Anonymous

One of the toughest crimes to fight during Prohibition was rum-running. Anybody with a boat could make a fast buck by smuggling alcohol in from Canada or the Bahamas (it was still legal to purchase alcohol there) to the United States. It is estimated that more than a million gallons of alcohol crossed into the country from Canada alone, by land and sea. There were not enough customs officials or Coast Guard cutters to cover the entire coastline and border. Nevertheless, rumrunners were caught or killed daily trying to outrun patrols. To the rumrunner, the risks were worth it, especially after 1929 when the Great Depression had put so many people out of work. The following selection is a firsthand account by the unnamed officer of a ship that was seized for rum-running.
I was in the rum-running business for a couple of...