Part II - Onwards towards the Millennium.

Throughout the nineteenth century traffic in the River Mersey was increasing, for the Industrial Revolution had brought increased prosperity to the North West. Railways were rapidly covering the area and in particular cotton mills were drawing the work force from rural activities to those of urban pursuits. One vital aspect of these developments for the River Mersey and it's Pilot Service was the completion of yet another victorian feat of engineering, The Manchester Ship Canal. With the opening of the canal in 1898, large ocean going vessels could proceed with full cargoes to the heart of the cotton industry in particular, and with other cargoes in general, to this growing centre of commerce after proceeding through the Liverpool Pilotage District. Indeed, initially Liverpool Pilots operated on the canal until the need for two services was recognised. At one period during this century, there were so many pilots in both districts that the two services were remote and their members simply passed-by on the lock gates. Now with greatly reduced numbers on both sides of the gates, the two services have come closer together and although separate districts, work in both friendship and harmony with each other for the common good of pilotage. Following the building of the Shell refinery at Stanlow in 1921, and I.C.I. chemical plants coupled with the importance of the Runcorn Salt Works in the vicinity of the canal, through trade on the Mersey increased rapidly.

Reports from the early years of the nineteenth century had stressed that the then extant and important Horse and Formby channels to the north of the Rock Channel, were swept by tidal action alone and thus the line of the Liverpool docks, being built ever northwards, was chosen to enhance and strengthen the flow of the tide to assist in the sweeping of the channel approaches. In 1833, H M Denham, Marine Surveyor to the trustees of the Port, discovered and established a bouyed, mid-bay channel which forms the present deep water approach of the Queen's Channel. Earlier in the century, Captain Robert Fitzroy of H.M.S. "Beagle" and Darwin fame, had been appointed as the first Acting Conservator under the provisions of an Act of parliament and was one of several hydrographers of the period to be confronted with the mystery of a 'vanishing and reappearing' channel which has never been explained. Denham's survey settled the matter and a "two course" channel was buoyed and maintained with difficulty. The difficulty arose with the existence of the sand bar which was and is formed through the strength of the ebb tide diminishing as it flows from the confines of the river and which deposits the silt which forms the bar. It was G.F. Lyster, Engineer of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, who pioneered dredging work on the bar. The work was necessary due to the demands of the ever increasing size and needs of large trans-Atlantic passenger vessels using the Port. The initial success of the dredging of the 27' (at low water springs) channel was short-lived as erosion began to take place on the north-east side of the bend at Taylor's Bank. The resulting problems of a narrowing and north-shifting channel were threatening the advantages achieved by the dredging at the bar. In 1905, A.G.Lyster, son of G.F. Lyster, decided to build a revetment wall at Taylor's Bank. Later, during the period which spans the years from 1914 to as late as1962, training walls were built on both sides of the approach channels. There are some fifteen miles of wall built of stones from Welsh quarries calculated at the rate of between some eighteen to eighty tons per foot run. Over the century, many bucket dredgers and suction dredgers, including the mighty 10,000 ton "Leviathan" with a crew of forty four, to the present day "Mersey Venture," have maintained a 6.7 meter channel, which, at the time of writing, is the least water in the working approaches to the Port at the low water of a 10 meter tide.

With the establishment of ports at Widnes and Garston on the Lancashire Bank and Bromborough on the Cheshire Bank over the turn of the century, the Liverpool Pilots were ever in demand, although it must be said that Widnes had its own upriver pilots, the last of which, following the closure of the port, is still believed to be operating on the River Weaver.

During the First World War, many pilots and apprentices answered "The Call to Arms" in the service of their country. For those who were left behind, a heavy responsibility rested with the pilots of the Port, for, as Liverpool was of great significance in receiving supplies for the war effort from the West, the enemy concentrated on laying mine fields in the Liverpool Bay with devastating effect to shipping in the area. Indeed the No 1 pilot boat, S.S. "Alfred H. Read" struck a mine at the Bar Station in late December 1917 and sank within minutes with all hands save two who were rescued. It was to be during the Second World War, however, that there was to be a most important moment of unwanted but necessary glory for the Port of Liverpool. As the folksong "In my Liverpool Home" relates it: "Hitler threw at us everything that he had." and, in the true Liverpool sense of humour the following lines relate:

"When the smoke and the bombs had all cleared the air,
Thank God, said the Old Man, the Pier Head's still there"

The reason for this fact is twofold, one: the German bombers quite simply, 'missed it' and two: Western Approaches Command H.Q., operating with few escorts for the trans-Atlantic convoys was based here. On a visit to Liverpool it is essential for those interested in this period to visit the command bunker, which was opened to the public only a few years ago. Here in this bunker, it is as if the young people who played out the lives of others in their daily duties have just left, "their pencils, pens and rubbers are left behind." Nicholas Monsarrat vividly further encapsulates the spirit of defiance of those who sailed from Liverpool under the command of men of the calibre of Captain F.J. Walker, in his novel "The Cruel Sea".

