The Thefts upon the Thames Act 1762 (2 Geo. 3. c. 28) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, granted royal assent on 2 June 1762. It aimed to discourage theft of cargo and tackle from ships on the River Thames and came to be nicknamed the 'Bumboat Act' for requiring all such light vessels (used for unloading larger ships' cargoes to wharves and for meeting new ships to resupply their crews and clear their full bilges) to be registered with Trinity House.Helen Watt and Anne Hawkins (ed.s), Letters of Seamen in the Wars with France, 1793-1815 (Boydell & Brewer, 2016), page 224
The act also allowed suspect boats to be stopped and searched and any items suspected to be stolen to be seized, as well as putting in place punishments for thieves and those suspected of involvement of thefts.Monty Lord, Bizarre Laws & Curious Customs of the UK: Volume 3 (2023)
Subsequent developments The act proved ineffectual and was superseded by the formation of the Marine Police Force in 1798 and its switch to being a state-funded body thanks to the Depredations on the Thames Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 87), which amended the 1762 act.William Rodolph Cornish, William Cornish, Stephen Banks, C Mitchell, Charles Christopher James Mitchell, Paul Mitchell, Rebecca Probert, Law and Society in England 1750-1950 (Bloomsbury Publishing, 31 Oct 2019), pages 521 and 565
The whole act was repealed by section 24 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 (2 & 3 Vict. c. 47).
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