The I'm Alone
 

The I’m Alone was a Rum Runner that was sunk March 22, 1929 by the US Coast Guard.

At the end of a run March 20^th 1929, the Coast Guard Cutter Walcott came upon the I’m Alone and ordered her to heave to.  Her Captain Randell refused shouting that the Walcott had no jurisdiction over her as they were on high seas outside treaty waters.  Walcotts’ captain claimed when he first hailed the I’m Alone that she was less then 11 miles from the coast.  Randell insisted he was not.  The Walcott continued to hound the I’m Alone, by mid afternoon the captain signaled her to heave to, or I will fire.  When she did not he fired on her.

The I’m Alone fled south.  The Walcott followed all night and all the next day.  On the evening of March 22^nd, a second cutter the Dexter appeared and had a conference with the Walcott.

The Dexter then bore down on the I’m Alone and signaled her to heave to or be fired on.  When Randell refused, the Dexter opened fire with sixty to seventy rounds and rifle shots.  The I’m Alone sank and her men were picked up gasping and shivering by the two cutters.  One of he crew drowned, Leon Mainguy of St. Pierre.

On January 5^th 1935 the International Commission concluded that although the I’m Alone’s business at the time she sunk was unlawful, the action taken by the Coast Guard was unlawful too.  The US government apologized to the Canadian government and paid $25,000 as a token of regret.

See MacLean's Magazine Jan 1, 1954