In Adrian Lonsdale’s novel on Prohibition, the line between right and wrong is lost in the dark waters of Puget Sound.

“Scotch and Water,” says the retired Coast Guard Captain and Mattapoisett resident, centers on “the difficulties of enforcing an unpopular law.”

As the book opens, the newly enlisted Christian Lance arrives aboard the Sentinel, a ship captained by Karl Hirsch. Charged with stopping rum runners from illegally transporting alcohol from Canada, the captain and his crew are attempting to hold back the well-funded alcohol trade on an ill-equipped ship although not everyone is on board with the law.

Lonsdale said, “Everybody figured it was just a bunch of little old ladies trying to dictate the morals for everyone else.”

As “Scotch and Water” demonstrates, the ban on alcohol from 1920 to 1933, shifted from “gentlemen” rum runners to full out gangster warfare.

Lonsdale began researching Prohibition when he was 17.

“I grew up after Prohibition, but there was still animosity about it,” he said. “There was a certain stigma to drinking still.”

Lonsdale modeled the character of Captain Hirsch after his own grandfather, Chief Warrant Officer Lorenz Lonsdale, who served the Coast Guard in the Pacific Northwest.

Not one to divulge much information, Lonsdale’s grandfather only left him two pages of information. But the young Lonsdale took what information he could get, and also contacted a list of crew members aboard his grandfather’s ship.

“Some of them wouldn’t talk to me. They were afraid of retribution,” said Lonsdale.

Others, however, wrote down many details of their experiences during the liquor ban.

While in the Coast Guard himself, Lonsdale said he was charged with declassifying files from Prohibition. He recorded a lot of the information in the process, hoping one day to write a book on it.

What kept Lonsdale coming back to the subject for more than 50 years?

His own family’s connection to Prohibition was one reason, but Lonsdale said he was also intrigued by the conspiracies that kept rum running going. Many of those enforcing the law were also involved in peddling booze, he said.

Organized crime, violence, and murder all rose dramatically during the 13 years of the ban – something the Lonsdale highlights in his book.

“There were good gangsters and bad law enforcement. I don’t think that’s changed,” said Lonsdale.

The captain, who has written a number of articles and co-authored two other books, said the example of Prohibition is still relevant 80 years later.

“It’s an important topic because it repeats itself. It might be akin to the marijuana business now,” he said. “We’re trying to change people’s habits, trying to tell them how they should run their lives.”