A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as the River Tyne and River Dee, Wales, also had their watermen who formed guilds in medieval times. Waterman can also be a person who navigates a boat carrying passengers. These boats were often rowing boat or boats with sails. Over the years watermen acquired additional skills such as local pilotage, mooring vessels at berths, jetties, buoys, and docks, and acting as helmsman aboard large vessel.
The Doggett's Coat and Badge, the oldest rowing race in the world, sees apprentice watermen competing on the River Thames. Above painting by Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827).
Model of a steamship, built by d'Abbans in 1784
Announcement of the annual race for Doggett's Coat and Badge
Watermen's Hall (1778-80), by William Blackburn.
A wherry is 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 the River Cam. They were also used on the Broadland rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Thames wherry built to 18th-century design at Kingston upon Thames
Tyne Wherry information sheet from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collections