Many authors and poets apart from Monsarrat have been influenced by their relationship with the Port of Liverpool including the "Old Conways" Joseph Conrad and John Masefield. Both men served their time on the famous school ship when she was moored in the River Mersey. Masefield's words from "The Conway", published in1933, capture the spirit of Merseyside in the heyday of ocean liners and cargo vessels before the advent of the container vessel, V.L.C.C's and U.L.C.C's: "...the flower of all England's shipping belonged in Liverpool: the river and docks were always busy with the best ships of the time. The Cunard moorings were just downstream from us; the White Star and Inman moorings beyond them; and the P.S.N. and Alfred Holt moorings still further on, but in sight. The Elder Dempster ships were near us in the Sloyne. The steamers of many famous lines were weekly visitors to the river, we knew them all, their funnels, their houseflags and their tenders: even the foreign steamers and what they brought were known to us." Masefield continues to reflect upon the fact that at the time he was a cadet, the bulk of the world's freight was carried in sailing ships, " which had then reached their last, strange, beautiful perfection." Liverpool has had the honour of hosting the finish of the Tall Ships race twice in the last decade.

The Liverpool Pilot Service had streamlined itself over the course of the century to operate with four pilot cutters with twenty two in their crews. Half of these men were apprentice pilots. One cutter was stationed at the Bar Light Vessel for her first week of duty, her second week was spent "on the run", ferrying inward and outward pilots to and from the Bar and Lynas (The western station) stations. The final week of the "Cruise" was spent as Lynas and the fourth (glorious week for the apprentices) was spent in dock. It must be said that the standard of seamanship achieved by these young 'Boathands' as they were officially called, was considered worldwide to be second to none. Time and changes in the industry meant a need for change and the reduction in the numbers of pilots in Liverpool and the reduction in the number of cutters. The change came in the form of a rapid reduction of cutters from four to three to two to none with the establishment of an efficient launch service based at Liverpool and at the Western Station at Point Lynas. Liverpool Pilots were instrumental in shaping both their future and the future of the Port.

Liverpool, before the container revolution, had peaked with one hundred and eighty five pilots. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, as it was then in the late '60's, had fallen short in planning for the future and had failed to anticipate the container revolution and were behind in plans to construct the Seaforth Container base. The Royal Seaforth Dock, eventually constructed, was advertised as an area which could engulf the Seven Wonders of the World. The area includes berths for container vessels, grain boats, timber carriers and refrigerated cargo vessels. Late into the "Container Trade", Liverpool had held its own despite the fact that the "Non-profit" making organisation under the auspices of the "Board"had lost the moment and were in the hands of the receivers. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board had fallen and with the fall had withdrawn its (the shipowners) vessels from the Port. The Port suffered immeasurably but the pilots of the Port remained steadfast at the helm and were on watch as the "Mersey Docks an Harbour Company" superceded the "Board" and began to make headway against the industrial tide. Seaforth was completed and the large "Box-Boat" conglomerates competed for the advantage of a U.K. Port with the facilities of a panamax sized lock and a non tidal berth to work twenty four hours a day. Liverpool is unique in being able to offer this facility and A.C.L. has been described as the jewel in Liverpool's (present) crown. When we look back at Liverpool's history as a Port as we have done in these articles, we may see that because of the port's physical and geographical position there is likely to always be another crown. The largest U.L.C.C.'s ever built visited the S.B.M. at Point Lynas and Liverpool Pilots piloted them and cared for them. At present, the largest vessels afloat, albeit not fully laden (Liverpool is restricted on draft), pass not offshore, but rather through the 'Centre of the City', guided by Liverpool Pilots.

It is true that there is so much that the narrator has omitted through publishing space available but it is hoped that an overall literary picture of the history of the Port of Liverpool has been achieved. The Liverpool Pilots who were subjected to employment status after over two hundred years of self-employment, returned to that status after years of fighting "against the tide of political fortune"at 0001 Hrs, June 1st., 1997. In Liverpool, we as pilots quite simply state that there will always be another tide and we wish each other, as we wish you readers as colleagues and fellow pilots, "Good Ships and Many of Them".

John Curry, Chairman, Liverpool Pilots Ltd.

Grateful thanks are due to Capt. Brian McShane, M.O.M. of the M.D.H.C. and to Gill Curry for the permission to publish photographs.

John Curry is an Authorised Liverpool Pilot who has served the Port in the capacity as pilot, for over thirty years, during which time he has piloted over four thousand ships of all sizes to or from the Port. At present he is in his tenth year as Chairman of the Liverpool Pilots who operate in conjunction with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company to provide a safe and efficient Pilot Service for the Port of Liverpool.