My Grandfather was a rum runner, bootlegger and ran a still, all from the family farm on the North shore of PEI. He sold rum from the early 1920's into 1950s. His main supplier for nearly 20 years was Captain Dicks, master of the Nelly J Banks, until she was seized in the late 1930's. After the Nelly J was taken out of action smaller vessels made the trek to the French islands of St Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of New Foundland and ferried rum back to a number of "distributors" on PEI who then sold the rum to thirsty customers. A lot of farmers and small businessmen became wealthy beyond what the farm or small business could possibly dream of earning. My Grand father never got busted by RCMP. He was raided on 3 or 4 occasions but his stash was never found by authorities.
The farm owned 2 pieces of shore front. The shore directly behind the house had a small lobster factory on the adjoining property, owned by 3 brothers that were in cahoots with my GF. They owned sturdy little boats that could safely rendezvous with the Nelly J, 3 miles off shore.the second shore front piece was a Rocky cove with 2 large flat rock flats jutting into the Gulf on either side of the cove with fairly deep water and tall nearly vertical cliff that was nearly impossible to climb. It also had a natural cave. The cave was the reason raids on the farm were never successful and only a small handful of people knew of the cave and landing point. The cave was also the reason GF could buy and store half a boat load of rum at a time. Reducing frequency of shipments reduced risk of being caught.
Part of the bank collapsed sometime in the 1950's leaving a huge slab of sandstone 2m thick x 15m long and 3m wide standing on edge at the base of the bank, covering the cave entrance. He and my Dad showed it to my brother and I in the early 70's. They said there were still kegs of rum in there with no hope of ever moving "that damn rock". That rock is still there, my siblings and I still own the property that has been in the family since 1803.
In 2004 my Grand Mother was 100 years old. My wife, daughter and I were visiting her one Sunday afternoon as was our custom. She started telling us about going out on one of the boats one time and having "a grand supper with Captain Dicks aboard the Nelly J and bringing the rum back to shore and putting it in the cave. "Oh that was a lovely spot to hide stuff, Then that damn rock fell" she said. I hadn't heard mention of the rock or cave since being a kid in the 70's, even then I was never really sure if the story was fact or fantasy until she mentioned it batter of facts out of the blue.
Prohibition became law in 1901 and wasn't lifted on PEI until 1961. The Rum Rummers could literally make a life long career out of it. My GF retired from it sometime in the 50's after the rock fell.
CBC did an interview with my Grand Mother in the 80's it aired on TV. If I ever find a link to it I'll post it.
Slaintè
Edited a spelling mistake
https://www.52-pickup.ca/leona.htm
