Rum running on Lake Ontario

 When rum running moved to Lake Ontario

By Richard Palmer

One of the most interesting periods of Great Lakes maritime history was the Prohibition era between 1920 and 1933. This was a nationwide ban on the sale, production, importation and transportation of alcoholic beverages under the 18th Amendment known as the Volstead Act. This led to the formation of criminal syndicates that, among other activities, smuggled alcoholic beverages in from Canada. It did not work well and led to some of the worst corruption in American history.  It took years to bring the problems associated with bootlegging and rum running that ran rampant on the Great Lakes under control.

In August, 1929, residents of Oswego as well as those at all ports at the northern end of Lake Ontario learned through the newspapers that rum running syndicates in Detroit were planning to transfer their operations to Kingston, 60 miles directly across Lake Ontario.The reason for their decision is said to have been due to the blockade which had been established on the Detroit river by the United States "dry" navy.  Apparently realizing the government would continue indefinitely to oppose operations between Windsor and Detroit, the rum runners decided to seek another location.

Lake Ontario would afford a much larger field and rum runners are said to have believed it would be much more difficult for government forces to combat smuggling. The lake is 150 miles long from the Niagara river to the St. Lawrence. If the syndicates on the Detroit river changed the scene of their activity to Lake Ontario, it was expected a vast force would have to be organized by the government to combat them. Because of the great expanse of the lake and the hundreds of places into which rum boats could take refuge and discharge cargoes, a great fleet of boats and a small army of men would be required to control rum running.

In 1929 there were fewer than 15 boats being used on Lake Ontario against rum runners. The majority of the boats were operated by the United States Coast Guard while there were a few operated by the United States Customs and the Prohibition Enforcement Bureau. The Coast Guard fleet was made up principally of eight boats. Four of these were 75-foot patrol boats, while the other four were smaller craft, 36-feet long, and known as picket boats.

In their operations the patrol boats and the picket boats covered practically the southern half of Lake Ontario. They were stationed at Sacket's Harbor, Sodus Point, Charlotte, and  at Olcott. Each Coast Guard station on the south shore of the lake had a picket boat. These stations were Big Sandy, Oswego, Rochester and Niagara. 

Besides boats operated by the Coast Guard, the Customs Department used a few confiscated boats in its effort to combat smuggling. The Customs Department also had a land force known as the Border Patrol. Officers attached to this branch of the service devoted their time to patrolling the lake shore in search of rum runners and bootleggers.

All Coast Guard as well as the Customs boats are heavily armed. Each of the 75-foot patrol boats carry pistols, rifles and a machine gun besides a one-pound gun mounted forward. The picket boats of the Coast Guard also had pistols, rifles and machine guns while equipment carried, and Customs boats were practically the same. The picket launches were the speediest boats in the service.

The boats used by the Customs Department were mostly former rum running craft captured by the Coast Guard and confiscated. Only the best of the rum running boats seized have been retained by the Customs Department for combating smuggling. Under government regulations the Customs Department was required to advertise for sale all craft seized for violating the Customs laws. If after the regulations had been complied with, the boats not sold could be confiscated by the department and either placed in service or destroyed.

   Although the force on Lake Ontario was small considering the vast territory it had to cover it had succeeded in reducing rum running to a minimum. The activity of rum running in 1929 had been much less than previous seasons. Only a few seizures had been made due to the fact that very little rum running  was being carried on. declared. The patrol fleet had been operating constantly, but seldom did it encounter rum running craft. 

Conditions, however, might suddenly change if the big rum-running interests of the upper lakes shifted their operations to Lake Ontario.

But the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 eliminated most of the rum-running on Lake Ontario and in the vicinity of Oswego. What that didn't do the 18th Amendment legalizing alcoholic beverages did in 1933. The government patrol boats were disarmed, some transferred to the east coast.