Between Mersea and the Blackwater were several flat hol ms or islands, some under water at high-tides, others only just standing above it, and between these, the winding waterways formed a labyrinth which made pursuit difficult. The traffic was carried on with an audacity and openness unparalleled elsewhere. Al though there was a coastguard station at the month of the estuary, on Mersea 'Hard, ' yet goods were run even in open day, under the very eyes of the revenue men. Each public-house on the island, and on the mainland near a creek, obtained its entire supply of wine and spirits from contraband vessels.