Rum Runners!

Savannah is world-famous for her history, her architecture, and her “go-cup” law – which encourages visitors to stroll the streets drink in hand. While almost every other city in America tries to keep consumption undercover, here in Savannah folks drink out in the open. In broad daylight.

Savannah mixed with hard-liquor before, during, and after the Trustees enacted their prohibition on rum.  The later loosening of their restriction was seen as a way to help the Salzburgers at New Ebenezer and other timber-rich Georgians sell lumber in the West Indies.  The timber-merchants needed a market for their products; the planters at Barbados needed lumber as they had cleared the island to grow sugar cane. The logical way for Barbadians to pay for this lumber was with molasses or the rum which was made from it.

As the decades unwound, the Baptists living in rural Georgia wanted to go “dry,” but Savannah was mighty thirsty.  Indeed, when the state of Georgia outlawed spirits in 1908 - 12 years before the 19th Amendment banned the production and sale of alcohol nationwide – Savannah and Chatham County considered seceding from the state and creating a separate Sovereign State of Chatham!

“When seceding was unsuccessful, Savannah became the unofficial headquarters for illegal imbibing … ‘Savannah’s location was perfect for moonshining, rum-running, and receiving bootleg. Moonshiners would make the bootleg liquor in the marshes, where it was easy to hide the stills, then they would run it through the narrow waterways out to the ocean and make a run for the international water line, about 3 miles out. They would also make pick-ups in international waters and then rush them back to waiting cars in the marsh.’ Al Capone looked to Savannah garage owner Sherman ‘Moose’ Helmey to make his rum-running cars, adding secret compartments and adjusting the suspension to make the car appear to be running light with a full load.” From Bootleggers and Bourbon at talesofthecocktail.com.

As Rusty Fleetwood pointed out in “Tidecraft,” our creeks, rivers and sounds are now playgrounds, but once they were a matter of life and death. While it might have been all oysters, shrimp and crabs during the day, at night it was boatloads of booze running our creeks.

On her fishing-business website, Captain Judy Helmey writes, “My father was Mr. Sherman Helmey, owner and operator of ‘Helmey's Garage.’  His nickname at the time was ‘Moose.’ During this time Daddy allegedly worked with ‘Big Al Capone.’ … My father's garage sold and repaired automobiles.  In fact, my father was known for his great mechanical ways.  I was told that he could take a regular truck or automobile and install secret compartments in which to transport ‘said Liquor or shipments of sorts.’  His expertise came in handy because after loading the car or truck down with a shipment it never showed. According to sources my father tampered with the springs making them hold a lot more.“ From missjudycharters.com

The demand for spirits spanned the socioeconomic spectrum. Whether rich or poor – everyone wanted a drink. Common folk imbibed at Speakeasies and locker-bars; the upper crust poured in their parlors. (story continues below)

Today's Rum Runners run to Gilligan's Beverage Center on
Wilmington Island. Great spirits, a world of wine, and cold beverages to boot.
11 Wilmington Village Way, 912 897-2337 Ask for Chris!

In her book “Island Memories,” Marianne Heimes recounted an interview with one of Henry Walthour’s daughters in 2002.  Mr. Walthour was a wealthy Savannah cotton-broker who owned much of the south end of Wilmington Island in the early 1900s. He was a major partner and developer of the landmark General Oglethorpe Hotel, with its Olympic pool and championship golf course. He also had a large home on the Wilmington River with a dock and dock house.

Heimes wrote, “Although this was during Prohibition, Henry Walthour managed to smuggle whiskey back after stays at the family’s Quebec home. Combined with the local white lightning the whiskey made a fine Chatham Artillery Punch that packed quite a wallop.”

The wealthy weren’t inconvenienced by Prohibition and according to legend and lore, neither were the poor. Local stores sold big bags of sugar, and it wasn’t going in coffee. Sugar was used in isolated island stills to make moonshine. The fact that Walthour owned a dock would have made it easy for this moonshine to be delivered by boat under the cover of darkness; yet another example of our creeks and rivers driving our economic engine. 

