André Bessette tells us about the liquor trade on St-Pierre-et-Miquelon

This video clip is an extract from an interview with André Bessette that Héritage Sutton recorded in February 2020.

André  Bessette: It was my uncle who drove the car. The liquor was all 90% proof. They didn’t want anyone to see it, so the car was empty inside except for the one seat for the driver. They’d pack the stuff in rows low enough so you couldn’t see it through the windows.  He left from Fair Haven, Vermont.  

Interviewer: And how did the alcohol arrive in Fair Haven?

André Bessette: It was an American who loaded the car at the harbour in Boston.

Interviewer: So, from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to Boston. It was by boat?

André  Bessette: Yes. Then the American took it and brought it to Fair Haven, where my uncle waited for him at a motel. They’d change drivers to cross into Québec, and when they came back my uncle would go back to the motel and the American would drive the car back to Boston to load it all over again. 

Interviewer: Where did they cross the border?

André Bessette: Ah, there were so many different roads to choose from.

André Bessette: And of course they had to change them all the time.