It was the 1920s, and flapper-age fervor was in high gear in Gloucester, Massachusetts, fueled by illegal booze flowing into every cove and beach from rum row vessels off-shore. With local law enforcement outmatched, the Coast Guard set up a cutter station to combat the rum runners. Here are tales of the police chief who dressed as a flapper to infiltrate bootleg circles, and of the convicted bootleggers who, after their stay in a federal penitentiary, were welcomed back to town with a reception at the train station, complete with brass band. With local law enforcement outmatched, the Coast Guard set up a cutter station to combat the rum runners. In charge was young Lieutenant Commander C.C. Von Paulsen. This experienced ship's officer did his best with the pursuit boats under his command, but was frustrated that so many fast rum boats still got by. He knew a better way. Not only a seasoned mariner, Von Paulsen was an aviator - one of the first Coast Guard pilots.
With encouragement from higher ups but no funding, he scrambled together a makeshift seaplane base in Gloucester harbor, sharing a tiny island with a lighthouse that had a checkered past, the lighthouse keeper's family, and a government fish hatchery in which fish eggs by the millions were encouraged to mature to replenish fish stocks. He borrowed a bi-wing seaplane from the Navy and, along with Ensign Leonard Melka, a pilot promoted from the ranks, flew a relentless schedule of patrols that year, scanning thousands of miles of coastal waters to spot rum ships and radio his patrol boats to take up the chase.
The results convinced hardened sea officers and Washington politicians alike that there was a role for the Coast Guard in the air. Von Paulsen was granted funding and more planes to expand his shoestring operation on Ten Pound Island into the Coast Guard's first permanent air station. Although bootleg whiskey still found its way into Gloucester, a port town not enthusiastic about Prohibition, the sea lanes were largely cleared of mob-financed hooch delivery ships. The aircraft on the island were then free to concentrate on search and rescue, and on supporting early efforts, daring and sometimes tragic, to fly across the Atlantic.