MERSEY MEMORIES

MERSEY MEMORIES

The Whitsun weekend of 2015 will long be remembered as one of the special times in the long maritime history of Liverpool.

The arrival and subsequent parade down the river of the three queens, the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria, was a fitting spectacle to commemorate the inauguration in 1840 of a regular service to the east coast of America, i.e. Boston and Halifax from Liverpool;  sometimes called ‘Cunard’s spiritual home’.

Within a year, Samuel Cunard with typical 19^th Century entrepreneurial spirit, had three more vessels similar to the first, Britannia, operating on a regular timetable.  That they were licensed to carry the Royal Mail is testimony to the confidence the authorities had in long distance travel under steam, undoubtedly due to the great advances made in marine engineering in the previous decade.

My great regret is that I was unable to be at one of the viewing points and had to be satisfied with media coverage.  Having been at the Pier Head twenty five years ago when the Q.E.2 visited the river for the first time, I recall the nostalgia registered on the faces of local residents who remembered the days of the Cunard liners.   Alas, most of those are no longer with us.  However, it is pleasing to know that thousands came from afar, particularly the North and the Midlands, and learned something of which we can take pride, especially at a time when the South seems to ‘have it all’.

I spent many Saturday afternoons with visiting relatives, crowded behind the barriers, watching the departure of a Cunard passenger liner.  There was much activity on the landing stage as the last luggage was craned aboard in large nets.  Most of the gangways closed and the blast of the ship’s hooter given as a warning to non-passengers to leave quickly.  As the mooring ropes were cast off, the vessel edged very gradually into the river, to be guided by the fussy little tugs.  Also at the far end of the Prince’s Stage was a much smaller red-funnelled steamer, the afternoon sailing of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the oldest shipping company in the world – in continuous service since 1830 and probably the first with a red funnel.  The service to America ended in 1968.  The husband of one of our members, as master of the Carinthia, had the sad duty of ending this long association when he brought the ship to the Prince’s Stage to complete the last service.

The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything.  The docks were sealed, naval vessels regularly came in port, and commercial vessels lost their livery to grey and camouflage.  Two fishing boats moored at the stage were sent up the channel each morning, to sweep any mines that might have been laid there at night by submarine or aircraft.

All this meant that I was no longer able to walk from Seaforth to the Pier Head along the dock wall and over the dock gates to view activity in the docks.

The last occasion when I was able to enter the dock estate was in the summer of 1939 in order to see the two huge French battleships, the Strasbourg and the Dunkurque.  It was the end of a goodwill visit, the ships leaving the Gladstone dock entrance with crews lined up on deck and a band playing.

Alas, one of these ships was destroyed at Oran when the British Navy destroyed a large part of the French fleet to prevent it falling into German hands.  Churchill was deeply disturbed to give this order to hurt his ally, but he could not take the risk of our already stretched Atlantic lifeline being put in further jeopardy.

By the second year of the war we were beginning to see lines of American aircraft being towed from the Pier Head to Speke Airport.  They had been craned on to the top deck of the Wallasey Ferry, one J Farley, a fairly simple operation as their main planes were not fitted.

A visitor would be surprised to see a sunken vessel mid-river, probably the victim of a mine; I believe it was called the Ullapool.  Also at Seacombe stage was the half-submerged three deck ferry, the Royal Daffodil, later refloated and repaired.

Growing up in the 20’s and 30’s with parents who had friends and neighbours engaged in the catering, engineering and navigational side of shipping, it was natural that a lifelong interest developed, hence these memories.  I only have a very vague recollection of my first visit to the docks when my father took me via the Overhead Railway to the Canada Graving Dock to the see either the Aquitania or the Mauretania.  A few years later, I was taken to the newly opened Gladstone Graving Dock to be astounded at the size of the battleship, Rodney, there for a post sea trials check after construction at Birkenhead.  Many people went to see what was at the time ‘the pride of Merseyside’ and a welcome addition to our battleship squadrons.  This was a time when the tally of such ships was an indication of a nation’s power in the world – a belief to be exploded at Pearl Harbour!

My interest enabled me to witness two famous launchings at Cammell Lairds, the first Ark Royal and the Mauretania.  It was quite thrilling to watch these large engineless vessels slide slowly into the water, and be carried by the tide some distance before tugs were able to control them.  One was able to see all the activity in the shipyard from the service boat to Rock Ferry, discontinued in the summer of 1939.

In more recent years before containerisation came in, an evening visit to Hall Road was most rewarding.  Dozens of cars parked on the promenade ‘sunset strip’, could watch the lines of coasters carrying coal or bulk cargo to ports on the west coast and to Ireland.  In summer there was at about seven o’clock, the excursion boat from Llandudno steaming in and the Isle of Man four o’clock sailing from Douglas. One very special sight was the departure, on her maiden voyage, dressed in over-all, was the C.P.R. liner Empress of England.  All the motorists in unison, gave it a rousing send off on their horns.

Unfortunately in recent years, the scene has changed with lines of windmills on both sides of Liverpool Bay, detracting from the interest.  However, memories remain!

M for the merchant men plying its waters

E for the exports despatched to all quarters

R for the range of its tidal surge

S for the sand which dredges must purge

E again for the enterprise of its traders, dedicated of course

Y is for Yorkshire, Saddleworth is its source.

The whole is Mersey of international fame

For much travelled mariners a much revered name.

Stuart Black