Oceans of Rum

In Oceans of Rum, Mossman draws on family, community and Canadian history to bring the story of rum-running in Atlantic Canada to vivid, pulsing life through his uncle's actual experiences. Mossman's book is an account tinged with tragedy and intrigue about how ordinary folk can find themselves thrust into the most extraordinary activities. Prohibition, legislated in the U.S. in 1921, banned the manufacture, transport and sale of intoxicating liquor. However, it soon became obvious that successfully policing the entire coastline of the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Great Lakes was impossible. In eastern Canada the door was suddenly wide open for fishermen willing to make the switch to smuggling. Even with the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, rum-running remained a profitable venture in Atlantic Canada up until World War II. Excitement, camaraderie, drama on the high seas, love affairs, big payoffs, and fast cars -- these were the returns for a life of smuggling in Atlantic Canada during Prohibition for those who dared. And David Mossman's uncle Teddy, Captain Winfred "Spinny" Spindler, certainly dared. The former deep-sea fisherman seized the opportunity to turn use his sea-going skills for rum-running between the years 1923 to 1938. Adventuresome and resilient, charismatic and resourceful, Captain Spindler matured and endured through necessity, hard work and tragedy, toward the end persevering like proverbial Job through his allotted ninety-three years.