But their triumph was not very long-lived.

For this reason: It was a rigid rule of the association that its members should never, under any circumstances whatever, give information about the channel to any 'outsider.' By this time about half the boats had none but association pilots, and the other half had none but outsiders.

At the first glance one would suppose that when it came to forbidding information about the river these two parties could play equally at that game; but this was not so.

At every good-sized town from one end of the river to the other, there was a 'wharf-boat' to land at, instead of a wharf or a pier.

Freight was stored in it for transportation; waiting passengers slept in its cabins.