Part One - Early beginnings to the turn of the present century.

"Centuries long,
The river has flowed
Through an hour glass,
Carrying in suspension
The sands of time.
...All our histories..."

The river referred to in the poem is the River Mersey upon whose eastern shore is the site of one of the greatest seaports of Britain, the Port of Liverpool. On the western shore is the Port of Birkenhead and the Tranmere Oil Terminal which supplies the huge oil refinery at Stanlow. The distance at the mouth of the river between New Brighton and Gladstone Lock is one mile. Between the famous "Old Pier Head," from whence the trans-Atlantic Liners sailed to the New World, to Alfred locks is a mere half mile until the river widens to a mile in width and more to the southward of a line from the Dingle to Bromborough river wall. Hence the line in which the poet likens the shape of the river banks to an hour glass through which the river flows. At the narrowest part the flow at half-tide on a Spring tide can reach in excess of five to six knots. At this point the bottom is rock and there is poor holding ground. Unlike many of the ports in the United Kingdom which have featured in this spot in 'The Pilot', Liverpool was not favoured by the Romans. In Roman sailing directions, however, Liverpool is referred to as "a rocky creek in the vicinity of Deva (Chester)" and the Romans chose to navigate the Dee with their galleys to found and supply their northwest city-stronghold at Chester. The tides which flow through that "rocky creek" have a range of from around seven metres, neaps, to in excess of ten metres, springs.

As vessels' drafts increased and the River Dee silted, the main ports on the Dee shifted sites northwards, downriver, to various quays and jettys including the Port of Parkgate from where William of Orange set sail for Ireland and where Lord Nelson's dear Lady Hamilton was born. Liverpool is said to have first been colonised by the Norsemen during the eighth century. The name is possibly from the norse 'Hlithapollr', meaning 'Pool of the slopes'. Another possibility is that it is derived from a combination of terms: 'Liver' from the 'Liver Bird' (almost certainly the cormorant) which frequented the 'Pool,' which was at the outlet of the stream which flowed (and still seeps into the cellars of the basements of buildings) on the present line of Paradise Street where Maggie May plied her trade with the 'Homewardbounders'. The 'Liver Bird' has become the emblem of the city and the unique marine pilotage emblem of the Liverpool Pilots.

We could perhaps take the history of Liverpool as a seaport as beginning in 1207, when the fishing hamlet on the 'Pool' was given a charter from King John which created the borough and port of 'Liverpul'. King John and his advisors had obviously recognised the potential of a new free borough on the sea. Situated on the west coast of the realm, the position of the port had the advantage of deep water and shelter for vessels from the prevailing westerly winds. Henry III progressed the rise of Liverpool's importance in 1229 with a further charter for the formation of a guild of merchants to trade from the port. On the other bank in 1318, we know that Edward II granted, by Royal Charter, the prior and monks at a site which is now the abandoned benedictine Birkenhead Priory, the right to build the priory and the right to sell victuals to travellers about to cross over 'this arm of the sea'. A second Royal Charter granted by Edward in 1330 gave the prior and his monks (and their successors forever) the right to ferry men, goods and other things safely over the river. The royal crowns still top the gangway posts on both sides of the river to declare this Charter. Gerry Marsden's hit of the sixties 'Ferry 'Cross the Mersey' is testament to this even in modern times. It must be said, however, that three tunnels, one rail and two road tunnels which connect the two banks of the river plus the effect of the Runcorn Bridge, have reduced the ferry service to a major tourist attraction.

There followed some four centuries of slow growth until the late seventeenth century when trade with America intensified and the maritime and commercial possibilities of the port were recognised and capitalised upon. In 1715 Thomas Steers was to utilise the 'Pool' to create the world's first commercial wet dock and the city spread outwards from this centre of trade and on upwards through what is now the shopping centre to the top of the slope which is at present occupied by the University of Liverpool, Britain's first 'Red Brick' university. The latter term was derived from the fine victorian building and clock tower built in red brick, so popular in victorian times, which was the original university building.

