A Feedback Loop in the Smuggling of Rum Based in Cumbrae, Scotland

South-west Scotland benefited greatly from slavery in the West Indies, especially by the production of sugar and rum on the plantations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. However, much of the produce entered Scotland through smuggling rather than by merchant shipping, and the economy of Ayrshire became strongly influenced by this local delivery of rum. In response, the revenue cutter for south-west Scotland, based in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, prevented smuggling where possible, and, in the process, its crew earned ‘prize’ money that made the officers very wealthy. In particular, the cutter’s mate was able to take out a large bond with merchants who invested the money into slave plantations in Jamaica, boosting the production of sugar and rum. The mate’s children inherited the wealth, and his son was able to become a slave owner on a Trinidad sugar plantation. This cycle of events constituted a positive feedback loop, which promoted further slavery and enhanced the production of rum.