GOING back nearly 150 years ago a strange incident was sparked by the keen rivalry among shipping agents when foreign vessels arrived to Greenock.

So great was the competition that as soon as a foreign ship was reported at the Tail of the Bank, what the Telegraph described as “a perfect shoal of accredited agents, or runners” proceeded in separate rowing boats towards her in order to get on board first to secure the captain’s commission to conduct the vessel’s business while in port.

On 31 May 1869, a schooner called the Amieitia arrived from Malaga in Spain, but before Customs officers had time to board her, four agents had reached her decks and were delivering their sales pitches to the captain.

The senior Customs officer discovered the vessel had not received a clean bill of health from the British Consul and she was immediately ordered into quarantine.

The agents were informed that on no account would they be allowed on shore again until the vessel was relieved of quarantine.

One of the runners jumped into his boat to return to port but he was pursued by the Customs vessel and put back on board. Another runner did the same thing. Not only did this gentleman reach the shore but he took refuge in his own house.

The Customs officers were not to be thwarted and this agent was removed from his home and put back on board the schooner again.

The two would-be escapees and the other two agents accepted they might be held on the ship for some time and sent ashore for food and drink. That afternoon the Customs officers dispatched a telegram to London for instructions and the following morning were allowed to remove the Amieitia from quarantine.

The runners were given their liberty at noon. The agent who got ashore the previous day was brought before the authorities.

He received a severe warning about his future conduct but got off lightly, as the maximum penalty for breaking quarantine was a fine of £300 or six months in jail.

The Telegraph reported that a number of captains of smaller vessels often left foreign ports without a clean bill of health to save the 10 shillings (50p in new money) charged in fees.

But it was a false saving as if subsequently put into quarantine at a British port they had to pay the cost of telegrams sent by the Customs and the Order of Liberation, plus there was the sailing time lost while the vessel was in detention.