Garbage scow
A garbage scow is a large watercraft used to transport refuse and waste/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, who may transport collected trash to neighboring ports for disposal or, occasionally, even illegally dump the payload at sea.
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.
In another case, during the era of prohibition, a garbage scow was used to smuggle 1000 cases of liquor from New York's "rum row".
