Erosion, not Prohibition was Tucker’s worry
The Volstead Act went into effect on January 16, 1920. Better known as the National Prohibition Act, or the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment, this drastic change in American life prohibited the production, sale and transport of alcoholic beverages.
The news was written in every paper, and passed by mouth across every backyard. Opinions, alliances and plans to get around this law were big news.
A population of a few dozen
However, on small Tucker’s Island, only a handful of people knew at the beginning. Except for the life savers of the Little Egg Coast Guard Station, who liked a drink every now and then, no one paid any attention or even noticed.
Those who lived on Tucker’s Island wanted life to continue as usual, when family parties were held in the station’s common room, drinks were served, and a gramophone was played. Everyone danced, from children to adults. Some of the men played instruments, like Keeper Arthur Rider of the Lighthouse, who entertained his family and friends with his fiddle (really a violin).
Even though the men who worked at the Coast Guard Station and the Lighthouse were paid by the government, they were an independent lot. Wellschooled and disciplined in saving ships and lives, they preferred to be left alone. There was a general attitude that they did not want government involved in their lives. Trips to Tuckerton were infrequent; so the Tucker’s Island families did not really know or care what was going on as long as they could get hold of a bottle when wanted.
Cuban rum and Bill McCoy
The first months of Prohibition were very quiet along the East Coast.
But then problems erupted when alcohol, such as Cuban rum, became available just three miles off shore. Everything from small schooners to ships were loaded with liquor, literally waiting for local boat captains to purchase a case or two.
The temptation became too much for local boat captains, who began to see Prohibition as a way of making a little extra money for their families, more lucrative than selling clams or working on the family farms. The local Coast Guardsman had the same attitude. Buying and selling a few bottles of liquor at a time to Tucker’s Island visitors or people in Beach Haven or Leeds Point was easy. No one saw it as a big business; nor were they approached by gangster types from the cities.
For those who liked undiluted Cuban rum, Bill McCoy anchored a little over three miles off of Little Egg Inlet, with small quantities for everyone.
With a splendid antique schooner, a good looking girlfriend, he made friends with many people who knew he kept his word. The expression “It’s the Real McCoy” came from Bill’s name and reputation. A book on him by Frederic Van de Water describes Bill McCoy as a “national hero.” Sadly, bad times followed his New Jersey to Cuba and back days. He was prosecuted for rum running, his boat sank and he ended up in jail for a time.
Enforcement on Tucker’s Island
Soon the Coast Guard was ordered to be front and center of President Hoover’s “noble experiment” – actually a war against alcohol. The Coast Guard was given former U.S. Navy destroyers to be used for enforcement. Men from other services were sent to help the Coast Guard.
On Tucker’s Island, Coast Guard Station #119, men from other stations were suddenly assigned to enforce the Volstead Act; patrol boats and ammunition quickly following suit, beefing up a show of force. Little Egg Inlet was wide and deep, seen as a perfect place for rum running to occur.
There was a great dilemma on the island as Coast Guard law was to uphold the laws or Prohibition. Yet all the local men knew rum runners or had indulged in a few bottles themselves. They weren’t going to turn in their fellow Coast Guard men or friends from Tuckerton or Beach Haven who might suddenly appear having just purchased a case of liquor.
There are some photos in the book “Tucker’s Island” by Gretchen Coyle and Deb Whitcraft. One shows a skit depicting what the men on the next station south, Little Beach, really thought of Prohibition. They are laughing, one man guzzling from a bottle, another smiling while waiting his turn, and two more men pretending to be serious while holding guns. The local Coast Guardsmen and the run runners were mainly friends and relatives. They all came from small mainland towns, and certainly did not want to arrest or expose longtime acquaintances.
On Tucker’s Island, new men were soon added to the force. They stood out, wearing newer classic uniforms while the regulars wore their World War I uniforms with period high buttoned collars which dated back to the time of the U.S. Life Saving Service (changed name to Coast guard in 1915). Patrol boats called picket boats were tied up at the dock.
A serious moment is posed as Coast Guard men in both new and older type uniforms stand before Model 1903 Springfield bolt-action rifles and a model 1895 Colt-Browning machine gun. It depicts a show of force against the evils of liquor. The only levity in this picture is a dog, which had plopped down in front of the group.
The Coast Guard need not have bothered about little Tucker’s Island. Their main problems were Atlantic City and large northern cities, where the Mafia bought up hundreds of cases at a time and sold it to speakeasys. Their profit was unimaginable.
Erosion of the island
Prohibition on Tucker’s Island was not the island’s major worry.
The island had been eroding at a fast rate. Nothing could be done in spite of sandbags in front of the lighthouse and an Army Corps of Engineers metal and cedar log erosion deterring experiment along the ocean side of the life saving station.
In August 1927, Keeper Arthur Rider was relieved of his lighthouse duties, a fixed light replacing the lighthouse; in October the lighthouse fell into the sea. By 1932, the Coast Guard Station had been abandoned.
The last days of Prohibition on Tucker’s Island were not spent on the island, but at a temporary setup along Shooting Thorofare, where a small building was built on the east wide of an old houseboat.
The New Jersey Maritime Museum, 528 Dock Road, Beach Haven, (609492-0202, info@njmm.org., njmm.org) has a great display on Prohibition along the Jersey Shore. There is a DVD continually playing and even a few bottles. Visitors always ask, “Is it real? Can I have a taste?” “No” is our answer, followed by laughs on both sides. Yes, the booze is real, but seals are still intact.