Marine Policing Unit

[2][3][4] Originally focusing on the Pool of London, since the 19th century it has had responsibility for the 47 miles of the Thames between Hampton Court in the west and Dartford Creek in the east.

Impetus to change was provided when, on 3 September 1878, the steam collier Bywell Castle ran into the pleasure steamer Princess Alice in Galleons Reach, resulting in the loss of over 600 lives.

The subsequent inquest and inquiry recommended that Thames Division should have steam launches, as rowing galleys had shown themselves to be inadequate for police duty, and the first two were commissioned in the mid-1880s.

[6] Due to the decline of the docks at Canary Wharf in the late 20th century, the Blackwall River Police Station was closed in the 1970s and converted to residential properties in 1982.

Fifty-one passengers died, though, and following subsequent inquiries the government asked the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Port of London Authority and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to work together to set up a dedicated search and rescue service for the tidal River Thames.

Consequently, on 2 January 2002, the RNLI set up four lifeboat stations at Gravesend, Tower Pier, Chiswick and Teddington, taking over the role of primary search and rescue service on the river from Thames Division.