AN ARTICLE INTENDED FOR THE "QUARTERLY REVIEW," BUT FALLEN INTO THE HANDS
OF "PUNCH."
I.--_Hours of the Starting of the Boats of the Iron Steam Boat Company_.
London: 1841.
II.--_Notes of a Passenger on Board the Bachelor, during a Voyage from Old
Swan Pier, London Bridge, to the Red House, Battersea_. CATNACH: 1840.
III.--_Rule Britannia, a Song_. London: 1694.
IV.--_Two Years before the Mast_. CUNNINGHAM. London.
V.--_Checks issued by the London and Westminster Steam Boat Company_.
CATTARNS AND FRY.
At a time when the glory of England stands--like a door shutting or opening
either way--entirely upon a pivot; when the hostile attitude of enemies
abroad threatens not more, nor perhaps less, than the antagonistic posture
of foes at home--at such a time there is at least a yet undug and hitherto
unexplored mine of satisfaction in the refreshing fact, that the Thames is
fostering in his bosom an entirely new navy, calculated to bid defiance to
the foe--should he ever come--in the very heart and lungs, the very bowels
and vitals, the very liver and lungs, or, in one emphatic word, the very
pluck of the metropolis. There is not a more striking instance of the
remarkable connexion between little--very little--causes, and
great--undeniably great--effects, than the extraordinary origin, rise,
progress, germ, development, and maturity, of the _above-bridge navy_, the
bringing of which prominently before the public, who may owe to that navy
at some future--we hope so incalculably distant as never to have a chance
of arriving--day, the salvation of their lives, the protection of their
hearths, the inviolability of their street-doors, and the security of their
properties. Sprung from a little knot of (we wish we could say "_jolly
young_," though truth compels us to proclaim) far from jolly, and decidedly
old, "watermen," the _above-bridge navy_, whose shattered and unfrequented
wherries were always "in want of a fare," may now boast of covering the
bosom of the Thames with its fleet of steamers; thus, as it were, bringing
the substantial piers of London Bridge within a stone's throw--if we may be
allowed to pitch it so remarkably strong--of the once remote regions of the
Beach[3], and annihilating, as it were, the distance between sombre
southwark and bloom-breathing Battersea.
[3] Chelsea.
The establishment of this little fleet may well be a proud reflection to
those shareholders who, if they have no dividend in specie, have another
species of dividend in the swelling gratification with which the heart of
every one must be inflated, as, on seeing one of the noble craft dart with
the tide through the arches--supposing, of course, it does not strike
against them--of Westminster Bridge, he is enabled mentally to exclaim,
"There goes some of _my_ capital!" But if the pride of the proprietor--if
_he_ can be called a proprietor who derives nothing from his property--be
great, what must be the feelings of the captain to whose guidance the bark
is committed! We can scarcely conceive a nobler subject of contemplation
than one of those once indigent--not to say absolutely done up--watermen,
perched proudly on the summit of a paddle-box, and thinking--as he very
likely does, particularly when the vessel swags and sways from side to
side--of the height he stands upon.
It may be, and has been, urged by some, that the Thames is not exactly the
place to form the naval character; that a habit of braving the "dangers of
the deep" is hardly to be acquired where one may walk across at low tide,
on account of the water being so confoundedly _shallow_: but these are
cavillings which the lofty and truly patriotic mind will at once and
indignantly repudiate. The humble urchin, whose sole duty consists in
throwing out a rope to each pier, and holding hard by it while the vessel
stops, may one day be destined for some higher service: and where is the
English bosom that will not beat at the thought, that the dirty lad below,
whose exclamation of "Ease her!--stop her!--one turn ahead!"--may one day
be destined to give the word of command on the quarterdeck, and receive, in
the shape of a cannon-ball, a glorious full-stop to his honourable
services!
Looking as we do at the _above-bridge navy_, in a large and national light,
we are not inclined to go into critical details, such as are to be met
with, _passim_, in the shrewd and amusing work of "The Passenger on board
the Bachelor." There may be something in the objection, that there is no
getting comfortably into one of these boats when one desires to go by it.
It may be true, that a boy's neglecting "to hold" sufficiently "hard," may
keep the steamer vibrating and Sliding about, within a yard of the pier,
without approaching it. But these are small considerations, and we are not
sure that the necessity of keeping a sharp look out, and jumping aboard at
precisely the right time, does not keep up that national ingenuity which is
not the least valuable part of the English character. In the same light are
we disposed to regard the occasional running aground of these boats, which,
at all events, is a fine practical lesson of patience to the passengers.
The collisions are not so much to our taste, and these, we think, though
useful to a certain extent for inculcating caution, should be resorted to
as rarely as possible.
We have not gone into the system of signals and "_hand motions_," if we may
be allowed to use a legal term, by which the whole of this navy is
regulated; but these, and other details, may, perhaps, be the subject of
some future article for we are partial to
[Illustration: TAKING IT EASY.]
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