Ship Model, Rum-Runner Launches <i>Viola</i> and <i>Ruby</i>, ca 1930
date: label: date made
content: 1962
notes: label: Description
content: These two models represent launches, a type of motorboat used during Prohibition to smuggle liquor. Using crates filled with hay, liquor bottles were disguised as hams and stored in the holds of the launch. The <i>Viola</i> and <i>Ruby</i> smuggled goods from supply ships to the shore. Rumrunners were fast, with speeds up to 30 knots, and quiet, with movable exhaust pipes which could be lowered underwater to muffle the sound. The <i>Viola</i> and the <i>Ruby</i> were powered by single-screw Sterling Viking gasoline engines. Both launches were built in Essex, CT around 1930, and were 55 feet long and 11 feet wide. The models were built in 1962 from the designer’s plans by Major John W. Moroney of the U.S. Air Force.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Maritime
label: Subject
content: Prohibition
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Transportation
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content: Ship Models
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.319929
label: catalog number
content: 319929
label: accession number
content: 241523
objectType: label: Object Name
content: boat
label: Object Name
content: launch, rigged model
label: Other Terms
content: boat; Maritime; Rum Runner