[Note 591.1] The song has 25 entires in the Roud Index. As well as being printed as Steam-ery it was printed as: Aventures in a Steam Boat in Bristol, London, and Edinburgh; as Steam Packet in Preston and Manchester; and, Cockneys Adventures in a Steam Boat in Portsea. It was printed as "Oh what a row or adventures in a steam-boat" in The National Songster 1827 pp75-77 London
[Note 591.1] "lauk" :- lawk-a-mercy; Lord have mercy! [OED]
[Note 591.3] "they feed you like a fighting cock":- fighting cocks were proverbially well fed.
[Note 591.3] "And overboard, upon my word, I went slap dash" :- The illustration on the songsheet shows our hero having apparently fallen from a wherry and about to be rescued by the boatman. The steamer is in the background. In the absence of a suitable quayside, passengers were rowed out to steamers or taken ashore from them. (See also bar050~Calais Packet)
[Note 591.4] "In a pet" :- Pet: Offence at being or feeling slighted; a fit of peevishness or ill humour from this cause. [OED]
[Note 591.5] "Such a gig without a wig, on deck I was exhibited" :- Gig - one who has been made a fool of [OED]
[Note 591.6] "inexpressibles" :- trousers or breeches. In the early 19th century there was a reaction to the uninhibited speech and behaviour of the 18th century. The attitudes often ascribed to the Victorians had their origins in the Regency period.
[Note 591.7] "quizzed" :- Quiz : To make fun of, mock, or tease (a person); to satirize (a thing). [OED]
[Note 591.8] "gibbeted" :- Gibbet To hang (a carcase) on a gibbet by way of infamous exposure. (gibbet = an upright post with projecting arm from which the bodies of criminals were hung in chains or irons after execution [OED]
[Note 591.9] "roasted" :- Roast: to severely ridicule [OED]
[Note 591.10] "tall as London's monument' I saw the kitchen chimney smoke as black as ink" :- The monument to the Great Fire of London is 202 feet tall (61.5 meters). Early steamers were fitted with tall chimneys not only to take away the clouds of sooty smoke that they produced but also to reduce the risk that these wooden craft would catch fire; which they often did.
[Note 591.11] "rookery" :- A place containing a dense aggregation of people [OED] often used of slums
[Note 591.12] "They'd soup and fish, and fowl and flesh, a London Tavern cookery" :- The wealthy ate huge amounts. Ben Wilson writes that "When tourists arrived in England at the dawn of the 19c they expected to see two things: the overwhelming grandeur of the wealthiest country in history of the world and the fattest people who had ever walked the earth. The first was the extraordinary achievement of a strange people, the second the visible results of the victory of commerce and the bounties of empire. Benjamin Silliman, who came to London in 1805 as a representative of Yale University, described the scene in Hyde Park on a Sunday; saying "such an assemblage of burley corpulent people is probably not to be found in the world beside" [Ref: Wilson, Ben. Decency & Disorder: The Age of Cant 1789-1837 p3]
[Note 591.13] "hubbub":- A confused noise of a crowd shouting or talking [OED]
[Note 591.14] Beelzebub :- The Bible, Luke 11:15 "Beelzebub the chief of the devils."
[Note 591.15] "in a pickle" :- In a difficult or uncomfortable situation; to be dishevelled [CPB]
[Note 591.16] "Like cattle on a coaster, were hailed on shore" :- Cattle; Live stock [oed] . At his time would have included horses. A coaster is a vessel employed in sailing along the coast, or in trading from port to port of the same country [OED] The poor quality of roads resulted in a high volume of coastal traffic.
[Note 591.17] "Zounds, be still, I'm very ill, you're always talking quizzically" :- Zounds; A euphemistic abbreviation of by God's wounds [OED] here a forceful imprecation. "talking quizzically" - talking wittily, presumably in this case sarcastically or mockingly
[Note 591.18] "For such a day again to pay just two pounds fifteen shillings sirs" :- A typical wage at this time was about ten shillings.