In "Once Upon an Island" Elizabeth Carpenter Piechocinski writes, "All people in Georgia are divided into two classes, those who have a little still and those who still have a little ... The irregular coastline and marshes with their winding, lonely waterways were ideal for smuggling bootleg whiskey into the state. Moonless night brought the sound of speedboats moving surreptitiously through the water off Wilmington, Tybee, Whitemarsh, and Skidaway ... These swiftly moving crafts were used to unload contraband liquor from vessels outside the three mile limit ... "

While listening to a program on GPB radio, I heard a reference to “The Savannah Four” during a discussion of Prohibition; and the men and women who worked for and against it. I love it when a national story has roots that lead here, so I investigated.

Again, from Bootleggers and Bourbon, “Capone wasn’t the only one with the entrepreneurial spirit – ‘The Savannah Four’ are possibly the most infamous bootlegging ring, made up of Fred-Senior, William, Carl, and Fred-Junior Haar. They sold bootleg liquor from their grocery store during statewide Prohibition; National Prohibition made them even more successful. They controlled a fleet of ships that ran loads of booze from Scotland, France, Cuba, and the Bahamas; once shipments were brought ashore they were broken down and run by road, typically in trucks, disguised as potatoes, or in faux oil tankers.”

The Haar men must have been tough characters. There is an interesting anecdote referring to them in "Once Upon an Island." In the story, J.D. Powell, who owned the Desoto Hotel and the Savannah Beach Club, lost big in a poker game and owed money to some Mafia men from up north. Mr. Powell's agent took the winners out in a boat at low tide to look at some 'salt meadow,' and tricked them into accepting 6000 acres of salt marsh as payment in full for the debt. The only thing that kept them from coming back and making trouble was the 'Haar boys on Tybee Island,' who the Mafia were afraid of. 

That must have been an exciting time to be a small-boat captain, when a single run from the ship offshore might buy the boat! (story continues below)

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Imagine yourself in an unlit bateau, skiff, or flat; loaded deep with boxes of hooch and gliding along Freedom Creek after pushing off from the still on Skidaway.  You slide under a moonless night with a muffled motor. You quietly navigate the twists, shallows and rakes to reach a meeting place on a dry riverbank or a rich man’s dock.  With no talk other than a quiet challenge and response, the cargo is moved from boat bottom to back seat and trunk, then a stack of cash is passed from hand to hand.  With a whispered “Good luck; see you next time,” you shove off the bank and into the creek. The car rumbles into the night, and Georgia’s thirst is slaked again - the law notwithstanding. As it was in 1733, so it was during state and federal dry spells, and so it is today: Folks are going to have their libations.

Enjoy that go-cup.

Time for Refresher Training? Boat U.S. Makes It Easy And Free!

We will be visiting our son and grandson in Maryland soon and as Freedom Boat Club members, we decided to take advantage of a reciprocal reservation for a Freedom Boat in Baltimore. On the FBC reservation page, it's noted that boaters in Maryland must possess a state-specific boater education card. A "badge" if you will. While Maryland doesn't require this training for anyone born before July 1972, that tidbit isn't mentioned on the FBC reservation page. [If you will be boating in the Washington DC area, there is another course required in order to reserve a boat from Baltimore's FBC franchise]

 My first thought was, "Wait a minute! I am a United States Coast Guard licensed master with a 50 ton inland credential, I don't need no stinkin' badges!" Then I considered how disappointed my son and grandson would be if we showed up at the dock and they wouldn't give us the boat we reserved. I googled Maryland-specific boater safety training and several options appeared in the search results, with typical charges slightly less than $50 dollars.

Then I did some more searching and stumbled across the Boat US Foundation eLearning page.

I like Boat U.S. I was a member for over a decade when I had my boat at Hogan's Marina and needing a tow was always a possibility. Now, as a Freedom Boat Club member the tow-coverage is included in my membership.  I contract-instruct for Boat U.S. during the "Women Making Waves" events at the Savannah FBC franchise a couple of times each year, and it's a lot of fun. So I thought, what the heck, why not just take the course, consider it a refresher, and get the certificate.

The online training is - mostly - quite good. Animations and videos illustrate the subject matter. As an EMS helicopter pilot for 17 years, I took a whole lot of online training courses: Aviation, OSHA, and Emergency Incident Response to name a few, and I 've seen the good, bad, and ugly of online training. I rate this training as some of the best I've seen.

