Evening star., 1924-05-05
BY BEN McKELWAY.

Right little, sir"
Left little
Left a little, sir
Ease her-now, keep ner steady.
AYE, aye, sir-steady she is, sir"
Thump of the engines below, whis-
tie of the wind above, chattering
murmur of waters cut by sharp Prov,
and the United States coast guard
cutter Seminole sneaks out of her
Staten Island berth and gathers a
bone in her teeth as she slips through
the Narrows and heads for a snug
anchorage somewhere inside Sandy
Hook. Cold rain, driven by a stiff
nor'easter. pelts and stings like nee
dies. New York's bunched-up sky
line, dirty and smudgy through the
haze, fades astern. The sea is choppy
and whitecapped, and the Seminole
wallows a bit as she leaves the har-
bor and gets the fun force of wind
from the sea.
Cold and sloppy on the bridge; but
snug and warm aft in the capln
where the Old Man sits and smokes
a weather-beaten pipe and between
puffs talks of rum smugglers. III the
wind keeps up the sea will be run
ming high before might, and it's al
ready pretty nasty off the Hook
Therell be considerable cuSsin, II
the Old Man knows what he's talking
about, when the "rummies" anchored
along the row get the weather bu-
reaus radioed storm warning. Some
Of the small schooners viii weigh
anchor and head for the open sea,
where there's plenty of elbow room
to weather il out. The heavier steam
ers will lengthen their cables and
ride out the blow. But therell be no
rum-running this afternoon or eve
ming. The rum runners, with their
small craft, won't take a chance at
trying to pull alongside ship that's
heaving and pitching like snorting
horse. How that wind blows, and
she's getting worse every minute!
No need to go out on day like TINS
when we can ride it out behind the
Hook The Old Man presses button
and tells the quartermaster to notify
the officer of the deck to pick out a
nice place to lee'ard, and pretty soon
the engines cease their throb and the
windlass clanks as she tolls out the
chain, and we ride at anchor.
Not Built for Speed.
The cutter Seminole is starting on
her weekly tour of duty off Rum Row.
Her patrol extends from Block Island
on the north TO the New York Harbo
approaches on the south. Her job is
to keep the rum vessels anchored
outside the three mile limit from
getting their cargoes ashore, and she
has her hands full. Designed before
the days of prohibition and Rum Row
she was built for Sc. ice in heavy
seas, rescuing ships in distress. She
wasn't meant for speea. she'll cruise
along steadily and do her eight knots
an hour, and under forced draft she ii
pick up fourteen or maybe fifteen
knots. But her enemy, the rum
mics" have small and speedy craft
which shoot through the water like
streaks of lightning. guaranteed
many of them. to do thirty knots an
hour. In a chase the rummy viii
leave the Seminole far behind. But
the Seminole has certain advantage
two 6-pounders, for instance, mount
knows how TO shoot and hit some
thing besides water. The game is
to get within gunshot Of rummy,
give him warning. and If he fails to
heave to, let him have ii. The rummy
usually gives the Seminole plenty of
target practice. and it was only few
days later-but this is getting ahead
of the story.
Works n Rabbits Foot.
Our Old Man, a soft-spoken. red
haired Virginian. with something like
thirty years service behind him in
the coast guard, has been dealing
with rum-runners for many years
long before there was any Rum Row
off the Atlantic coast. He remembers
the time when hardy American trades
men smuggled their rum ashore on
the Alaskan coast and fed ii to igno-
rant Eskimos. Russian subjects.
There's nothing new in rum running,
nothing to get so worked up about,
he thinks, just because foreign yes
sells lie off our coast and send in their
Illicit cargoes in violation Of our
laws. The Old Man draws a word
picture of whole villages. men and
women, lying about on the ground,
dead drunk from smuggled American
rum. And after such spree half of
them died.
But the problem now is somewhat
different In those days coast guard
vessels had to proceed with caution
in arresting the smugglers. Inter
ference was sometimes construed in
Washington as interference with the
nations commerce. But today the
service has a free hand. The cutter
Seminole has full permission to cap
ture all the runners she can. No
body objects. There's praise for her,