One Would Imagine They Had Formed A
General Conspiracy Against All Those Who Either Go To, Or Return
From The Continent.
About five years ago, in my passage from
Flushing to Dover, the master of the packet-boat brought-to all
of a sudden off the South Foreland, although the wind was as
favourable as it could blow.
He was immediately boarded by a
customhouse boat, the officer of which appeared to be his friend.
He then gave the passengers to understand, that as it was low
water, the ship could not go into the harbour; but that the boat
would carry them ashore with their baggage.
The custom-house officer demanded a guinea for this service, and
the bargain was made. Before we quitted the ship, we were obliged
to gratify the cabin-boy for his attendance, and to give drink-money
to the sailors. The boat was run aground on the open beach;
but we could not get ashore without the assistance of three or
four fellows, who insisted upon being paid for their trouble.
Every parcel and bundle, as it was landed, was snatched up by a
separate porter: one ran away with a hat-box, another with a wig-box,
a third with a couple of shirts tied up in a handkerchief,
and two were employed in carrying a small portmanteau that did
not weigh forty pounds. All our things were hurried to the
custom-house to be searched, and the searcher was paid for
disordering our cloaths: from thence they were removed to the
inn, where the porters demanded half-a-crown each for their
labour. It was in vain to expostulate; they surrounded the house
like a pack of hungry bounds, and raised such a clamour, that we
were fain to comply. After we had undergone all this imposition,
we were visited by the master of the packet, who, having taken
our fares, and wished us joy of our happy arrival in England,
expressed his hope that we would remember the poor master, whose
wages were very small, and who chiefly depended upon the
generosity of the passengers. I own I was shocked at his
meanness, and could not help telling him so. I told him, I could
not conceive what title he had to any such gratification: he had
sixteen passengers, who paid a guinea each, on the supposition
that every person should have a bed; but there were no more than
eight beds in the cabin, and each of these was occupied before I
came on board; so that if we had been detained at sea a whole
week by contrary winds and bad weather, one half of the
passengers must have slept upon the boards, howsoever their
health might have suffered from this want of accommodation.
Notwithstanding this check, he was so very abject and
importunate, that we gave him a crown a-piece, and he retired.
The first thing I did when I arrived at Dover this last time, was
to send for the master of a packet-boat, and agree with him to
carry us to Boulogne at once, by which means I saved the expence
of travelling by land from Calais to this last place, a journey
of four-and-twenty miles. The hire of a vessel from Dover to
Boulogne is precisely the same as from Dover to Calais, five
guineas; but this skipper demanded eight, and, as I did not know
the fare, I agreed to give him six. We embarked between six and
seven in the evening, and found ourselves in a most wretched
hovel, on board what is called a Folkstone cutter. The cabin was
so small that a dog could hardly turn in it, and the beds put me
in mind of the holes described in some catacombs, in which the
bodies of the dead were deposited, being thrust in with the feet
foremost; there was no getting into them but end-ways, and indeed
they seemed so dirty, that nothing but extreme necessity could
have obliged me to use them. We sat up all night in a most
uncomfortable situation, tossed about by the sea, cold, arid
cramped and weary, and languishing for want of sleep. At three in
the morning the master came down, and told us we were just off
the harbour of Boulogne; but the wind blowing off shore, he could
not possibly enter, and therefore advised us to go ashore in the
boat. I went upon deck to view the coast, when he pointed to the
place where he said Boulogne stood, declaring at the same time we
were within a short mile of the harbour's mouth. The morning was
cold and raw, and I knew myself extremely subject to catch cold;
nevertheless we were all so impatient to be ashore, that I
resolved to take his advice. The boat was already hoisted out,
and we went on board of it, after I had paid the captain and
gratified his crew. We had scarce parted from the ship, when we
perceived a boat coming towards us from the shore; and the master
gave us to understand, it was coming to carry us into the
harbour. When I objected to the trouble of shifting from one boat
to another in the open sea, which (by the bye) was a little
rough; he said it was a privilege which the watermen of Boulogne
had, to carry all passengers ashore, and that this privilege he
durst not venture to infringe. This was no time nor place to
remonstrate. The French boat came alongside half filled with
water, and we were handed from the one to the other. We were then
obliged to lie upon our oars, till the captain's boat went on
board and returned from the ship with a packet of letters. We
were afterwards rowed a long league, in a rough sea, against wind
and tide, before we reached the harbour, where we landed,
benumbed with cold, and the women excessively sick:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 21 of 141
Words from 20401 to 21403
of 143308
