Classification 45: Crime on the High Seas

This classification, formally established in 1924 but including some records dated earlier, covers a variety of crimes committed at sea. Director Hoover was very interested in crimes at sea and the FBI pressed for more laws to obtain greater authority. The Bureau's campaigns helped to get laws against gamblers on ships (1939), stowaways (1940), gambling ships (1948) and stowaways as well as other crimes on aircraft (1944 and 1952). The FBI fought jurisdictional battles with such agencies as the Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with mixed results. Stowaway cases were the most numerous and became the statistical mainstay of this classification. Despite Hoover's interest the number of cases declined sharply by the late 1940s and continued to drop in the 1950s through 1970s.

NARA online catalog descriptions of holdings for Classification 45: Crime on the High Seas

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