For any Old Dockers

Post your photo's and video memories about Bootle here...
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Dan
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From Zero Hedge

America Is Short A Whopping 80,000 Truck Drivers

Tyler Durden's Photo
BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, NOV 11, 2021 - 09:20 PM

"America is short tens of thousands of truck drivers as supply chain woes increase at ports, creating shortages and pushing inflation

higher. Truckers haul an astonishing 72.5% of all freight in the US and account for 6% of the full-time workforce.

Bob Costello, the Chief Economist for the American Trucking Association (ATA), told 6 News that the US is short a whopping 80,000 truck

drivers, up from an estimated shortage of 61,500 drivers before the virus pandemic. He said the industry needs to recruit over a million

drivers this decade to replace an aging workforce."



Developed world problem the boomers are retiring. a large pool of labour that was prepared to take on the "ordinary" jobs.
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Dan
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Harland & Wolff 1913-1972

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Dan
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Comforting to know there's always somebody who's made a bigger mistake than you.

The Ever Grande in the Suez earlier this year.

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filsgreen
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🤣🤣
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Dan
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1963. George Dock gates and tunnel exit. From the Skyscraper City site.

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Dan
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March 2014. 500 tonne tank barge, Crosby, moored at the Cargill Brocklebank site.

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Dan
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Satellite photo of Bootle and the docks.

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Dan
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Overhead adjacent to James Street with some MDHB engines below


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Dan
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Don't think it ever made it into Bootle Docks, but Australian archaeologists think they have found the wreck of James Cook's

HMS Endeavour off the coast of Rhode Island.

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Bernie R
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Dan wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 8:08 am Satellite photo of Bootle and the docks.

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The thing that jumps out most from this fabulous image is the brilliant green belt that is Rimrose Valley.

Let's hope they find a suitable alternative to carving a bloody great road through it.

Bern
Born and raised in Romeo Street, later Lambeth Walk, Jersey Close, Garden Place, Hawthorne Rd, Gonville Rd now Netherton
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Dan
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From the Crécy archive.

The Pier Head in the 1950s.


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Gardner 180
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Great picture Dan.... I remember the trams very well. The 2 black taxi cabs are Austins. Cheers, Ray.
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Dan
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Bootle Times January 30 1953

Fire aboard the Empress of Canada



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Dan
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Albert Dock from Stratus Imagery today.

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Dan
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Bootle Times July 19 1973

Royal Seaforth Dock


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Dan
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Construction of the original L2 dock terminal, in 2 minutes 25 seconds.

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Dan
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From The Daily Mail July 12 2022

Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock goes up for sale for £50m

Royal Albert Dock and Royal Liver Building have been put up for sale.

One of Britain's most iconic waterside attractions Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock is up for sale - with a hefty £50 million price tag.

Opened by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert on 30 July 1846, when the Merseyside port dominated 19th Century global trade, Albert Dock brought new ideas, fireproof warehouses and twice-as-fast unloading times.

It fell into disuse in the 1970s but was regenerated in the 1980s and reopened by Prince Charles, renamed Royal Albert Dock, and is one of the North-West's top tourist sites, attracting six-million visitors-a-year.

Investment company CBRE Investment Management which owns it has instructed property agents to sell nearly 400,000 sq ft of shops, offices, hotels and restaurants.

However Tate Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum - which are also based there - do not form part of the sale.

The sale comes after another of Liverpool's iconic waterfront landmarks - the Liver Building in the 'Three Graces' - was also recently put on the market for £90m.

The Albert Dock was designed by architect and dock engineer Jesse Hartley and given Grade I-listed status in 1952 but was abandoned 20 years later.

The deserted dock was the backdrop to the final episode of Alan Bleasdale's bleak depiction of unemployment in 1982 in his BBC One series The Boys From The Black Stuff.

It was later redeveloped, with the first phase completed in 1984. Two years later the Merseyside Maritime Museum opened on the site, followed by Tate Liverpool in 1988.

The Royal Liver Building was put on the market in March this year - on sale for only the second time in its 111-year history.

It became jointly owned by Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri after being acquired by international property group Corestate in 2017 for £48m.

In 2011 Royal Liver and its headquarters were taken over by rival Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, which eventually decided to sell the building for the first time in the famous structure's history.

