George (wherryman)

George was a wherryman or boatman rowing passengers back and forth across the Thames River in the late 1500s. One night what appeared to be a madman came to him and asked to be rowed across the river. When George asked where he wanted to go, the man replied he could row him to hell and then added "Why this is hell, nor am I out of it". This frightened George but he took the man's tuppence to row him to Deptford since a madman's penny spent as well as anyone else's. However, in the morning George did have a priest bless the boat.

A few days later, George was questioned by Lope de Vega and told him what had happened. De Vega identified the man as Christopher Marlowe and the line from a play of his.