Canada_ (Commonwealth) _ A story of mobsters, rum running, and tragedy in the seas off Nova Scotia’s South Shore is coming to life thanks to a century-old seal press that was just recently found at an antique market. Ami McKay, a playwright and writer from Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, discovered the handmade cast iron press last week while traveling 30 minutes to New Minas.
To create an authoritative impression on paper, the metal devices were previously ubiquitous. McKay and her husband purchased the item with the idea that they might use a new seal to reuse it for their book collection. Yet as they focused their attention, a mystery began to take shape.
They observed the worn, filthy label that said, “I’m Alone Shipping Company Ltd. 1923,” on the front of the press. The I’m Alone Shipping Corporation was established in Lunenburg in 1923 as a cover for Boston mobster rum smuggling during the US Prohibition period.
According to McKay, the seal’s impression resembles knotted rope and “calls to mind that glorious era in our history, the age of sail.” The seal would have been a part of the mobsters’ covert operation aboard the I’m Alone ship to give counterfeit documents the appearance of legitimacy. In reality, they wouldn’t be transporting rum; they would merely appear to be doing so, according to McKay.
One ship in the firm was built particularly for rum trafficking, and it was owned by Boston gangster John Magnus. It had two 100 horsepower engines, a 1,600 km radio range, and flew the Union Flag to create the appearance that it was a British ship.
Its skipper, Newfoundlander Jack Randell, set off with an eight-man crew towards the Caribbean to collect enormous quantities of rum and return it to the Gulf of Mexico, where a contact ship would be waiting. The crew achieved this while persistently avoiding detection by the US Coast Guard.
