nine in the
morning
`` Bless ye , no , sir ! '' said Mr. Smith , getting the smoke of his pipe down his throat the wrong way with laughing , till I thought his coughing-fit would never allow him to give me the important information I required . `` There 's boats , sir , plenty on 'em . I could take you myself , and be thankful , and there 's steamers calls at the wharf every quarter of an hour or so through the day , from nine in the morning , and takes you to London Bridge for threepence . It ai n't many minutes ' walk to Fenchurch Street , and the train takes you straight to the Docks . '' After this we conversed on general seafaring matters . Mr. Smith was not a very able-bodied man , in consequence of many years ' service in unhealthy climates , he said ; and he complained of his trade as a `` poor one , '' and very different from what it had been in his father 's time , and before new London Bridge was built , which `` anybody and anything could get through '' now without watermen 's assistance .