VIEWING REGION: Canada & USA

“The Story of the I’m Alone” is an animated short created on Prince Edward Island. The short retells the story of the I’m Alone, a Canadian schooner built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in the 1920s and used in the elcit trade f contraband (rum-running) during Prohibition. The animated short plays to the song “The Story of the I’m Alone” by iconic Canadian folksinger Wade Hemsworth, who created some of the most classic Canadian folk songs such as “The Blackfly Song” and “The Log Driver’s Waltz.” 

The “hero” of our story is Jack Randell, a wild Newfoundlander and veteran of World War 1 (and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croixs des Guerres), Captain of the I’m Alone; his antithesis is Alfred Powell, also a decorated veteran of WW1, Captain of the Dexter. In just over seven minutes, the song and video illustrate how the Dexter, an American Coast Guard cutter, attacked and sank the I’m Alone outside of treaty waters in March 1929, sparking an international crisis that took six years to resolve. In the end, the US was required to issue a formal apology to Canada and pay Canada $25,000 for insult and loss of property in addition to $25,000 to Captain Randell and his crew.