William Frederick "Bill" McCoy (August 17, 1877 – December 30, 1948), was an American sea captain and

rum-runner Rum-running or bootlegging is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction. The te ...

during the Prohibition in the United States. In pursuing the trade of smuggling alcohol from the Bahamas to the Eastern Seaboard, Capt. McCoy,John Kobler, ''Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition'' (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973), p. 257. found a role model in

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of t ...

of pre-revolutionary Boston and considered himself an "honest lawbreaker." McCoy took pride in the fact that he never paid a cent to organized crime, politicians, or law enforcement for protection. Unlike many operations that illegally produced and smuggled alcohol for consumption during Prohibition, McCoy sold his merchandise unadulterated, uncut and clean.

Biography

McCoy was born in Syracuse, New York in 1877 to a

Scottish-American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

family. He had a brother Ben, five years older, and a sister Violet, five years younger. His father, also William McCoy, was a brick mason who had been in the

Union Navy The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN). The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were un ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, serving on the blockade of Southern coasts.Donald L. Canney
"Rum War: The U.S. Coast Guard & Prohibition"
at

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

, archived a
web.archive.org
/ref> Bill McCoy attended the Pennsylvania Nautical School on board the then USS ''Saratoga'' in Philadelphia, graduating in 1895 first in his class. He later served as mate and quartermaster on various vessels including the P & O steamer ''Olivette'', which was in Havana, Cuba when the USS ''Maine'' exploded in 1898. Around 1900, the McCoy family moved to a small Florida town named Holly Hill, just north of Daytona Beach. Bill and his brother Ben operated a motor boat service and a boat yard in Holly Hill and

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. By 1918, having constructed vessels for millionaire customers that included

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

and the

Vanderbilts The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthr ...

among others, McCoy earned a reputation for being a skilled yacht builder.

McCoy during Prohibition

During Prohibition (1920–33), the McCoy brothers fell on hard times. Their excursion and freight business could not compete with the new highways and buses being built up and down the coast and across Florida. Needing money, the two brothers made a decision to go into rum-running. They sold the assets of their business, traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts, and bought the schooner ''Henry L. Marshall''. McCoy then began to

smuggle Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

into the U.S., traveling from Nassau and

Bimini Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas and comprises a chain of islands located about due east of Miami. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately west-northwest of Nassau. The popula ...

in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

to the east coast of the United States, spending most time dealing on "

Rum Row A rum row was a Prohibition-era term (1920–1933) referring to a line of ships loaded with liquor anchored beyond the maritime limit of the United States. These ships taunted the Eighteenth Amendment’s prohibition on the sale and consumption o ...

" off New Jersey. After a few successful trips smuggling liquor off the coast of the United States, Bill McCoy had enough money to buy the schooner ''Arethusa''. Placing the schooner under British registry to avoid being US jurisdiction, Bill renamed the vessel ''Tomoka'' (after the river that runs through his hometown Holly Hill). McCoy made a number of successful trips aboard the ''Tomoka'', and – along with the ''Henry L. Marshall'' and up to five other vessels – became a household name through his smuggling activities. Capt. McCoy mostly hauled Rye,

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and

Canadian whisky Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits, and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles.

as well as other fine liquors and wines. He is credited with inventing the "burlock" – a package holding six bottles jacketed in straw, three on the bottom, then two, then one, the whole sewed tightly in burlap. It was compact and easy to handle and stow. These were generally known in the Coast Guard as "sacks." McCoy also became an enemy of the U.S. Government and organized crime. When the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

discovered McCoy, he established the system of anchoring large ships off the coast in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

and selling liquor to smaller ships that transferred it to the shore. McCoy also smuggled liquor and spirits from the French islands of

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (french: link=no, Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in t ...

located south of Newfoundland. File:McCoy scrapbook image.jpg, McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum File:McCoy brothers aboard ship.jpg, Rum runners aboard Arithusa. McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum File:McCoy family scrapbook photograph.jpg, McCoy family in Holland. McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum File:Pennsylvania Nautical School Bill McCoy diploma.jpg, Bill McCoy's Pennsylvania Nautical School Diploma. 1895. McCoy scrapbook image McCoy Family Papers Collection. J. Henderson Welles Archives and Library, Independence Seaport Museum

Capture and arraignment

On November 23, 1923, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter ''

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

'', had orders to capture Bill McCoy and the ''Tomoka'', even if in international waters. The ''New York Times'' article that reported on the capture and arraignment of McCoy described the incident:

The report to Collector Elting showed that the Tomaka was first boarded by Lieut. Commander Perkins of the Coast Guard cutter Seneca, who ordered the crew keep silent. The bow of the schooner then was turned out to sea, and when the commander of the cutter observed the movement, he sent a shot across the bow of the Tomaka. She returned the fire with a machine gun set up on her forward deck. The machine gunners ran to cover when the shells of the Seneca began to fall so close to their mark that they kicked the spray over the Tomaka's deck."Sea Rumrunner Held on 2 Liquor Charges," ''The New York Times'', ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Nov. 27, 1923, p. 21.

McCoy described the chase that led to his capture:

When the Tomoka was boarded under cover of the Seneca's guns, I immediately set sail and ran away with the boarding party – one lieutenant, one bos'n and thirteen seamen – and only upon their pleas did I heave to and put them back on the Seneca. The damned radio was too severe a handicap for me. I surrendered after the Seneca had fired four-inch shells at me.Philip C. Jessup, "No Reflection Intended," ''The New York Times'', ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Nov. 6, 1932, pg. E2.

When asked what defense he planned to make at the hearing before the trial, McCoy introduced the details of his operations by replying:

I have no tale of woe to tell you. I was outside the three-mile limit, selling whisky, and good whisky, to anyone and everyone who wanted to buy.

Instead of a long drawn out trial, Bill McCoy pleaded guilty and spent nine months in a New Jersey jail. He returned to Florida and invested his money in real estate. He and his brother continued the boat-building business and frequently traveled up and down the coast.

In popular culture

In the HBO series '' Boardwalk Empire'', Bill McCoy is played by Pearce Bunting.

Biography

McCoy during Prohibition

Capture and arraignment

In popular culture

References

External links