Recently it has been a backdrop for many TV and film productions - including as part of Gotham City in the new Robert Pattinson superhero 2022 blockbuster The Batman.

The other two Grace buildings have also been traded in recent years, with Amtrak Real Estate paying £27m for the Port of Liverpool Building in 2015, a year after Liverpool City Council acquired the Cunard Building.
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Dan
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Talking Pictures TV starts showing The Onedin Line next month (September), just shy of 51 years since the first episode on BBC, October 15 1971.

There's reference to the inspiration for the story in the article below.


Crumbling facades of the new world

LIVERPOOL'S links with North America infuse its history. Key buildings from this era now lie derelict.

Liverpool Echo , 23 FEB 2004

ONCE the streets flowed with a purposeful humanity, as thousands of people, with hopes of a better future glinting in their eyes, remorselessly converged on ships lying in the limpid waters of a small expanse of docks.

These huddled masses poured in from all over northern and eastern Europe. Their goal was the New World; but their gateway to that nirvana was Liverpool.

Little that played a part in those momentous times survive today. To the city's shame, those few buildings still with us from that era lie derelict, their future uncertain.

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Typical is Mrs Blodget's Guest House, at 153 Duke Street. Boarded up, half its roof is missing and its windows are wide open. The US consul and author Nathaniel Hawthorne spent several winters there in the mid-1850s. He wrote of his son sliding down the banisters. Do they still exist? What remains of the panelled smoking room, library and dining room that the Yankee clipper captains relaxed in?

What a fantastic attraction for American visitors if this property could be revived as a small hotel. Opposite Mrs Blodget's is 118 Duke Street. Birthplace and childhood home of Felicia Hemans, poetess and writer of Casabianca (''The Boy stood on the burning deck'').

Far better known in the US, Hemans wrote The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, a poem traditionally recited at Thanksgiving dinners. Another vital component in attracting US tourists, this house is - guess what - boarded up. Depressingly, its large decorative plaque commemorating Hemans has been ripped off.

In July 1836, a ship loaded with cotton docked from New Orleans. Onboard was a young man, destined to become the world's leading wildlife painter. This was John James Audubon, an illegitimate son of a French slave trader.

Liverpool historian Steve Binns says: "His choice of Liverpool was influenced by John Bradbury, who, between the early 1800s until the early 1830s was sent on expeditions, by John Roscoe and others. Bradbury was collecting natural history specimens for Liverpool's newly established Botanical Gardens.

"Audubon, with his portfolio of 400-plus drawings, trudged the length of Duke Street, looking for wealthy patrons. His wanted to publish his illustrations of the birds of North America," says Ron Jones, author of The American Connection.

Audubon was befriended by the wealthy Rathbone banking family, who donated several of his works to Liverpool University, including the famous American Wild Turkey.

HE SUCCESSFULLY exhibited in the Royal Institute in Colquitt Street, just off Duke Street. This splendid building, one of Georgian Liverpool's jewels, has had a chequered career after being sold off by Liverpool University and was empty for a while. It is now occupied by Barnardo's charity.

Liverpool's domination of the transatlantic trade specifically to New York hit its stride after the Napoleonic Wars ended with Wellington's victory at Waterloo in 1815 and the 1812 US war with Britain.

Dr Graeme Milne, who specialises in Anglo- US history at Liverpool University, says: "There was a lot of trade even before the War of Independence in the 1770s, but it was focused further south with the interest in slaves and sugar. Evidence that Liverpool actually supported the US South is quite slim. Even though cotton became scarce, unlike the Lancashire mill towns, Liverpool traders didn't really suffer. They just put the prices up.

"New York's rise in the USA as its main market and financial centre makes it the crucial point of arrival of the transatlantic immigrants from Liverpool and they further develop the city. By the time of the Civil War, New York was a cotton centre as coastal shipping brought cotton here for transfer to Liverpool ships, so it was in Liverpool's interest to support North and South."


The transatlantic link snowballs, especially with the opening of regular steamship services from 1840 by Cunard Line. By the 1860s, carrying immigrants from Liverpool was a major business for the steamship companies. The immigrants packed out Duke Street's former genteel townhouses and Scandinavia Hotel, currently undergoing long-awaited restoration.

"People like Washington Irvine, Audubon, Hawthorne and Melville came here not because it was a cultural centre, but a departure point," says Dr Milne.

