I was once clearing in at Soper's on a busy day when the guy before me presented himself, just himself, for clearance. No boat, no boat papers. He explained that his friend from St. John 'dropped him off, then took off'.

I truly thought the Immigration guy was going to have a stroke, he was so incredibly angry. He basically said that the guy needed to figure out how to get his friend back to clear in, or he was going to spend time in jail until he did.

His friend came back toute de suite. (I was in Zelma's, but I could still hear the guy gettin' a tongue-lashing from C & I). Thank goodness for cell phones.