While many visitors enjoy sitting on our beaches with a nice cocktail in hand, nearly a century ago our coastline was a haven for a different kind of “rum runner”. On June 23, 1930, Coast Guardsmen discovered a partly submerged ship in the Delaware Bay, just south of the Mispillion Harbor, that appeared a little fishy…

Upon further inspection, authorities found that the craft, the “Daisy T.,” was smuggling over 100 cases of liquor valued at over $10,000! Authorities believed that the ship was headed to a secret port on the Mispillion River to unload the alcohol when it was intercepted by a pirate vessel that rammed into its side. Whether the crew of the Daisy T. were murdered, as some believed, or able to escape as pirates looted the vessel is not certain, as authorities weren’t able to track down the culprits or the victims.

However, months later a local smuggler known as James MacNally was caught with more than 400 bags of alcohol at Flemings landing, just outside Smyrna. While MacNally was simply fined for this wrongdoing, investigators began to connect him to the mysterious Daisy T. Yet, before anything could be proven, MacNally was able to evade custody in a daring escape off the second floor of the federal court in Wilmington and was never to be caught again.

Though the Daisy T. did not make it to the Mispillion River on that fateful night, there is little doubt that many a ship transporting illegal alcohol during prohibition used the light shown by the Mispillion lighthouse to enter the river dubbed a rumrunner’s “haven”.

Thanks to guest authors from Dupont Nature Center: Manager Patrick Ruhl, who studied history at Flagler College and UC San Diego, and Joseph Linsenmeyer, currently a student at Johns Hopkins University and 2024 Summer Historical Intern . Information from Delaware Archives.