"A fat woman laden with basket, bottles, bundle, &c. descends steps to the waterside, blown by the wind and beset by five bawling watermen, who point towards their boats. Behind (right), other men hail an approaching passenger. The bows of two Thames wherries are on the left; in one a young waterman stands punting his boat. The watermen wear short full-skirted coats with knee-breeches and have large oval badges on the arm. Part of an old timber building forms a background to the group on the stairs. It has a large placard: 'Wapping Old Stairs'. From a projecting upper floor a man and girl look down, amused, the man smoking a long pipe. In the foreground (right) a chubby fisherman's boy sleeps in a dinghy on a pile of nets. There is a background of ships at anchor, a riverside church flying a flag, and a timber building with a large beam projecting over the water from which hangs a barrel."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Two lines of text below title: Entering upon any of the bridges of London, or any of the passages leading to the Thames, being assailed by a groupe of watermen, holding up their hands and bawling out. Oars Sculls. Sculls. Oars Oars., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Temporary local subject terms: Fish nets -- Watermen.
Publisher:
Designd. & pubd. July 14, 1812, by T. Rowlandson, N. 1 James St., Adelphi
