pirates had very much been dealt with by then -the Royal Navy and the ships's yardarms saw to that. There were privateers which were licensed private vesells armed and allowed to prey on merchant shipping of the enemy (generally french) - ended post Napoleonic wars.
There was small scale smuggling from Man to the adjacent islands from 1765 onwards - but by 1840s tarriffs had been aligned so no profit

Are you possibly thinking of the 18th C ?