The Boat U.S. course has a few mistakes.  But they include a conduit for feedback and corrective remarks.

There is conflicting information about Type III M.S.D.s - do they have a Y valve or don't they? And there are repeated references to "long" blasts on a ship's horn. As any graduate of Sea School knows, there is no such thing as a "long" blast. There are short blasts - about one second - and "prolonged" blasts lasting from four to six seconds. Having said that, it's good training and a good review for any licensed mariner or a recreational boater.  I got a big cheesy certificate to frame or file and a wallet-sized cutout to laminate and hang from one of my old military badge carriers around my neck.

I got my stinkin' badge after all.

In case you are wondering if YOU might benefit from this free training for your state, the answer is probably YES. The problem with memory and knowledge is that the things we learned long ago don't say goodbye as they exit our memory.

One of the jobs of a United States Army Instructor Pilot is to help the unit aviators with an organized system of study and review.  Even for someone who might not be required to take them due to age or having taken them years ago, the free Boat U.S. courses are a great way to refresh and review.

Do you remember the criteria for a 24' boat to need a fire-extinguisher - or not? What if the boat is 27'? What are the number and type of extinguishers required? Do you remember what a type-four flotation device is used for? Is there a type of PFD with a number larger than four? If so, can a thirteen-year-old wear it? Do you know how far away from a military vessel you need to stay? How fast you can travel in the vicinity of a large commercial vessel? What is a Type B fire using for fuel? What will a Type B fire often create? These are the bit's of information that go away over time and with lack of use.

You might not be required to take the free Boat U.S. boater-safety course, but you will be a better and safer boater for taking it.

Have fun out there!

Do You Know Your Knots?

"The term knot dates from the 17th century, when sailors measured the speed of their ship by using a device called a 'common log.'This device was a coil of rope with uniformly spaced knots, attached to a piece of wood shaped like a slice of pie. The piece of wood was lowered from the back of the ship and allowed to float behind it. The line was allowed to pay out freely from the coil as the piece of wood fell behind the ship for a specific amount of time. When the specified time had passed, the line was pulled in and the number of knots on the rope between the ship and the wood were counted. The speed of the ship was said to be the number of knots counted (Bowditch, 1984).

From "Master And Commander" by Patrick O' Brian, page 100...

"... Mowett heaved the log, waited for the red tag to go astern and called 'TURN.'
'STOP!' cried the quartermaster twenty eight seconds later, with the little sand-glass close to his eye.
Mowett nipped the line almost exactly at the third knot, jerked out the peg and walked across to chalk 'three knots' on the log-board." (story continues below)

Would you like one-on-one practical boating instruction?
Does approaching a dock make you uneasy?
No worries! Let Captain Dan Foulds put you at ease
and increase your skill and confidence. Classroom
and online training are great! But nothing replaces
having your hands on the helm.
Call 912 657-5222 for more info.

Knowing the vessels speed and course allowed the navigator to complete  Ded(uctive) reckoning (aka dead reckoning) of the ships position since the last known position.

Travelling at one knot for one hour leaves you one nautical mile from where you started. A nautical mile is equal to one minute of latitude, or one sixtieth of a degree of lattitude. This doesn't work for longitude as lines of longitude converge at the poles and are therefore unequally spaced with changes in lattitude. A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 statute miles (land miles).

Now that wasn't too knotty was it?

And A New Chapter Opens...

I am super-excited to have met with Amy Thurman, owner of Southern Tides magazine. Amy likes what she has read here on "... the Creek" and my work in the pages of Vertical 911 magazine and invited me to help her operate Southern Tides. This is going to be a blast! Big thanks to Robert Hale of Hale Marine Services for the linkup.
Here's to safe and fun boating friends!

Click there to visit the Southern Tides Facebook page.

Click here to read past issues.

And Now I Know...

I originally wrote this post for my HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) blog, then I sold much of the story to the trade magazine I write for, Vertical 911. Yes, I sold a boat story to a helicopter magazine - as it turns out human factors don't care which mode of transport we are making mistakes on. I share it here in the hope that you get something out of it and perhaps avoid disappointment. If you routinely boat with other members of your family or friends, share this with them and discuss when it's a good idea for them to "speak up."

