Imagine it, the fog is so dense it’s as thick as pea soup, as the ol’ timers say. You can’t see ten feet in front of you and, all of a sudden, the deck under your feet tilts violently. Maybe there’s a shudder and a bang; maybe there’s smoke. We’ll never know for sure, because nobody really knows what happened when the John Dwight went down in 1923.

The John Dwight, a converted pogy steamer, sank almost immediately in a dense fog on Vineyard Sound on April 6, 1923, in 100 feet of water. She had two seasoned skippers aboard, Captain Malcome Carmichael and John King, and a crew of about fifteen. The Dwight was a rumrunner carrying illegal booze (Prohibition had its perks and money was one of them). Sinking is not uncommon with boats, but sinking with little or no wreckage and no survivors at the scene is, which is exactly what happened with the John Dwight.

What makes the story even more delicious are the details of what happened next. The Coast Guard searched in a two-mile radius for survivors or wreckage and found not a trace. A full 24 hours later, wreckage and dead bodies began to appear. Seven sailors, all in life jackets, were found floating in the ocean, lifeless, and all seven had evidence of a “wicked free-for-all fight”. The body of Harry King, the son of skipper John King, washed ashore in a skiff on Menemsha. He was face down and the back of his head had been crushed. Just exactly what happened in that mysterious 24 hours between the vessel going down and the appearance of crew and debris?

Better still, it was reported that several weeks after the shipwreck, a strange and beautiful woman arrived in Oak Bluffs, asking questions about Malcome Carmichael and the fate of the John Dwight. Who was this woman? Did she really exist or was this a bit of romantic embellishment to an already complicated story? There were more stories: the crew received $125,000 and, just before she got underway, a New Jersey man appeared with an additional $100,000. So, who was he?

The few things we do know are that Carmichael and King were never seen again, and that barrels of Montreal Frontenac Ale were found either floating or washed ashore. Sadly, those that found the barrels dutifully turned them over to the Coast Guard. Divers in 1935 discovered that the Dwight’s sea cocks—valves on the hull—were open, indicating she was scuttled (deliberately sunk). But what about all those people? We may never know. The mystery of the John Dwight remains.

- Bird Jones

References:

“The John Dwight Mystery - Rum Running, Piracy and Murde.r” OnCape Magazine, 2023.

Allen, Everett S: The Black Ships: Rumrunners of Prohibition Applewood Press Carlisle, Massachusetts; 1979.

“Sea May Yet Yield Secret of the Dwight” The Vineyard Gazette, Sept 21 1935.