EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WATER TRAVEL
the Danube in 1792 recorded in his journal, "The seventh day of my being immured in a sty."[1] Travelers in general complain that the boats are small and dirty and over-crowded. Yet even at worst the boats were hardly inferior to the conveyances on land. The luxurious Lady Mary Montagu, who in 1716 descended the Danube from Regensburg to Vienna, found the "journey perfectly agreeable." She went "in one of those little vessels, that they very properly call wooden houses, having in them all the conveniences of a palace, stoves in the chambers, kitchens, etc. They are rowed by twelve men each, and move with such incredible swiftness, that in the same day you have the pleasure of a vast variety of prospects."[2] She obviously had a boat of the highest type.
In 1798, Mariana Starke found very good accommodations in going from Dresden to Hamburg by the Elbe. "Hearing that the road was execrably bad, and that the inns were very indifferent, we determined to dismiss our mules, and go by water, in an excellent boat, with three cabins, four beds, a place behind for men-servants, and another before for baggage." The voyage, says she, is "usually accomplished in less than a week; even though you cast anchor for a few hours every night, in order to avoid the noise which the Boatmen constantly make while going on."[3]
The trip down the Elbe from Hamburg to Cuxhaven, in boats containing beds for five or six persons and a fireplace for cooking, took eighteen hours for about sixty miles. For the boat and the three watermen the charge was seventy marks. Four marks were added as a gratuity. The passengers found provisions for themselves, but not for the watermen.[4]
V
Holland and Belgium
In the eighteenth century, as in our day, the Low Countries were a network of waterways, artificial and
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