"Liverpool's public face was rough and ready, but you had the merchant princes with money to spend."

However, from the 18th century, it has a reputation for intellectual endeavour, with the calculation of tidal times, oceanography, meteor-ology and astronomy. It was a place where men of science and letter came to compare notes.

"It is sad that this ongoing connection which lasted until the 1960s, not just with the US, but all over the world, is no longer visible. Liverpool was much more diverse, but this was transient trade, that leaves no legacy.

"Unless today's visitors know the historical significance, there are no obvious signs of what made Liverpool, without these few buildings. We are unaware of what it was to deal with thousands of passengers a day and their impact. Ports are no longer in the hearts of cities. By not preserving the remaining buildings, we lose much of the human story. Yet the 19th century literally sailed from Liverpool city centre - that's a fundamentally different experience from 'flying from Manchester' today."


Inspiration for a TV classic

THE inspiration for the hugely-popular BBC television series, The Onedin Line, was Capt James Baines, born and brought up in Duke Street. After his father's death, he lived with his mother and siblings above her cake and sweet corner shop, at 185 Duke Street. Later it became an immigrant guest house and then the White House pub. Now it is boarded up.

Baines, with captains like another Duke Street resident, Bully Forbes, created the celebrated Black Ball Line, linking Liverpool and New York with the fastest clipper ships, built by Donald McKay, at Boston.

Their names resonate today: Redjacket, Sovereign of the Seas, Flying Cloud and Marco Polo (aka the Flying Brick). Sovereign of the Seas was logged once doing 22 knots, a fantastic speed and faster than many of today's motor ships.

One of Baines's clippers, James Monro, is commemorated in the name of a Duke Street old pub and restaurant.

Merseyside maritime historian Patrick Moran says: "These ships were commanded by American naval captains, made redundant when the British-US wars finished in 1812.

"They were the only captains tough enough to deal with the Liverpool-Irish crews drawn from Scotland Road and the Eldon area.

"Papers like the Daily Post promoted them to heroic status and when Marco Polo berthed at Canning Dock after a record-breaking run, 40,000 citizens turned out to greet her."


While the clippers were docked, their captains retreated to Mrs Blodget's Guest House. Nearby is another desperate sight, the former Royal Mersey Yacht Club. Once patronised by shipowners and King Edward VII, a third of this block (originally Georgian townhouses) has been demolished, the owners citing dry-rot. Agreements to rebuild it have not materialised.

Ron Jones, author of the American Connection, says: "Can you believe this being allowed to happen in Bath, or other places Liverpool hopes to compete with for tourists?"

THANKFULLY, not all of Liverpool's Anglo-American heritage is in disarray.

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No 19 Abercromby Square also shows what can be achieved with a fine historic building, given appropriate care. No 19 was formerly the Bishop's Palace with a three storey atrium and lavish plasterwork.

Now housing Liverpool University administration, it was built for Charles Kuhn Prioleau, from Charleston. A cotton merchant and a Confederate Government agent, he was heavily involved in blockade running in the Civil War.

A star carved above the front door represents South Carolina, immortalised in the song The Bonnie Blue Flag. Ceiling decoration includes the palmetto tree (the state tree of South Carolina) and the American wild turkey.

Prioleau was in cahoots with Georgia-born Capt James Dunwoody Bulloch, the Confederate Government's European naval representative who commissioned naval raiders like the infamous Alabama from Laird & Co at Birkenhead.

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Dunwoody's office at 10 Rumford Place (built in 1840) was dubbed Europe's "unofficial" Confederate embassy. Restoration of 10 Rumford Place in 1991 shows what a superb asset such buildings are to modern Liverpool and tourism.

Steve Binns says: "Support for the South was not universal in Liverpool. But Gladstone, himself a Liverpudlian whose family fortune was founded on the Caribbean trade, spoke up for the South and was ticked off by Prime Minister Palmerston."

Icons of a bygone age surviving against all the odds

LIVERPOOL'S lackadaisical attitude has saved many buildings from destruction allowing them to survive into a more enlightened time, says Ron Jones, author of The American Connection.

Once the large bald-headed eagle sculpture outside the old Eagle pub, pictured left, was saluted by visiting American officials.

Now boarded up, it is one of the very few surviving former boarding houses for emigrants that were clustered around Liverpool's bustling docklands. Part of the Grosvenor development site, its future is in doubt.

