The I'm Alone

**Ranald** · Mar-22-2023, 3:43pm

Today, I ran across this news article about the I'm Alone, a Canadian rum runner that was sunk in international waters by the US Coast Guard in 1929.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p45lh0KKIhY

The story reminded me of a song, and a little detective work showed me that I was thinking of a Wade Hemsworth song called "The Story of The I'm Alone." In following the tradition of Wade Hemsworth songs ("The Log Driver's Waltz", "The Blackfly Song"), it has an animated video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht-w...=PenumbraPress

During my search, I came across another song about the I'm Alone by the contemporary Milwaukee band, Tallymoore, complete with mandolin. The style of the song and band is very much what we'd have called "Irish music" on Canada's east coast in the late 70's and early 80's, back when "Celtic" music was still being invented. "Irish" bar bands, some composed of Irishmen, more not, played a combination of Irish, east coast, and British Isles traditional tunes and songs, along with their own compositions. Tallymoore, for better or worse, has smoothed off any rough edges that the earlier bands displayed. This song was recorded earlier by the Irish Rovers, under the title, "I'm Alone at Lunenburg.". For what it's worth, someone online said that Will Millar of the Rovers wrote it. There are a couple of other versions online under different titles, all including I'm Alone, but none giving the author credit though it's clearly a modern song. Here's the Tallymoore version. Music starts at 1:59 after a verbal intro, and the mandolin break is at 3:10, though the singer, Sean Ward, plays mandolin throughout. Enjoy.

Added: St. Pierre and Miquelon, mentioned in the song, are French Islands (i.e., belonging to France) off Newfoundland, important in the illegal liquor trade during Prohibition in the USA, Canada, and Newfoundland, but not France.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aPV...nel=Tallymoore

**Bill Cameron** · Mar-25-2023, 4:45pm

Nice version to be sure. (You’re gonna regret getting me started on this topic Ranald.) With all the work they put in it’s too bad they didn’t get the lyrics right in the chorus. They are singing the nonsense syllables “the vixies they were rolling” when the line is actually “the big seas they were rolling” and also “devil on our quarter” not “devil in our corner” (the devil was the Coast Guard chasing them!). These typos are promulgated on at least one Youtube of the Rovers version.

So here it is, pull up a crate to sit on and throw another log on the fire, it may be spring but it’s snowing out there. So, kids, have I ever told you bout my great uncle Fred? Here’s a tale….

Fred Hill, originally from Saint John NB was my mom’s uncle. When I knew him he was retired in Great Village NS and had a house full of nautical curios which I loved to visit as a kid. He had had a respectable career as a marine museum collector, most of which was spent at the famed Newport News Mariners Museum, which I’m told is the preeminent institution of its kind in the US. Uncle Fred died about 1976. As a young man he was a junior officer in the WW1 merchant marine, and being a clever young fellow he got interested in the newest high-tech gadget of the day: radio.

My mom’s family were somewhat straitlaced Anglicans and we weren’t told about any black-sheep facets of the family history as kids. But after my dad died in 2001, my aunts and mom, nearly their last time together, were having a bit of Scotch and started to discuss Uncle Fred.

After WW1, Fred was a 1920s hacker, and needed a job. I was told he was “Sparks”, the radio technician who set up and ran the famously powerful radio system on the I’m Alone. Read the history, it is widely reported that they had one of the most powerful shortwave systems in the Atlantic, such that they could monitor US Coast Guard transmissions from at least 500 miles away, and so not be where the Coast Guard was looking for them. This was one of the key factors that made the I’m Alone the most successful rum runner of the entire prohibition era for five years.

When the I’m Alone finally ran out of luck and was sunk in 1929, the Canadian crew was arrested (except one who died) and imprisoned briefly, an international incident between Canada and the US because she was indisputably sunk international waters. The legal dispute was firstly about whether I’m Alone was in American waters when the chase began, which would have made the attack legal under the doctrine of “hot pursuit”. Not my concern at the moment. Because of the circumstances, there is a clear record of exactly who was on the ship at that time, and it took me awhile to find it and ascertain that Uncle Fred was not present. So I only have Circumstantial evidence of his involvement. But….

This is not the first WWW forum where I have bragged about Uncle Fred, I am after all an unreformed folksinger and that’s my best story. One day a number of years ago I got an email from the Newport News Mariners Museum. They were looking for a relative—any confirmed relative—of Fred Hill and had seen my post on the MudcatCafe. As I mentioned, after Prohibition ended he rehabilitated himself and he was a longtime field collector for the Mariners Museum and in fact was the curator there for awhile. It turns out there’s a sealed file of Fred Hill’s documents at the museum which can only be accessed by researchers with the permission of a family member! Sadly, I have not yet been down there to see them for myself but I better get on that. I have a feeling that I might learn more about the I’m Alone there (or at least get some more good Uncle Fred stories).

I saw that article too Ranald. What a ####### gorgeous boat she was, with the very lines of her Lunenburg sister the Bluenose. I think this is the link you meant to post.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...ning-1.6786109

Cheers,cCaptain Morgan Spiced Rum all around, mates!

**Ranald** · Mar-25-2023, 10:10pm

Originally Posted by Bill Cameron

Nice version to be sure. (You’re gonna regret getting me started on this topic Ranald.) With all the work they put in it’s too bad they didn’t get the lyrics right in the chorus. They are singing the nonsense syllables “the vixies they were rolling” when the line is actually “the big seas they were rolling” and also “devil on our quarter” not “devil in our corner” (the devil was the Coast Guard chasing them!). These typos are promulgated on at least one Youtube of the Rovers version....

I saw that article too Ranald. What a ####### gorgeous boat she was, with the very lines of her Lunenburg sister the Bluenose. I think this is the link you meant to post.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-...ning-1.6786109

Thanks, Bill. I didn't realize that I'd posted the wrong link. Too much cutting and pasting, I guess.
I was aware of the mistakes in the lyrics, and could hear the proper ones, but I expect that from the internet. I've seen a lot worse. Although, to be fair, I've done a lot of transcribing of songs and sometimes I didn't get something that seemed obvious when another person pointed it out.
I collected tales about rumrunners in Cape Breton, some from a man who helped unload them, and he was a teetotaler at the time.I'll PM you another good article about a New Brunswick ship this time, from today's news.