Early on Wednesday, 8 January, the first act of the State Funeral got under way as members of Victory's crew carried Nelson's coffin down to the water's edge at Greeenwich and placed it in the specially decorated Royal barge which was to convey it upriver. The barge, originally built for Charles II and now shrouded in black velvet with a canopy erected over the coffin, then took its place at the head of a remarkable cortège of river craft that stretched almost two miles downstream to Woolwich and included the magnificent Lord Mayor's barge and eleven barges of the City's Livery Companies. Vast crowds had assembled at every vantage point and when the 'Grand River Procession' began its stately progress, it had to fight against a strong south-westerly wind despite the advantage of the flood tide. It took two hours to reach Whitehall Stairs from where the body was taken to the Admiralty to lie overnight prior to the funeral at St Paul's Cathedral the following day.