Cased and ribbed with stone, and braced with horizontal beams of timber, the piles, which formed the foundation of these jetties, had resisted the strong encroachments of the current for centuries.

Some of them are now buried at the bottom of the Thames.

The starling, on which the carpenter stood, was the fourth from the Surrey shore.

It might be three yards in width, and a few more in length; but it was covered with ooze and slime, and the waves continually broke over it.

The transverse spars before mentioned were as slippery as ice; and the hollows between them were filled ankle-deep with water.
The carpenter threw himself flat upon the starling to avoid the fury of the wind.