They Bought a Boat is a lost 1914 American silent comedy film produced by the Lubin Manufacturing Company, featuring Roy Byron, C. W. Ritchie, and Oliver Hardy.

When a government inspector tells them that they need proper safety equipment, they load up on life preservers, fire extinguishers, and fog horns, and the extra weight nearly swamps the boat.

[1][2] They Bought a Boat is one of several short comedies made by the Lubin company in the spring and summer of 1914 that include the first screen appearances of Oliver "Babe" Hardy.

Although the film itself is lost, Hardy's name appears in the cast list and he can be seen in a promotional still published in The Lubin Bulletin, a newsletter advertising the studio's new releases.

Motion Picture News described it as "the amusing adventures of some land lubbers with an overloaded, unseagoing vessel that is about to sink in ten inches of water" and noted that along with The Puncture Proof Sock Man the two split-reel shorts "make a very funny reel";[3] The Bioscope called it a "semi-nauticaI comic, depicting the adventures of two dudish novices with a motor-boat.