1924 — Nov 16, Rum Runner tug William P. Maloney sinks, storm, off Newport, RI –11-12

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-24-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–12  Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 99.

–11  Lawson. “Smugglers, Bootleggers, and Scofflaws: Prohibition and New York City.” 2014.

–11  Lowell Sun, MA. “11 of Crew, Boat…$400,000 Whiskey Cargo Lost,” 26 Nov 1924, p.15.

Narrative Information

Berman has the date of loss as Nov 15, which is apparently incorrect.

William P. Maloney. Former New York policeman Roscoe Jenkins, 11o Lexington Avenue, captained this smuggling tug which was lost at sea with eleven aboard. The same syndicate lost the Llizzie D. two years earlier. Kinfolk of the men lost on the Maloney reported the loss to the Coast Guard which had not known about the sinking.

Newspaper

Nov 26: “New York, Nov. 26.—Eleven members of a rum runners’ crew, their boat and its $400,000 whiskey cargo are believed to have been lost in one of the storms that have been sweeping the Atlantic the past two weeks.

“Fragmentary information reaching here today led shipping circles to believe that the tug William Maloney, formerly the Capitol, had gone with all hands somewhere between New London, Conn., and Newport, R.I., a week ago Sunday.

“The little craft was said to have 10,000 cases of whiskey aboard, purchased from a rum row vessel off Montauk Point.  From rum row the tug was believed to have fought her way through the gale to New London, where she set a course for Newport.  At 4 o’clock that afternoon, Sunday, Nov. 16, she spoke to another vessel, signaling ‘all well.’  It was the last known or seen of the Maloney.  The storm increased in fury that hour and seafarers believe the tug was engulfed and went down with all aboard.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “11 of Crew, Boat…$400,000 Whiskey Cargo Lost,” 26 Nov 1924, p. 15.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Lawson. Ellen NicKenzie. “Smugglers, Bootleggers, and Scofflaws: Prohibition and New York City.” 2014. Accessed 3-24-2025 at:

Raw Data on 250 Liquor Ships Seized during Prohibition near NYC

Lowell Sun, MA. “11 of Crew, Boat and $400,000 Whiskey Cargo Lost,” 26Nov1924, 15. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=60856899