The old Pool of Liverpool almost flowed up to the end of Paradise Street. Ron Jones says: "I would love to have been around in the 1840s to see all this teeming life of the port.

"One can hardly imagine how busy it must have been with thousands coming and going on the emigrant ships, with all the businesses and paraphernalia that surrounded them. Around 200 years ago, Paradise Street was very much a street of ill-repute, but presumably it seemed like "Paradise" to sailors returning from long and dangerous voyages. This was home to the Maggie Mays and the Mary Ellens, the brothels and the 'grog shops'.

"The Eagle is a survivor of those far off days. If walls could talk, what tales they could tell. Besides being a boarding house, it has also been a pawnbrokers, coffee rooms, victuallers, an inn and a beer house.

Doubtless, many emigrants stayed here waiting for their ships to sail and countless others enjoyed their last pint of English ale here. "About 120 years ago, the pub was called the American Eagle. The Eagle sculpture is one of a few old inn signs left in Liverpool."


The US consul's office was in Paradise Street, near to the Eagle pub. Consul James Maury, the first US diplomat appointed to serve abroad, worked for 30 years in the city. A classmate of Jefferson (the second US president), Maury also spent much of his time bailing out sailors, but unlike Hawthorne, he accepted the routine.

Liverpool historian Steve Binns says: "It seems a shame that having survived for so long - longer than the Confederate Government did - that these buildings are now derelict and may not last for many years more." Mr Jones says: "We may revive Liverpool retailing with the Grosvenor development, but it should not be at the expense of wiping out our history so that developers can squeeze a bit more cash with bigger sites.

"Why make this city look like Milton Keynes or any other town, when we have a heritage that is not only valuable in attracting tourists, but tells our descendants where we came from and where we went?"
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Dan
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From the Liverpool Echo. Derivation of the names of each of the docks.

All of Liverpool's 43 docks and how they got their names

They take their titles from famous royalty, local MPs, dignitaries and even factories

By Lee Grimsditch 14 MAR 2020

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Sandon Half Tide Dock March 9 1956

The Mersey Docklands are famous around the world but the history of where they got their names from is not as well known.

The Pier Head, Royal Albert Dock and Stanley Dock conservation area have been part of the designated UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, placing them in the same company as The Great Wall of China and The Taj Mahal when it comes to world-famous attractions.

However there is in fact 43 named docks in total, taking their titles not only from famous battles, royalty, earls, dukes and barons but also from less grandiose sources such as local MPs, dignitaries and even factories.

In 2020 we took a look at the history of the docklands and here we revisit what we discovered.

Some of the docks are so famous they have graced the literary works of some of the most acclaimed writers to have ever lived.

Moby Dick author, Herman Melville, wrote in his novel Redburn, His First Voyage in 1849: “In magnitude, cost and durability the docks of Liverpool surpass all others in the world... for miles you may walk along that riverside, passing dock after dock, like a chain of immense fortresses”.

A good place to start is The Old Dock, formerly The Thomas Steers Dock – the world’s first commercial wet dock which opened in 1709.

Thomas Steer is thought to have been born in 1672 in Kent and died in 1750. He was England’s first major civil engineer.

The foundation stone of Liverpool’s maritime history, The Old Dock was discovered during excavations in 2001 after being buried since 1826.

It has been carefully preserved under the Liverpool ONE complex and for the first time in centuries the bed of the Pool – the creek that gave Liverpool its name – can be seen.

From The Old Dock to the last dock opened in Seaforth in 1972, their names act as historical marking points to nearly 300 years of British history.

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Liverpool's historic Old Dock, which is underneath Liverpool One. Photo by James Maloney

Two of the most famous battles in British history are recognised with Trafalgar Dock opened in 1836, and Waterloo which opened in 1834.

In Nelson and Wellington Docks we have the two famous military commanders, Lord Horatio Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, who led the English forces to victory in those conflicts.

The lesser-known Baron Cuthbert Collingwood, who was an admiral of the Royal Navy and notable partner to Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, gives his name to the Collingwood Dock in Vauxhall.

Perhaps Liverpool’s most well-known dock, the Royal Albert Dock, takes its name from Albert, Prince Consort and husband of Queen Victoria who officially opened it in 1846.

