We all know the Northerners like to drink! Who wouldn’t? One needs good liquor to warm up in a climate with long and harsh winters. Well, it might be just a prejudice. In the old days, trading across the Gulf of Finland included bartering. Northern Estonian coastal folk traded agricultural products for salted Baltic herring and commodities with the inhabitants of the southern coast of Finland and the islands. Bartering was not considered smuggling because the law did not prohibit it.
However, very soon in the 19th century, spirits became the primary item of “bartering.” Cheap alcohol was shipped from Germany to Estonia, and the inhabitants of coastal villages transported it to mainland Estonia. Saccharin, tea, coffee, medicines, and gunpowder were smuggled, too. When the First World War came, tobacco, fabric, and underwear were added, making smuggling between two coasts a heyday.
The Finnish temperance movement resulted in the prohibition of all alcohol in 1919. During the prohibition period, actual alcohol consumption grew for 300%! Bootlegging offered fast profits, and most of booze from Estonia found their buyers in Finland. Thirsty Finns were the reason why additional shipments were carried from Germany. Smuggling was a big business, and local fishermen joined to earn some extra cash.
Good profits brought smugglers better and faster boats – at least faster than the ones coast guard had. Steamboats were used from Germany and many smugglers were sailing under Panamaian and Brazilian flags, as these countries were not parties to the anti-smuggling agreements. Still, the job was not easy at all. If caught, smugglers would face hefty fines and seizure of their boats. If running away from the guards, they could have been killed.
Soon, “spirit kings” emerged. One of them was Eduard Krönström, who started smuggling on a small fishing boat and started to raise profits. Soon, he was the chief of all smuggling business in the Gulf of Finland. He had five ships and numerous small boats used to smuggle alcohol from Hungary and Germany. He became wealthy and powerful but died in a car crash in 1931. Another was Arnold Eerik, the leader of one of the biggest groups of smugglers from Estonia called Viinistu Trust. He was very educated and influential. Eerik managed to kick out foreign competitors from the business. He tried to do the same with Krönström, whom he even reported to the Coast Guard, but he never totally controlled the whole business.
Women were also involved in spirit smuggling. They often stored and transported the alcohol from the coast to the city and handled distribution. A famous spirit queen was Leena Krönström. She owned a boat, Laura, with a crew of six men. To grow her business, Leena moved to Helsinki and created a whole smuggling network across Finland.
Days of smuggling ended abruptly in 1932 when Finland repealed the prohibition of alcohol. This reduced smuggling but did not totally stop the business. German alcohol was still much cheaper than legal alcohol in Finland. The smuggling ended only with the start of the Second World War. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, alcohol became Finland's number one export product. Finnish tourists regularly visit Estonia and buy large amounts of alcohol to take home.
Comments