is 'Max', a Springer Spanial, depicted on a 54p postage stamp.

 

Contrary to widespread public belief, these dogs are NOT drug addicted. The cost of training them runs into thousands of pounds - how valuable is a drug addict!

Extending from about 1 foot to about 3 feet with the mirror mounted on a short 'ball and socket' arm, this was official issue  to all APOs on rummage duties in the 1960/70's. This very versatile tool, in conjunction with a well aimed torch, allowed the user to see underneath of, over the top of, down the side of and inside of cramped and awkward spaces.

Top left - The Guardian Hand Lamp, made by Forster Equipment Co. Ltd of Whetstone, Leicester, was replaced by a cylindrical model in 1927 but was still being issued for rummage duties at LAP in the late 1960's and early 1970's!

Top right. - The 'official issue' rummage torch of the 1960's was the Stabex - SA 622 - supplied by SA Equipment Ltd and made of grey and red plastic. They were safety torches and relied on the switch pushing on the plastic casing to operate the connectors inside. This resulted in a very unreliable set-up and many hours wasted taking them apart and putting little bits of packing under the slider. The switch was held on with three screws which were then covered by grey plastic plugs. Above the switch was another plastic plug that covered the lock for the head part of the torch. To gain access to the batteries and the bulb, it was necessary to prise out the plug and use a key - circular with one flat side making a 'D' shape - to unlock it. New torches were supplied with one key and a plastic plug 'tree'.

Middle left - However, despite official condemnation, the post-WWII rummage crews favoured the two or three cell, gas-proof versions of the American made Bright Star torch. It was more reliable, the switch was more robust, the key to the battery and bulb compartment was triangular and everybody else in the world used and trusted it. Although these could be purchased from Shimwell Alexander & Co of Shadwell, London - the sole importer and distributor in the UK - most of those used by Waterguard Officers were obtained on board ships - donated by friendly Chief Engineers! Incidentally, there were rumours that the department would not supply Bright Stars because the company wanted to advertise the fact that they were supplied to HM Customs & Excise.

Middle right - An image of another - but non-gas proof - version of the Bright Star torch often used by the Waterguard Officers whilst rummaging in non-hazardous areas.

Bottom - An official issue spare torch bulb holder. Made of a very strong non-ferrous metal and over engineered for its purpose, it keept a rummage officer's spare torch bulbs safe and ready for use.

 

 

The lead seal shown here is said to date from the reign of Queen Mary - 19 July 1553 – 17 November 1558

 

These items were issued on a personal basis to Preventive Officers and above. Made of brass and kept on a chain attached to the officer's person, they were uniquely numbered and marked with the name of the port where they were issued.

The seal was impressed into hot wax which when covering the cork in a bottle, the knot in a piece of string or tape tied between two hasps, or around a paper parcel, or through two holes drilled in a door and door jam, made a secure, but fragile if tampered with, security barrier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Left - Brass seal - Waterguard No 107 for the Port of London

Top Right - Brass seal - Waterguard No 435 for the Port of Alloa

Middle Left - Brass seal - Waterguard No 2037 for  London Airport

Middle Right - Brass seal - Customs No 3 for the Port of Rochester

Lower Middle Left - Brass seal with an older style chain and securing tab

Lower Middle Right - Brass seal with a newer style chain and securing tab

Bottom Left - Tape and wax seal impressed with a Manchester brass seal

Where the use of matches to melt the wax was forbidden - such as aboard oil tankers, or where the sealed item would be subjected to rough handling - such as aircraft bar boxes, the wax was replaced with drilled lead plombs through which the string or tape was passed and knotted. With the knot inside the lead the seal was impressed in the lead with special pliers.

The tape or string is passed through the hasps or the holes in whatever is to be sealed - the loop on the left of the picture - then through two openings in the plomb - on the left of the picture - and out of the single opening in the plomb. A knot is tied in the tape or string - on the right of the picture - and the ends of the tape or string are passed back through the plomb. The knot is then pulled into the plomb and the Plombing Press applied sealing the knot inside.

Later, the drilled lead plomb and the string or tape were replaced by a 'captive' lead plomb. The 'captive' plomb had a wire 'tail' - a single straight wire with another length of wire coiled around it - which was passed through the hasps, or through two holes drilled in a door and door jam, and back through the lead plomb before the latter was 'pressed' with the plombing press, or sealing iron, impressing the seal in the lead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Row Left - A 'plombing iron' and a 'captive' lead plomb

Top Row Right - A drilled lead plomb with string

2nd. Row - Lead Seal obverse and reverse - Preston No 25

3rd. Row - Lead Seal obverse and reverse - Newry No 1

Bottom Row - Lead Seal obverse and reverse - Portsmouth No 3

The Measuring Cylinder was filled with liquor to be tested to the '125' mark and the temperature taken and recorded before the hydrometer was placed in the liquor and the reading taken.

The Sikes Hydrometer was used by Waterguard Officers to assess the alcoholic strength of any liquor presented, or detected, during passenger or crew baggage examination. Some spirits, such as rum, had the indicated strength reduced to compensate for any colouring or sweetening held in solution in the liquid. This was calculated in degrees of 'obscuration'.

It first came in to use in 1805 after the Board of Excise held a competition to find a better instrument than Clarke's hydrometer for revenue purposes. The winning design was that of Bartholomew Sikes, a peripatetic London employee of the Excise Commissioners. Sikes's hydrometer was enshrined in legislation in 1816 with the Sikes Hydrometer Act and remained the legal standard until 1907 - although they remained in common use until 1980 as an accurate method of determining alcohol proof or percentage strength and therefore the correct amount of duty to be charged.

 

 

 

 

 

Shown here, top right - in the left hand compartment - is an excellent example made of gilded brass. The mahogany case is padded with velvet to hold the instrument which consists of the hydrometer itself, 10 weights, an ivory backed mercury thermometer and a set of ivory slide rules.

Shown here, bottom right - is an example, made of gilded brass in a mahogany case containing a hydrometer and 10 weights, an ivory backed mercury thermometer and a book of Tables to be Used with the Sykes Hydrometer.

The Salter company produced spring balances that were issued to the Waterguard for weighing goods 'in the field'. These spring balances were calibrated in 1oz divisions to weigh goods up to a total of 8lbs and were used to calculate the amount of duty payable on items that attracted specific rates of duty.

Weights so determined for items where the weight was disputed or for goods which were subject to detention or seizure, were checked on official scales to establish a more accurate weight.

This Edwardian brass whistle with an Edward VII Customs 'button' image on the side, measures 48mm x 20mm across at the mouthpiece.