London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
TRAVELLING OLD STYLE.
Charles , in his and , in one of his have described the first primitive attempts at travelling with the assistance of steam locomotion. In the forties, a gentleman of means got to the coast in his chariot, shipped it on board the packet, and continued his journey when he reached Not long ago I came upon an inn in nestling under the shadow of the Castle, which, from its sign, must have been close to the departure stage of the steam packets. I am not sufficiently learned in the history of to say whether the boat ever started from that part of the place which is farthest away from the Lord Warden Hotel. However, there within a stone's throw of the new pier and the large that is now the prosperous Hotel Burlington, was To reach Boulogne from Folkestone, is now an easy matter, but in the days of the past the favourite route was from St. Katharine's Docks. When I was a child, I was constantly going to Boulogne via the Thames, and then the steamers were called the , the , and the. I have been told that the G.S.N.Co.-an association with a very | |
288 | large fleet-moves its boats from station to station as they grow older. For instance, when new, a vessel may run between London and Bordeaux, then from London to Margate, then ultimately appear as a ferry-boat on the coast of Japan. I wonder what has became of the and what has been the fate of a steamer still older, . In days gone by they were thronged with passengers who had every confidence in their sea-going qualities. I have braved in their cabins (but in a half-hearted fashion) many a bad passage. Peace be to their timbers if still afloat, or if broken up, to their ashes. |