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Albert Dock in May 1981 - a year before its redevelopment began (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Prince Albert’s ancestral name, Saxe-Coburg, is immortalised in Coburg Dock which was renamed in the prince’s honour in 1840.

Queen Victoria is honoured with Victoria Dock, however, it was given its name in 1836 to acknowledge the 15-year-old Princess Victoria, the heir apparent to William IV. Victoria would go on to become queen the following year in 1837.

William IV, also has his legacy noted with Clarence Dock (opened in 1830) after his previous title William, Duke of Clarence which he had before his coronation in the same year.

Princes Dock, opened in 1821, was named after another who would be king, the Prince Regent who went on to become George IV.

George IV remains one of English history’s most maligned and satirised royal figures, noted in The Times newspaper as a man who would always prefer "a girl and a bottle to politics and a sermon".

Some of the docks, however, are named after close ties to the industries and communities that are fundamental to Liverpool’s identity.

Salthouse Dock, opened in 1753, was originally known as the South Dock but later the name changed due to them being situated near to John Blackburne’s Saltworks.

Another more provincial title was given to the Herculaneum Dock (opened 1866) – Liverpool’s most southern dock – named after the Herculaneum Pottery Company that had previously occupied the site.

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Herculaneum Pottery factories, Liverpool (Image: Howard Davies)

The South Ferry Basin (opened 1823) was known locally as the Cocklehole after the poor cockle fishers and oystercatchers who would moor their boats there for repair.

The area between the Tobacco and South Warehouses on Stanley Dock was known by Dockers as “Pneumonia Alley” because it was almost always in shade and acted as a wind tunnel.

It could be argued that the nicknames given to the docks by locals and dock workers are as much a part of their connection to Scousers as their official titles.

A comprehensive list of the docks, dates, and where their names came from can be found below.

Name of dock____ Year opened_ Sequence____ Named after

Seaforth Dock____ 1971________ North01______ Location of Seaforth, Old Norse sæ-fjord, meaning "sea inlet"
Gladstone Dock___ 1927________ N02_________ Robert Gladstone, a merchant from Liverpool
Hornby Dock_____ 1884_________ N03__________ Thomas Dyson Hornby, Chairman of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board
Alexandra Dock__ 1881_________ N04_________ Queen Alexandra of Denmark
Langton Dock____ 1881_________ N05_________ William Langton, former Chairman of the Bank of Liverpool
Brocklebank Dock 1862_________ N06__________ Ralph Brocklebank, Chairman of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board
Carrier Dock______ 1862________ N07__________ Intended use by river goods carriers
Canada Dock_____ 1859_________ N08__________ Canada Dock dealt in timber with the main source of the trade from Canada
Huskisson Dock__ 1852_________ N09__________ Former MP and Treasurer of the Navy, William Huskisson.
Sandon Dock_____ 1851________ N10__________ Lord Sandon, who became the Earl of Harrowby
Sandon Half Tide Dock1851_______ N11__________ Lord Sandon, who became the Earl of Harrowby
Wellington Dock____ 1851_______ N12 _____________The Duke of Wellington
Bramley-Moore Dock 1848_______ N13___________ John Bramley-Moore, Chairman of the dock committee
Nelson Dock_______ 1848_______ N14__________ Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson
Salisbury Dock____ 1848_______ N15 _____________Likely the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
Collingwood Dock 1848_______ N16__________ Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood
Stanley Dock________ 1848_______ N17_________ The Earl of Derby whom previously owned the land
Clarence Dock____ 1830_________ N18__________ William, Duke of Clarence, who became William IV
Trafalgar Dock____ 1836_________ N19_________ The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805)
Victoria Dock______ 1836_________ N20__________ Princess Victoria who became Queen Victoria
West Waterloo Dock 1834_________ N21__________ The Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815)
East Waterloo Dock 1834_________ N22 ___________The Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815)
Prince's Half-Tide Dock1810_______ N23___________The Prince Regent who became George IV
Prince's Dock______ 1821________ N24_________ The Prince Regent who became George IV
George's Basin____ 1771________ South01______ King George III
George's Dock_____ 1771________ S02__________ King George III
Manchester Dock_ 1785________ S03__________ Took cargo via the Mersey and canals to the Manchester region.
Canning Dock_____ 1737________ S04__________ Liverpool MP George Canning
Old Dock_________ 1715________ S05__________ Originally the Thomas Steers' Dock
Canning Half Tide Dock1737_______ S06_________ Liverpool MP George Canning
Albert Dock______ 1846________ S07_________ Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria
Salthouse Dock__ 1753________ S08_______ John Blackburne's saltworks
Duke's Dock__ 1773________ S09__________ Duke of Bridgewater
King's Dock__ 1785________ S10___________ King George III
Wapping Dock____ 1852____ S11__________ Named after the road it runs alongside
Queen's Dock 1785________ S12______________ Queen Charlotte, the consort of George III
Coburg Dock__ 1840_________ S13__________ In honour of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
South Ferry Basin__ 1823____ S14__________ Ferry service to New Ferry on the Wirral Peninsula
Brunswick Half Tide Dock 1832_ S15__________ New Brunswick province on the east coast of Canada
Brunswick Dock___ 1832____ S16__________ New Brunswick province on the east coast of Canada
Toxteth Dock_____ 1888____ S17__________ Location which was built on the ancient township of Toxteth Park
Harrington Dock___ 1844____ S18______________District of Harrington, which was named in honour of the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Harrington
Herculaneum Dock 1866____ S19__________ Herculaneum Pottery Company that had previously occupied the site
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Liverpool Echo archive

