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 recept.
Whale's Jaw Publishing Ten pound island: where the coast guard earned its wings, paperback/chester brigham
