Garbage scow
A garbage scow is a large watercraft used to transport refuse and garbage across waterways. It is often in the form of a barge which is towed or otherwise moved by means of tugboats; however, many are also self-propelled. They are most common in large, coastal cities, such as New York City,[1] who may transport collected trash to neighboring ports for disposal or, occasionally, even illegally dump the payload at sea.[2][3]
At times, garbage scows have been used to secretly transport illegal narcotics. In 1948, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported a major bust of narcotics smugglers by United States customs guards and NYC police, with city sanitation workers searching through 20 tons of garbage on a scow in New York Harbor to search for over $1 million in drugs concealed there.[1]
In another case, during the era of prohibition, a garbage scow (also in New York) was used to smuggle 1000 cases of liquor from New York's "rum row".[4]
