AS I REMEMBER
COMMERCIAL FISHING BOOTLEGGING
by
Book Details
About the Book
These stories are uniquely different from stories or
portrayed activities of the bootlegging mobs in these stories it deals with
commercial fishermen bootlegging on the Great Lakes, although a few were
involved by crossing from Canadian ports to United States port's these stories
deal with particularly the Western end of Lake Erie and how they dealt with
navigating the dark waters trying to avoid the Coast Guard and revenue agents
trying to intercept them.
Many were caught and some did time in prison and then
there were some who were lost in tremendous storms, once they made it to these
port's even then many were arrested at the dock and it took great care to avoid
these pitfalls.
About the Author
I was born in the very depth of the depression only
a few months before F. D. R. asked the Congress to repeal prohibition, from age
five through fourteen I remember relatives and friends visiting and telling
stories of commercial fishing bootlegging, most of my family was in the
commercial fishing business and in the early days of radio it seemed more
interesting to listen to those quite capable storyteller's and in those days
children were to be seen and not heard.
As they told their stories they would use hand gestures and sometimes laughing and slapping their knees then again they would have a very serious facial expression as they told of terrific storms they were caught in that blow up within a matter of minutes and these Crossings were made mostly at night, they would tell how they made it through these storms successfully but for some it ended in disaster.
In my middle teens I began to ask questions after the
story had been told and they would answer those questions, I have been lucky
that I have had a excellent memory and in my late teens after high school I
started earning my living in the commercial fishing business, I had worked with
many of these fishermen who did involve themselves with some of this
bootlegging some only once or twice during prohibition but there were a few who
did it consistently.
These few would be asked by the mobs to bring a load
across maybe only once or twice a week and then sometimes skip a week and they did
it only for the money and maybe some adventure, after quitting the
commercial fishing business I still asked questions of my relatives along with
some of my friends about details of the bootlegging era which I marked down on
paper and then some answers remain in my memory. After earning my living in a
few different occupations I went to work in the motion picture industry as a
studio driver, many times on location dealing with the transportation needs for
the camera and watching different stories on different shows it occurred to me
I did have some stories that should be told.