In 1856 the establishment of the Sunderland Custom House was a Comptroller, a Landing Surveyor, six clerks, five searchers, thirty lockers, weighers, and tide-waiters, four tide-surveyors, and one messenger. A Locker was an officer at the Custom House, in charge of a locked-up warehouse, acting under the warehouse-keeper. A Tide-waiter was a customs officer who awaited the arrival of ships (formerly coming in with the tide), and boarded them to prevent evasion of the Custom House regulations, they were supervised by a Tide-surveyor. Surprisingly there are no landing-waiters mentioned, it seems that at time the Landing Surveyor was, in effect, the assistant comptroller. Stan