I'm Alone
{{Short description|Canadian ship}}
{{About|the ship|the Deep Purple song|Strange Kind of Woman|the White Town song|Peek & Poke (White Town album)}}
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|infobox caption= yes |display title= I'm Alone }} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image= File:I'm Alone Canadian Ship.jpg |Ship image size= |Ship caption= I'm Alone on the day of her sinking }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= yes |Ship name= I'm Alone |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= 30px Lunenburg, Nova Scotia |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= 126 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship completed= 1923 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification= |Ship fate= Sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard, 22 March 1929 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header=yes |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= Schooner |Ship tonnage= 205 tons |Ship displacement= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power = |Ship propulsion= Sail and diesel engines |Ship speed= 9 knots (maximum){{Cite web|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2013-05/use-all-force|title='Use All Force!' {{!}} U.S. Naval Institute|website=www.usni.org|date=May 2013 |access-date=2018-06-13}} |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= 8 |Ship notes= }} |
I'm Alone was a Canadian ship used as a rum runner during Prohibition in the United States. She was best known for having been sunk by the United States Coast Guard in 1929 while trying to flee.{{Cite journal |last=Dennis |first=William C. |date=1929 |title=The Sinking of the I’m Alone |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/sinking-of-the-im-alone/B9938D16087F7FEFFEA53DB222EE09F9 |journal=American Journal of International Law |language=en |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=351–362 |doi=10.2307/2189867 |issn=0002-9300|url-access=subscription }}
History
The auxiliary schooner was built in Lunenburg Nova Scotia in 1923 (hull # 126), and for six years, she transported contraband alcohol.{{cite journal |last=Hagen |first=Carrie |date=28 January 2015 |title=The Coast Guard's Most Potent Weapon During Prohibition? Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/coast-guards-most-potent-weapon-during-prohibition-codebreaker-elizebeth-friedman-180954066/ |journal=Smithsonian |access-date=21 February 2015}} Another source says the ship was built in the United Kingdom.{{cite journal |last=Bell |first=Jessica |title=1929 – The S.S. I'm Alone |url=http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja10/timeline/ss-alone.html |journal=Canadian Geographic |publisher=Royal Canadian Geographical Society |access-date=20 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221184323/http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja10/timeline/ss-alone.html |archive-date=21 February 2015 }} Her registry was in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.{{cite journal |last=Skoglund |first=Nancy Galey |date=1968 |title=The I'm Alone Case: A Tale from the Days of Prohibition |url=http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=1004 |journal=University of Rochester Library Bulletin |publisher=University of Rochester |volume=23 |issue=3 |access-date=20 February 2015}} I'm Alone was intercepted in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana by {{USCGC|Wolcott}} on 22 March 1929, as the schooner was returning from Belize with liquor. The crew of I'm Alone disobeyed orders to stop and was shelled and sunk by {{USCGC|Dexter|1925|6}}. Seven of the ship's eight crew members were rescued. The eighth, a French Canadian boatswain, Leon Mainguy, died.{{cite newspaper The Times |title=Sinking of the I'm Alone |date=26 March 1929 |page=16 |issue=45161 |column=C}} The surviving crew members, including captain John "Jack" Randell, were arrested and jailed in New Orleans.
The sinking caused tensions in Canadian–American relations, with Envoy Vincent Massey criticizing the Americans' actions. The Canadian government sued for damages. Coast Guard intelligence personnel, led by Elizebeth Friedman, were able to demonstrate in international arbitration that the owners of I'm Alone were Americans, despite the ship's Canadian registry. As a result, the U.S. paid a fine much lower than the amount initially requested by Canada. Captain Randell and Amanda Mainguy, the widow of the crew member who died, both received restitution. The widow of dead sailor received $16,000 whilst Captain Randall received $7,000. The owners of the I'm Alone received no restitution.Isle of Man Examiner, Friday, April 17, 1936; Page: 11
The incident was described in song by Canadian poet/folk musician Wade Hemsworth, "The Sinking of the I'm Alone".
References
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Further reading
- {{cite journal |title=Claim of the British Ship "I'm Alone" v. United States |jstor=2190502 |journal=American Journal of International Law |year=1935 |publisher=American Society of International Law |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=326–331 |doi=10.2307/2190502 |s2cid=246008667 }}
- [http://www.newfoundlandshipwrecks.com/Im%20Alone/documents/rumrunner_im_alone.htm "The Sinking of The I'm Alone"], also containing biographical information about Jack Randell
{{shipbuilding in Atlantic Canada}}
{{1929 shipwrecks}}
Category:Individual sailing vessels
Category:Maritime history of Canada
Category:Maritime incidents in 1929