Harry Houghton (Reverberate) and Ethel Gee (Trellis) made up the Portland Spy Ring. Under their code names of Reverberate and Trellis they spied on the Sonar and Torpedo Research and Development on the Island in the 1960s Cold War. The couple who met on Portland, were tangled up over many years with an infamous cell of Soviet illegal spies!
Harry Houghton had a caravan on Cove Park where he could also keep an eye on shipping movements.
Harry wrote in his book that after making a series of light signals out to sea one night that he met two Russian agents on the beach at Church Ope Cove. He was told not to speak to them but just to escort them to the top of the steps and drive them away off the Island of Portland. Speculation is that they arrived by submarine. They were both wearing wellington boots he remarked. On the journey away from Portland the drive was thrown into total chaos as there was a police road block!
Something that was a regular occurrence with two prisons on the island. This was exactly for that purpose so the car was waved through, and as the prison staff would know their prisoners there was no reason to detain any that were not known to them.
That mission turned out to be the first of two of that type. The second was at Lulworth Cove.
Houghton claimed he aided agents to climb down into the dockyard so they could gain access to the offices at night.
Arrested and convicted in 1961 both Houghton and Gee were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each. They married in prison and were eventually released early. The Russians, Lonsdale and the Krogers, were all exchanged in prisoner swaps with Russia before serving their full sentences.
