(or rather Baum-boats, that is to say, the boats of the harbour, from the German Baum, a haven or bar) are known in every port where ships are obliged to anchor at a distance from the shore. They are stored with a large assortment of articles, such as are likely to be required by people after a long voyage. Previously to the formation of the various docks on the Thames, they were very numerous on the river, and drove a good trade with the homeward-bound shipping. But since the docks came into requisition, and steam-tugs brought the ships from the mouth of the river to the dock entrance, their business died away, and they gradually disappeared;
Henry Mayhew. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 (1851)
► uses
Uses:
“here’s what I want to know, Barbecue: how long are we a-going to stand off and on like a blessed bumboat? [...]"
Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island (1882)
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a bumboat on the Thames at the present day would be a sort of curiosity, a relic of times past.
In former times it was not in the power of any person who chose to follow the calling of a bumboat man on the Thames. The Trinity Com pany had the power of granting licences for this purpose.
Henry Mayhew. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 (1851)