Today the University site stretches out on both sides of 'Hope Street' which has at one end The Roman Catholic Cathedral and at the other the Protestant Cathedral. Liverpool is indeed a city of paradox. Many of the University's faculty buildings such as those in Abercromby Square, were originally built for the shipowners and traders who operated from and within the port below. These victorian gentlemen had inherited the prosperity of their predecessors who had profited from the highly successful and lucrative trade in slaves from Africa to the West Indies and the southern States of America. The first Liverpool slaver was a ship of some thirty tons which sailed from the port on its infamous voyage in 1709. From the records it appears that she was to carry fifteen slaves from Africa to be sold to the plantation owners who had begun to produce valuable crops of sugar and cotton. The Liverpool slave trade fleet grew rapidly and by the end of the century no less than one hundred and eighty five slave ships were operating out of Liverpool and the port had outstripped its rival west coast port in this trade. Bristol, (together with London) along with many continental and scandinavian ports was also heavily involved and commited to this nefarious trade. The trade could be described as triangular, for the slave ships carried cargoes of tools and nails to trade with the West Coast slave traders for their captives. The second side of the triangle was the carriage of the slaves themselves, (very few of the slaves were carried on to Europe) and the triangle was completed on the homeward leg with the carriage of sugar, rum and cotton. No visit to the Port of Liverpool in the present day would be complete without a visit to the now obsolete South docks or Brunswick System. Here, in the Albert Dock, the visitor may view the superb architecture of the turn of this century architect Jessie Hartley. Apart from shops and restaurants, art lovers may visit the Tate gallery of the Northwest. Marine historians may visit the Maritime Museum, which includes historical vessels of which the dry-docked "Edmund Gardener," the ex No. 2 pilot vessel, is of particular interest to visiting pilots. The converted warehouse on the north side of the Albert Dock houses many maritime treasures. Here too the visitor may view the superb permanent exhibition which features the Slave Trade. Liverpool has faced up to its past.

We know that during The Seven Years war, (1756-63) and that during the War of American Inependence(1775-82), Liverpool became an important centre for privateering. In 1778 records show that no fewer than one hundred and twenty privateers carrying some two thousand guns and crewed by close on nine thousand men were sailing out of the port. In 1766, following an ever increasing appalling loss of vessels, their passengers, cargoes, not to mention their crews, on the treacherous sands that surround the approach to the river, a Pilotage Commission was established to set up a Pilot Service which would choose and train the specialists who would become Liverpool Pilots. As trade with the Americas grew, so too did Liverpool's importance as Britain's West-Coast Gateway. In particular copper was being imported from South America whilst cotton was the main import from North America to feed the demand of the growing importance of the Lancashire cotton mills. William Wilberforce succeeded in abolishing the Slave trade in 1807 but by this time Liverpool was firmly established as one of Britain's major ports.

Macgregor Laird further increased the importance of the River Mersey by establishing what was to become a giant shipbuilding yard with drydock facilities on the Cheshire bank close south of the present position of the Port of Birkenhead. During the early part of the Nineteenth Century,when the steam engine was being developed and adapted for marine use, Laird's yard was to build many famous vessels including many of the first iron steamships. Together with his brother, this scottish merchant built the "Alburkah" which was a 55-ton paddle steamer. Sailing from Liverpool to the Niger River in 1832, she became the first iron ship to complete an ocean voyage. In 1862 Laird's built the american confederate cruiser "Alabama". A three masted schooner with auxiliary steam-power, the "Alabama" sailed on "steaming trials" as the"Eurica"or job "No. 290" with ladies and a party of musicians on board. She thus evaded the officers of a British Government which had declared its neutrality in the American Civil War. The vessel put in first to Holyhead and landed the "revellers" before proceeding and successfully evading capture to the Azores. Here she completed her fitting out which included the armament which had also been forged for her at Lairds and proceeded as the "Alabama" to take up her devastating rôle as part the confederate fleet. Laird's were also to build the world's 'first' submarine, the "Resurgam" (I will rise again). She was to sink in a gale north of Rhyl, however, and has not risen again to the date of writing. A replica of the vessel has recently been built by apprentices of the present Cammel Laird's Shiprepairers and may be viewed in the dry dock constructed from an old floating roadway to the north of Woodside Ferry Terminal. Liverpool Pilots pass the replica to and from one of their present launch boarding positions and are only too pleased to know that they shall not be called upon to pilot her. During this century, Lairds continued to build notable ships including the "Ark Royal" of the song "We are sailing" fame, and large tankers up to the size of the Shell 'S' class.

 
The Port of Birkenhead to the north of Lairds was a further development for the importance of the River Mersey and the first enclosed docks, utilising the mouth of the River Birkett, became operational in 1847. The Port of Liverpool had been expanding both south and north of that first enclosed dock and generally speaking as ships increased in size, the need was to build docks ever larger in dimensions to the north of the Pier Head. All these docks were built on the foreshore and there is in truth only one dock (Stanley Dock) in inland Liverpool itself. With the ever rapid expansion of both Birkenhead and Liverpool, the two great ports rose to become what we now know together as one of the largest seaports in the World.