Safe Boating friends,

Dan Foulds

...A year and a half back, I ceased to be a HEMS pilot. I had 30 years of flying behind me and got tired of traveling so much for work. It seemed like a good time to experience some more of life's adventures.

I still travel in order to present Air Medical Resource Management Training and am lucky enough to spend time with my heroes - the men and women who fly and crew EMS helicopters all across the United States. I am amazed at the speed with which a bond of affection can be established with a flight team; maybe it's mutual respect and admiration, maybe they appreciate that I am trying to prevent the next crash. Funny thing is, life is busier now that it was before; Writing here on the blog, and for Vertical 911 keeps me busy. And then there's the boat.

My life has centered around water and sky since I was very young. After giving up my wings I attended Sea School and obtained a 50-ton master's credential. And I got a part-time job as a mate on a tour boat. Working on the boat is pure pleasure. No one is hurt or sick, and people are there to have fun. I earn beer money and meet people from all over. And I learn lessons.

If you want to see what a dolphin boat tour looks like, check out this video. Buddy is pulling up a trawl that we have been dragging off the bow. In a few seconds, he will toss a small crab onto a child and screams will hit a pitch above human hearing...



So far I have had two sentinel learning events. I can relate both directly to HEMS. Both of these events involve situational awareness, something we talk about in any AMRM training class. SA is a team imperative.

In the days after Hurricane Matthew walloped coastal Georgia, trees, docks, and sunken boats were drifting around in our tidal creeks and rivers. One morning Captain Buddy and I took a group out for a tour. As is our custom, he worked the front of the boat, presenting his description of the coastal environment, and I was at the helm at the rear. I turned to port to enter the Skidaway River, and across the channel, perhaps a quarter-mile to starboard I observed an irregularity in the flow of the outgoing tide. There was something affecting the surface of the water over there, but it was too far away to determine what it might be.

This was a level 1 situational awareness situation - I had perceived something with one of my senses; sight.

We proceeded south along the nearshore for a mile or so looking for the dolphins who live and feed in that area. After not seeing any, Captain Buddy suggested we do a 180 and cross the river to the far side. So I drove us the distance to the far shore and headed back the way we had come.

When I am driving the boat, I keep in mind that I have people's children on board, and I am responsible for their well-being - in the same way that I used to be responsible for my crews and patients. So I am cordial with the guests, but I keep my eyes and ears open, looking for trouble. We are only running about 9 knots, so I usually have plenty of time to see and react to a hazard.

But on this morning, a parent stood next to me at the helm, asking questions about my job and history. Captain Buddy was 30 feet in front of me, talking about Spartina Alternaflora to the kids. I swung my head left and right and in the swing saw him wave his arms at me excitedly. And he was yelling...

I felt a series of mild thumps in the soles of my shoes and snatched both throttles into hard reverse. And I held the motor trim switches in the "up" position. As the props on the twin Yamahas came out of the water I switched off both keys, hands shaking.

And then the entire walkway portion of someone's dock drifted out from under our boat.

Damn. That was close.

We shook off the adrenaline, made sure that everyone was okay, and got underway again. When we got back to the dock and discharged our group, Buddy and I did a debrief. I had to confess my error to him so that we both might learn from my mistake. You see, I saw that disturbance in the water flow several minutes before I encountered the object that was creating it. And I should have SOUNDED THE ALARM. We sound the alarm when we become aware that something is different so that everyone on board is aware of the phenomenon. We verbalize our perception. We take our SA to the second level - "hey I sense this or that and I think it is important for us to be aware of it." The majority of the time when something goes wrong in HEMS, some person has an inkling that something is amiss. But they don't sound the alarm.

By speaking up, we increase the chance that someone will take SA to the third level - projection. We want to be aware of our circumstances and constantly project what the future might hold, based on what we know now. But because I didn't sound the alarm, and forgot about what I had sensed before, we didn't get past my level 1 SA. It could have been much worse.  We both learned something that day. And I logged my mistake - something I suggest you do too. Keep a log of your mistakes and review them periodically.

Then there was that time we crashed...

