Episode 121 - 'Heave To or I Fire': The "I'm Alone" Case

In March 1929, the US Coast Guard cutters Wolcott and Dexter pursued and subsequently sank the bootlegging schooner I'm Alone, touching off an international incident and legal battle that would outlast the Prohibition laws that led to it in the first place.

Sources:

The American Council on Addiction & Alcohol Problems

Hagen, Carrie. "The Coast Guard's Most Potent Weapon During Prohibition? Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman." Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Jan 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/coast-guards-most-potent-weapon-during-prohibition-codebreaker-elizebeth-friedman

"Prohibition: Legislating Alcohol in America." The National WWI Museum and Memorial. https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/prohibition

Ricci, Joseph A. "Use All Force!" Naval History Magazine, vol. 27, no. 3, May 2013

Saharay, H. and A. Pal. "Hot Pursuit in Self-Defence." Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 3, no. 29, 20 July 1968, pp. 1145 - 1146

Skoglund, Nancy Galey. "The I'm Alone Case: A Tale from the Days of Prohibition." University of Rochester Library Bulletin, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring 1968

Support the show