Not Left Alone
In March of 1929, the ship I'm Alone was sitting off the coast of Louisiana in international waters, waiting for a vessel to pick up its cargo. It carried 2,400 cases of liquor meant for Americans, who hadn't been allowed a legal drink in ten years. The ship was well known to the Coast Guard for "rum running" but its position beyond US coastal waters should have kept it safe. Instead, the Coast Guard fired on the boat, killed a sailor while taking the crew, and sunk the ship. The ship had sailed from Canada with war hero John Thomas Randell as its captain, and the sinking caused a diplomatic firestorm with that country. Canada won the court case that followed because the incident had clearly taken place outside of US jurisdiction. Another question the case posed - what is reasonable force - is still asked today.
The fate of the ship made its rum running Captain Randell into a Canadian folk hero.
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