Evening star., 1924-05-08
BY BEN McKELwAY,

Stormy weather keeps tho rum-run-
ners and the Seminole idle several
days. but, clearing, we make a rendez-
vous or Block Island with the coast
guard tug Acushnet, which is patrol
ling the waters around Marthas Vino
yard, Nantucket and Woods Hole The
Acushnet brings news of a new rum
fleet of sixteen vessels anchored
twenty four miles off the coast south
east OF Block Island Six steamers.
four British, one from Panama and
one from Norway, and ten British
schooners compose this fleet. This Is
the farthest from shore any rum fleet
has chosen to anchor. They're safe
from seizure under any sort of treaty.
1t may make rum-running between
them and the shore q little more haz-
a,rdous. but that will only tend to
send up the price of bootleg liquor.
Where there's a will there's a way
and twenty-four miles won't stop rum
running, according to gossip in the
wardroom- Presence of this fleet
adds strength to the story that sea-
going tugs are now being used as
um-runners, and only that morning a
radio to the 'Old Man" said the Man
haitian, which relieved us of Sandy
Hook, caught a sea-going tug enter
ing New York harbor with 1,5oo cases
of liquor aboard. The tug she caught,
by the way, had been put under bond
twice before for carrying liquor.
The Seminole hauls up her anchor
next morning and starts for a thor
ough roundup of the feet of Mon
tauk Point The new fleet reported
by the Acushnet is not on the Semi
noles patrol. 1t would be a waste OF
time to bother with them now
Montnuk Point Fleet.
Two vessels have joined the Mon
tauk Point fleet since we passed that
way before. Now there are three
steamers and five schooners- Two
of the steamers are Norwegian and
ers are British. Coast guard vessels
on the rum feet patrol keep close tab
on what vessels leave and which ones
join the fleets, and the reports are
radioed in code to division headquar-
ters in New York Today the Old
carefully. They are anchored any
where from half mile to six miles
apart, and the Seminole inspects each
one by sailing close alongside
The cutters coming seems to break
the monotony of life aboard ships
of the rum fleet 1t must be a
monotonous life Anchored sometimes
as long as six months, with little to
do but clean ship and wait for a
rum-runner to come aboard and buy
a cargo, a sailors life in the rum
fleet is nothing to braG about The
schooners have supplies brought from
Halifax or the Bahamas by steamers.
which mako regular business OF
providing Rum Row with necessities
of life. There's a story of a mutiny
not long ago on Rum Row, when the
men demanded higher pay or to oe
put ashore. The Seminole, one day
last winter, came upon a burning
schooner and took off her officers
and crew. She was in Rum Row and
the schooner had been set afire in
when she sighted the cut
ter afar off, if the signs were right
There's another tale of an abandoned
schooner, found near the row with
blood-sm cared decks and dead man
or two, but maybe its only d sailors
yarn. 1t couldn't be verified.
Sailors Wave Bottles.
AS we pass through the fleet the
men aboard the rum ships crowd the
rails and wave Some of them give
US the merry ha-ha, waving quart
OF taking a. long swiE, rubbing their
tummies and giving other evidence
of great and unbounded enjoyment
One fellow dances a jig for our
benefit as we pass, while another
Imprudently thumbs his nose and goes
below. But the mmies, they say,
are not unfriendly to The cutters.
and newspaper men who have gone
aboard and visited some of the ships
in the row say they like 10 see
cutter come around once in a while.
Perhaps this is because some sign
that there's law and order somewhere
is always welcomed in d community
where there's nothing to enforce
either. There was never such a gold
en- opportunity for piracy, the
gossip goes. If bunch of New York
gunner can hold up a bank and
get away with it In broad day, it's
hard to see what's to prevent a squad
Of them coming aboard a rum
schooner one OF these fine nights
and making a regular haul There
wouldn't be any detectives hunting
for them, either But there seems
to be no authentic information con-
corning piracy, although there's
plenty of gossip.
We pass through the feet and
head south once more for New York