"A boat of dirty and disreputable appearance" is floating on this river at the beginning of "Our Mutual Friend"
[DOC] [TLE] Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens [PAR] OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, by Charles Dickens (1864-65) ... be precise, a boat of 
dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, 
... She watched his face as earnestly as he watched the river.