Years ago, a friend of mine, Flight Nurse Donnie Thompson, was a member of a crew who flew a patient from Atlanta to Greenville, South Carolina. They flew their patient, went to the Greenville Airport for fuel and cookies and lemonade, and headed out to the aircraft for the flight home. It was a pretty day, and spirits were high. As they rode along one of the two crew members in the cabin remarked, "HEY, the key isn't on the hook!" The key being referred to was the key for the fuel cap. It would normally be used during refueling, then put back in place after fueling was complete and the cap was secured.

The pilot became quiet. He wasn't saying much, but his brain was twirling. "Did I leave the fuel cap off? Is it laying on the asphalt back at the airport? Will we get back without a fuel cap? Will I get in trouble? Will I get fired?"

Without saying anything about all this, he announced, "guys, there is a big field in front of us. I am going to land and check the fuel cap."

Now when I am presenting this case in class, this is where I say something like "you people who have been flying for a while know that there is a normal sequence of events to a flight and a landing. When we are preparing to land, we do an orbit at altitude. We verbalize the high recon, the before landing check, and announce where we think the winds are from. We talk about obstacles on the way in during the low recon.

The approach is conducted "at the apparent rate of closure of a brisk walk," and if you work for Air Methods you descend through the last 300 feet at 200 feet per minute. I ask the people in the room to be aware of what is happening on approaches and to call for a go-around if things seem out of order. "Hey, you are smart people! Don't let me crash you because I am distracted or upset!"

That fine day, that good and experienced pilot fell prey to human factors and flew that perfectly good helicopter straight into that field, too fast, and destroyed it. Luckily no one was killed. And of course, I would never do something like that. Nor would I let another pilot do that to me. Right?

Human nature can hurt us. When one of your passenger's hats blows off at speed,
what is your immediate response? A hard turn to recover it before it sinks? That action once resulted in a fatality. I have done it twice in the last month and I know better!. A much safer response after a hat blows off? Announce "Slowing down guys!" Then reduce speed and return to the lost object in the water. If it's gone, so be it. Don't lose a head over a hat.

So, after having discussed this event, maybe a hundred times over the last five or six years, you would think I would know enough to speak up if someone was about to crash with me on board. But it's harder than I imagined to know what to say and when to say it. A couple of months ago, we were taking a group of tourists back to the Landings Harbor Marina. This marina is enclosed with a metal seawall, and tight. It's hard to maneuver our 45-foot boat in the enclosure, and Buddy does this task himself. I should mention here that docking a boat is different than landing a helicopter. The tried and true technique for landing is to approach slowly, carefully, cautiously. But boat captains will occasionally be forced by wind and current to make a fast approach, then use bursts of power to arrest forward motion and swing the stern towards the dock. When I first saw Buddy doing this it made me nervous, and glad that it wasn't me doing it. But I have watched him do it for several months, and I never saw him make a mistake. Every time, he would use skill and power to put the boat right up to the dock, So on that evening in the tight little docking basin, as I stood on the front platform and watched us rapidly approach the dock I wasn't worried. Buddy is a great and experienced Captain, and he is my teacher.

Closer. Still fast
.
I looked back down the length of the boat. He was looking intently at where we were headed - toward a fuel dock at a 45-degree angle. We had 7 or 8 knots of speed through the water, on a big heavy boat. I looked back to the front.

Really close now.

We aren't going to stop! As we slammed our bow into the dock I stepped off of the bow platform. Buddy yelled, "DAN, why didn't you say something?

We unloaded our slightly ruffled passengers and did a debrief right there. And I explained why I didn't speak up. I thought of Donnie Thompson and the Rescue Air One helicopter that was destroyed by a distracted pilot. Now I know, it's harder than I imagined it might be, while I stood there in class and asked crews to monitor the pilot's actions and speak up if something is wrong. Maybe you don't know exactly when the pilot is making a mistake. So how will we learn about this? How are we going to know what is okay and what isn't? How are we going to know what to say, and when to say it?

The answer is education, and communication, and consideration. Humility and respect will help, as will honest discussions of past mistakes. After all, we can learn from other people's mistakes, or we can repeat them ourselves...

Please Don't Toss That Trash in Our Waters...

Look Who Showed Up!

Rachel writes "We're anchored off St Augustine cut and A 10' manatee just came up to the boat with Alan in the water!!!! "

Manatees are slow moving and in the area. Heads up friends...