English: A Scene on board a Margate Hoy as described by Dibdin (caricature)
A deck-scene on board a Margate hoy - the regular sailing vessels running between that north Kent coastal resort and London, and points in between. It shows the vessel going about and a variety of the passenger types who used such vessels becoming increasingly sea-sick from the vessel's motion, to the amusement of some of the crew - whose dress, however, appears rather too naval in some cases. The comical names of some of the 'types' shown are listed across the top, including Alderman Garbage (being sick in the centre) and his family. These derive from a popular song on the subject by the prolific Charles Dibdin the Elder (1745-1814), two verses of which flank the title below. The second implies that such scenes could begin on boats heading down river before they reached Cuckold's Point, Rotherhithe, which even at this time was barely out of London. A more realistic oil painting of a few years later by John Whichelo (BHC1210) shows the hoy 'Duke of York' running into Margate harbour in a storm. [PvdM 8/13]