The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-10 00:00:00

THE PLEASURES OF WAPPING.

Though thousands of Englishmen leave this coun-
try for the purpose of Continental travel and return
again in the course of :he year, comparatively few
of them are acquainted with the pleasures incident
to a departure from or an arrival at the port of
London. Most of them prefer land to water, and
they generally belong to a class which can afford to
gratify its inclinations, and the consequence is that
while they are to be seen in crowds on what are
called the short sea routes, they are scarcely ever
to be met with on the numerous boats which ply
between Loudon and the various seaports of the
Continent. Did more of them adopt this latter
mode of travel it is probable that the present plea-
sures of the inhabitants of Wrapping might be con-
siderably diminished, but, by way of compensation,
the comforts of the many foreigners whose
first experience of English ways and manners is I
generally picked up in this district would be propor-
tionately increased. For it is certain that English
travellers would never stand what the unfortunate
stranger who cannot speak our language is coin-
led to put up with. As it is, foreigners have not
the knack of making known their grievances in the
papers, but they submit with sheep-like patience, and
the nuisance continues, and is likely to continue
until the guardians of the city can be aroused to a
sense of their duty, for they alone have the power,
or, we believe, the right to put a stop to it. On the
whole, the nuisance is greater to those who arrive
at than to those who depart from the port; but
the lesser nuisance is bad enough. The moment a
cab arrives loaded with boxes and portmanteaus at
any of the various steps which lead down to the
river it is surrounded by a crowd of ill-favoured
roughs, who do not offer, but force, their services
upon the occupant of the vehicle. If the latter be ac-
customed to travelling and acquainted with the ways
of his officious friends, he may awe them by a de-
termined manner, keep their hands of his " traps,"
and get these latter conveyed to the boat he wants
to reach easily enough ; but if, as is more often the
case, the occupant be a lady—especially an old one
—or a foreigner, or an inexperienced youth, he or
she has the felicity of seeing how in England the
goods of the stranger are seized by a multitude of
hands and conveyed goodness knows whither.
Generally, after a good deal of unnecessary bother,
higgling and haggling and squabbling, and gross
imposition on the part of the porters, the luggage
is placed on the right boat, but it by no means
unfrequently happens that one or more packets
have been stolen in the hurry and confusion. On
an average, four or five times too much is paid to
the porters and to the boatmen who row the goods
and the passenger from the steps to the steamer.
But the real time for both boatmen and porters to
make a good harvest is on the arrival of a vessel
in the river. As soon as the vessel is anchored it is
surrounded with small boats, and its deck is boarded
by ticketed porters. Both porters and boatmen are
yin the boat and
civil to excess until they have got two or more pas-
sengers e rs withpushedo
their
olmu gtghaeg
vesselsaf towards the steps,e
some few yards disNnce ; but before reaching the
steps their manner undergoes a gradual change.
At first they will ask in a determined, but not
exactly uncivil, manner for " gentlemen to pay their
fares before landing." if a meek individual then
sse are meek they
inquires how much, he is probably informed (not
certainly, for the demand varies astonishingly) that
pitieicseof luggage.d 2s. 6
If
for
each person,
ngers pa and 6d. or ls. for each
pay, inwardly cursing their extortioners, but pre-
ferring payment to a row. if one or more of them
should object to the demand there is sure to be a
disturbance—sometimes an angry one —with a good
deal of queer language on both sides. In the end if
the passenger is sufficiently determined, the boatman
will take him to shore and receive a shilling or less,
in place of the four or five or more which he at first
demanded. But such instances of determination
are rare. The great majority of those who reach
England by the sea route are foreigners, many of
them very young, coming to London to begin life
in business, and most, if not all of them, availing
themselves of the route for the sake of economy.
Not knowing our language, and not seeing, as they
do in their own countries, officials in uniform, to
whom they may appeal for protection, they are
practically in the power of their extortioners, and
have to pay whatever tribute is demanded of them.
We could mention several cases which have come
under our own knowledge. Not very long ago a
young Dane came to London by this route. He had
never before left Copenhagen, where honesty is the
rule, even among cabmen and boatmen. On his
arrival in the Thames he was conveyed from his
steamer with one small portmanteau to the Tower
steps, and modestly charged four shillings. He
could not speak the language. He dare not
confront the boatmen alone, and no policemen
or man in any kind of uniform was to be seen, so
he paid the sum demanded and his portinanteau
was carried up the steps by a porter and placed on
a cab. The porter, elated at the success of the
boatman, demanded the same amount, but eventu-
ally condescended to take 3s. for having carried hie
burden ten yards. Only the other day a Swede
arrived at the same place. lie had two port-
manteaus, a stick, an umbrella, a great coat, and
rug done up into one parcel. He was made to pay
a shilling for the conveyance to the steps by the
boat for each parcel, and a shilling for the convey-
ance from the steps to the cab, and in both cases
his stick, umbrella, and rug were counted as sepa-
rate pieces of luggage, and in all he paid 103. Nor
are these cases exceptional. It may be said that
foreigners should resist such extortion ; but the array
of roughs who crowd all the steps at which boats
are expected is somewhat formidable, and in case
of a disputed fare they have an ugly threatening
way of crowding round and hustling which is
quite enough to intimidate men of strong nerves,
much more females or strangers who know not the
country or the language. That such intimidation
should be used and be successful is disgraceful. The
laws and regulations on the subject are good enough,
and sufficient for all purposes. According to them
each waterman may charge 6d. for the conveyance
of a passenger, and 2d. for each piece of luggage,
and the porters can make a similar charge for
loading and unloading. But the Itw is a dead
letter, for there is never any official present to en-
force it. The very simple plan of having a police-
man placed day and night at each of the steps
would be amply sufficient to protect strangers and
to enforce the law ; but at the present time not
only is no such provision made, but a policeman is
scarcely ever to be seen in the neighbourhood. As
a matter of course the neighbourhood is a partieu-
larly bad oue• Near so large a vort it must ueces •