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Great Expectations vocabulary
8 nautical terms (boats, equipment, etc.)
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wherry
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tags: [nautical]
► definition
Definition:a type of boat that was traditionally used for carrying cargo or passengers on rivers and canals in England, and is particularly associated with the River Thames and also with the Broadland rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk.[...]During the eighteenth century rowing competitions for watermen became established on the Thames, and the prize was often a new wherry. The Sporting Magazine describes an event on 6 August 1795 as "the contest for the annual wherry given by the Proprietors of Vauxhall by six pairs of oars in three heats".text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
photo: by Charlesdrakew, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wherry_near_Wroxham.JPG
► uses
Uses:
our vessels were no other than wherries, one little barge, a small cock-boat, and a bad galiota which we framed in haste for that purpose at Trinidad;
Sir Walter Raleigh. The Discovery of Guiana
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the smallest wherry was equal to a first-rate man of war among us; and such a boat as I could manage would never live in any of their rivers.
Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels Into Several Remote Regions of the World (1726)
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Theodore Racksole embarked with his new friend George Hazell in one of the black-painted Customs wherries, manned by a crew of two men—both the later freemen of the river, a distinction which carries with it certain privileges unfamiliar to the mere landsman.
Arnold Bennett. The Grand Babylon Hôtel (1902)
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I was conscious of wanting elegance of style for the Thames,—not to say for other waters,—I at once engaged to place myself under the tuition of the winner of a prize-wherry who plied at our stairs, and to whom I was introduced by my new allies.
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)
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"Ah, of course. It was the sides which were black. Good-morning, Mrs. Smith.—There is a boatman here with a wherry, Watson. We shall take it and cross the river.
Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four
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