THE RUM-RUNNER'S FORERUNNERS

Evening Star, Issue 19001, 24 July 1925, Page 10

THE RUM-RUNNER'S FORERUNNERS

TRICKS OF THF. FAST. ‘‘Old stuff,” it appears, is the art of smuggling liquor, and Rum Row's cleverest ingenuities merely repeat, those employed hy English adventurers of the eighteenth century, when high taxes on the stuff mode illicit importation a thriving trade. According to an article by Zcta Rothschild, who has gone deep into the lore of smuggling and smugglers, these old-time rumrunners hod boats whose “ oars and spars were hollowed out and filled with brandy.” Some of these vessels " masqueraded as fishing smacks,” and “carried a number of shrimping nets on board, with, the usual wooden handles; only this time the handles were hollowed out, so that, round tin cases could be filled into them. These tin cases held each 2k gallons of spirits.” Published in the New York ‘Herald Tribune.’ the article conlimies;

Boals specially made tor smuggling specialised in false parts, The smacks Fax and Lovely Lass had false bottoms, which could be "reached only from the outside. The kegs were loaded at low tide and unloaded at the same time. There was no way of entering this false section from the inside of the boat, and it was impossible for an inspector to detect the fraud in bis usual rounds. The Mary, an open boat 14ft long, carried double sides as well as a double bottom. In the space provided by these hiding places she could secrete thirtv tin cases, which held about twenty-nine gallons of spirits. Other boats had false decks, others double bulkheads, which provided a cavity from on© side of the hull to another. There was no end to the ingenuity of the industrious smuggler when it came to a cache for bis liquid spirits. When ballast was necessary huge stones were frequently used. One oa.pfain had his stone ballast hollowed out and fitted with tin cases, in which he transported his liquid cargo from coast to coast. The casks of water which every boat earned were in one instance fitted' with false sides and false ends. The inner casks held the fresh water to satisfy the curiosity of the inquisitive; the oilier casks contained a valuable amount of cau-dc-vie.

The modern rum-ninnor'c methods of evading the coastguard were in use even then, it seems, for 150 years ogo “ The science of rafting/’ one of the most effective ways of landing a cargo, was first, used about 1826, when a raft mode of fortyone tubs was lowered over the aide of the boat when land was sighted. Attached ho this raft was a light buoy divided, into two sections, «.n upper and lower. In the upper part was a short candle, which was lighted by the smugglers when they dropped the raft and buoy overboard. The tide carried the raft .ashore, and about the time it had passed the coastguard station the candle had burned down and an turn lighted the lamp in the lower section. The smuggler usually timed his trip to arrive at the coast about dusk, so that by this light his confederated on shore were able to locate the drifting raft and tow it to safety. The tide was a great help to these capable. seamen. Frequently, as they drew near shore, the _ entire cargo, carefully weighted and equipped with a signal, was dropped overboard, and the dependable tide washed it ashore.

One smuggler lashed his sixty tubs together in the form of a pyramid. The tops of the tubs were painted white, and when the raft drifted toward shore only three white tops of the uppermost could be seen amid the foam and whitecaps on the surface of the water. But tho watchful bootleggers on shore were on tho lookout, and eventually spotted it. Short anchors with grapnel hooks held tho raft secure when it drifted in, and then it was easily reached find unloaded.

Probably the first use of a submarine was made by the ingenious smugglers, though the craft had) for its passengers only a, cargo of hops. This boat, made about 1831, had a flat bottom, with sides made of three pla.nka. If, woe 16ffc long, 4ft, wide, and a little more than 2ft deep. She. had holes in her side, through which a net was laced, which covered the cargo of kegs and held them securely in the boat. In the bottom were three extra large holes, through which tho water poured, thereby keeping tho boat, under water as she wbs towed along by a smack or lugger. Two anchors, foro and aft, held her fast in tho sandy bottom of tho shore until her owners came to welcome this home-made submarine.

“Running ip tho crops,* as landing tho kegs was called, w-as as dangerous a task, as tho actual rum-running across the Channel. The night before a, cargo was duo the local bootlegger would notify a sufficient number of tub-carriers that they would bo needed for the following night. If luck was with them there was no moon. It was not difficult to get men for the adventure, and farmers complained that they coulfl get no farm hands at harvest time, carrying and the like being both more profitable and more interesting.