The Phantom Chips

The Phantom Chips: The 1740s Corporate Smuggling Ring Inside Deptford DockyardWhen we look back at mid-eighteenth-century Deptford, we usually think of a bustling, proud hub of imperial craftsmanship. But behind the towering brick walls of the Royal Dockyard lay a shadow economy of immense proportions.In the 1740s, a series of explosive Admiralty investigations and Old Bailey trials blew the lid off a sophisticated, highly organized smuggling and embezzlement ring.It did not involve rogue pirates creeping up the creek at midnight. Instead, it was an "inside job" operated by the very shipwrights, gatekeepers, and officers trusted to build the King's navy.The Loophole of the "Chips"To understand how this massive smuggling operation functioned, you have to look at a traditional, centuries-old perk known as "The Privilege of Chips." By royal decree, dockyard shipwrights and caulkers were legally allowed to carry out a bundle of waste wood—refuse scraps called "chips"—under their arms…

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