Evening star., 1924-08-17
MARINE CABARET
PUZZLES OFFICIALS
Federal Authorities Seek
Identity of Floating
Booze Emporium.
by the Associated Press.

By the Assoclated Iress.
| NEW YORK. August I6.--Federal
| authorities tonight moved to learn
| the identity of the 11.000-ton sea
| going booze palace" which was re-
! ported today by the HeraldTribune
to be cruising off the 12-mile limit
dispensing pre-prohibition concoc-
tions to wealthy land lubbers.
| Little stock was taken. however, in
| the newspaper reporters evidence
that the huge passenger ship on
which he told of having spent night
in the company of gay and liberal
drinkers-men and women-was the
former North German Lloyd liner
Friedrich der Crosse.
The description OF the vessel. her
dimensions and equipment, Tailed
| more closely, said the authorities.
with that of the North German Lloyd
built liner kronprinz Wilhelm. which
was interned during the war. became
| an American transport, was renamed
the Won Steuben and disappeared
from official records last March IA,
when the Shipping Board sold her at
Baltimore for scrapping purposes.
Plenty of time has interviewed since
March for the undisclosed owners of
the Won Steuben to have overhauled
her and installed the glimmering bar,
! cabaret and hotel accommodations
| described by the news reporter, au-
thorities pointed out. AT the same
time they declared there was ample
| evidence that the Friederich der
Crosse. a smaller vessel, was burned
in the Pacific last year while sailing
under the postwar name. City of
Honolulu. Officials disagreed as to
the extent of the Governments juris-
diction over the floating saloon. or
those wealthy visitors from shore
who went by power boat. rum runner
or private yacht to partake of the
mystery ships conviviality.
Would Appeal to Government.
Capt. w. v. E. Jacobs, commander
OF the Coast Guard. New York dis
trict, announced he had started an
investigation to establish the iden-
tity Of the craft. Then, he said, the
Government under whose nag she is
registered-the news reporter said
the British fiag-would be called upon
to suppress the vessels activities.
Furthermore, said Capt Jacobs, the
Coast Guard could arrest, fine and
reprimand on charges Of going for
eign" the crew and passengers of any
small boat that crossed the 12-miIe
limit in the direction of the mystery
ship. Should the small boat be picked
up in the vicinity of the "deep-sea
emporium" said Capt. Jacobs. it's oc-
and more severely reprimanded for
being in communication with rum
smugglers.
Romaine Q. Merrick, divisional pro-
hibition chief for New York and
northern New Jersey. held an opposite
view of the Governments jurisdiction
over the doings of vessel outside
the 12-mile limit. He held, in fact,
that the Government held no juris-
diction. either over the cabaret ship
or those persons who braved the
bounding biilows in quest of it's booze
dispensary.
Doubts Part Of Story.
Although Capt. Jacobs took steps to
learn the identity of the unknown craft
aboard which the newspaper man got
his thrills, he continued to disbeIieve
that such craft actually had been
serenely entertaining guests of Fire Is
land for more than a month, as report
ed. Coast guardsmen, patroling from
Cape Cod to Cape May had never seen
or encountered such saltwater oasis,
he declared.
The captain advanced a theory that
the vessel described was a member of
the permanent Jersey coast rum fleet,
and that its skipper, bored by dull times
on the row, might have held occasional
receptions of Fire Island for rum
running patrons, bootleggers and their
guests. Such parties were becoming
common among vessels of rum row, said
Capt. Jacobs.
The news reporters description, how
ever. was not of bootleggers' party.
He told of engaging passage, with sew
eral other men with feminine COM
panions. on a high-powered launch
bound for the nameiees ship whose huge
lights by night had mystified the resi-
dents Of Long Island. The reporter told
how the speedboat was disabled in
deep water. how she fioated helplessly
for hours, and how, finally. her pas
sengers were rescued by another speed
ster, which, with a merry party of
wealthy ones, also was bound toward
the floating cabaret" He told of
boarding the huge craft at last, Of pay
ing a IS cover charge and IS for q
CONTINUED On PaSs ., Column 81