Hi Amy Regret I can't come up with a book for that period - the organised smuggling gangs that had operated in the earlier in the century had been long broken up and I would've thought that apart from a little part time smuggling by a few of the local fishermen etc life would have been pretty quiet in that respect and that your ggf would have been more involved in coast watching and ensuring that no harm came to any of the many vessels that passed through that sometimes very dangerous stretch of water so close to the Needles at the East end of the Solent - where many a disaster has taken place in bad weather. The PRO provides a brief, but interesting and useful leaflet on the subject of the coast guard at: http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/ExternalRequest.asp?RequestReference=ri2044 I'm trying to think of the name of a lady who specialises in researching coast guard's careers, but her name escapes me at the present - perhaps someone else on the list can remember or has it jotted down somewhere. Regards Paul On Sat, 18 Jan 2003 22:34:37 -0000, "wiles123" <[email protected]> wrote: >Hi, I wonder if anyone knows where I can find information on coastguards in Lymington, Hampshire. Any names of books etc would be very helpful. My ggrandfather was coastguard in 1893. >Thanks >Amy 50.33.50N 02.26.70W