Notes and Queries, Number 44, August 31, 1850 | Page 2

be in condition to swim for their lives. This extremely terrify'd the passengers, who, having a cloth or tilt over them, were in no condition to save their lives, so that there was a dreadful cry among them, and some of the men were making way to come at the steersman to make him by force let fly the sail and stand back for the shore; but before they could get to him the waves broke in upon the boat and carried them all to the bottom, none escaping but the three watermen that were prepar'd to swim. {210}
"It was but poor satisfaction for the loss of so many lives, to say the steersman was drown'd with them, who ought, indeed, to have died at the gallows, or on the wheel, for he was certainly the murtherer of all the rest.
"I have many times pass'd between London and Gravesend with these fellows in their smaller boats, when I have seen them, in spite of the shrieks and cries of the women and the persuasions of the men passengers, and, indeed, as if they were the more bold by how much the passengers were the more afraid; I say, I have seen them run needless hazards, and go, as it were, within an inch of death, when they have been under no necessity of it, and, if not in contempt of the passengers, it has been in meer laziness to avoid their rowing; and I have been sometimes oblig'd, especially when there has been more men in the boat of the same mind, so that we have been strong enough for them, to threaten to cut their throats to make them hand their sails and keep under shore, not to fright as well as hazard the passengers when there was no need of it.
"One time, being in one of these boats all alone, coming from London to Gravesend, the wind freshen'd and it begun to blow very hard after I was come about three or four mile of the way; and as I said above, that I always thought those fellows were the more venturous when their passengers were the most fearful, I resolved I would let this fellow alone to himself; so I lay down in the boat as if I was asleep, as is usual.
"Just when I lay down, I called to the waterman, 'It blows hard, waterman,' said I; 'can you swim?' 'No, Sir,' says he. 'Nor can't your man swim neither?' said I. 'No, Sir,' says the servant. 'Well then,' says I, 'take care of yourselves, I shall shift as well as you, I suppose:' and so down I lay. However, I was not much disposed to sleep; I kept the tilt which they cover their passengers with open in one place, so that I could see how things went.
"The wind was fair, but over-blow'd so much, that in those reaches of the river which turn'd crossway, and where the wind by consequence was thwart the stream, the water went very high, and we took so much into the boat, that I began to feel the straw which lay under me at the bottom was wet, so I call'd to the waterman, and jesting told him, they must go all hands to the pump; he answered, he hoped I should not be wet; 'But it's bad weather, master,' says he, 'we can't help it.' 'No, no,' says I, ''tis pretty well yet, go on.'
"By and by I heard him say to himself, 'It blows very hard,' and every now and then he repeated it, and sometimes thus: ''Twill be a dirty night, 'twill be a terrible night,' and the like; still I lay still and said nothing.
"After some time, and his bringing out several such speeches as above, I rous'd as if I had but just wak'd; 'Well, waterman,' says I, 'how d'ye go on?' 'Very indifferently,' says he; 'it blows very hard.' 'Ay, so it does,' says I; 'where are we?' 'A little above Erith,' says he; so down I lay again, and said no more for that time.
"By and by he was at it again, 'It blows a frett of wind,' and 'It blows very hard,' and the like; but still I said nothing. At last we ship'd a dash of water over the boat's head, and the spry of it wetted me a little, and I started up again as if I had been asleep; 'Waterman,' says I, 'what are you doing? what, did you ship a sea?' 'Ay,' says the waterman, 'and a great one too; why it blows a frett of wind.' 'Well, well,' says I, 'come, have a good heart; where are we now?' 'Almost in Gallions,' says he, 'that's a reach below Woolwich.'
"Well, when we got into the Gallions reach,