Coast Guard Enforcing Prohibition on Rum Runners, 1929. Prohibition in the USA: sailors firing gun at bootleggers boat with illegal alcohol. It wasnt just a question of sneaking past the customs with the odd bottle, but getting through with a whole shipload. From the five-mile limit in, you were on your own. But there you are - where theres a demand there always has to be a supply. The coast guard held different views, however, and expressed them with force. From "Time to Remember - 1929 The Time Of The House At Bognor" - Reel 3; a documentary about the world in 1929. Illness of King George V & economic depression.