Word: watermen
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...moving." Those tides were vital to London becoming the center of global trade, with the twice-daily rise and fall of the Thames providing an easy passage for trading ships to the heart of the city. By the 16th century an estimated 2,000 vessels and 3,000 watermen were on the river at any one time, and by 1800 it was so choked that ships might wait two weeks, at the mercy of "river pirates" and "scuffle hunters," for a vacant berth. London's answer was to build the great docks at Wapping and the Isle of Dogs...