Bubblyrat - I have that book - fascinating, isn't it! Made more poignant for me because I now live only a mile or so from the stretch of the Thames (Gallions Reach) where that ship moored. It still stinks down there, but that's now because of the sewage works, but it's possible to imagine what it would have been like back then.

In Dorset, there is a bridge, leading into the county town of Dorchester, that has an iron plaque on it. This plaque states that anyone found wilfully damaging the bridge will be subject to transportation for life.

LTS