'Wapping Old Stairs, Where the Watermen Plied', c1935. Steps leading down to the River Thames at Wapping in London. The Thames watermen used small boats called wherries or skiffs to ferry passengers along and across the river, the most convenient form of travel given the narrow congested city streets. From "Wonderful London, Volume 3", edited by Arthur St John Adcock. [The Fleetway House, London, c1935]