Hard life on city docks being herded into pens for 55p a day

"Can you imagine as a family trying to live on £5 a week?"

By Lisa Rand Local Democracy Reporter , 1 MAY 2021

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Mike Cullen (right) alongside other Liverpool dockers on the picket at Seaforth terminal (Image: Mike Cullen)

A Merseyside man who spent 30 years working along the city's docks shared his memories of a turbulent time in Liverpool's maritime history.

Mike Cullen, from Prenton, said when he first started working at the docks in 1965 the casual nature of the work could be brutal - with hundreds of men "herded into pens" only to be sent home with 55p if there was no work for the day.

Mike, who worked along many of the docks in Wirral and Liverpool over a 30 year period was sacked in 1995 from his job at the Royal Seaforth Docks over his involvement in a labour dispute.

Now 77, he has recently published his personal account written from a "grassroots" perspective called A Liverpool Docker's History, and which is currently available at News From Nowhere on Bold Street.

Mike said that although people talk today about the problems of casual labour, for many working on the city's docks in the early days of his career, families could be left with just £5 a week to live on.

He said: "We talk about casual labour these days but we used to get herded into pens and if there was no work, we'd be sent home with 55p and have to turn back up to do the same in the afternoon. Can you imagine as a family trying to live on £5 a week?"

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Dockers loading a ship at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool. 9th August 1965 (Image: Mirrorpix)

He said: "It was hard times. I've got three lads, had to bring three lads up on that and my wife at one time had three different jobs."

Over the following 30 years, Mike says he witnessed a lifetime of changes in an industry which, when he first started work over 60 years ago, employed thousands of dockers along the miles of city docks.

Mike said: "I'm not a dinosaur I know we've got to see progress and when I first started on the dock there were about 18,000 dockers.

"In the late 1960s and early 1970s everything had to be handled and it was very hard work.

"When they brought palletisation they needed less men and when containerisation came in there were less men again."

He said the active unions on the docks improved the situation for many workers, particularly during the 1967 national dock strike.
NOAHMAX
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I enjoyed that piece of
History Dan
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Dan
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Cheers Noah.

The link to Mike Cullen's booklet is below.

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https://www.left-horizons.com/2021/12/0 ... ers-story/



There's what looks like another interesting book on the the Amazon site.

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"In an inspirational struggle that began in September 1995 and lasted for two years and four months, 500 Liverpool dockers fought for their jobs after being sacked for refusing to cross a picket line. Liverpool Dockers: A history of rebellion and betrayal charts the background to the dispute, the Liverpool dockers' epic struggle, and the legacy of their fight for justice. Mike Carden, a former shop steward and one of the leaders of the sacked Liverpool Dockers, compiled this important labour history from original documents such as diaries, audio recordings, meeting minutes, and documentary film. It is a meticulously referenced work that tells the story of the Liverpool Dockers' 1995 dispute and offers a sophisticated analysis of the underlying reasons for the dispute - with contemporary relevance for the labour movement today."
Walsh
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Dan, The books are important reads. I still recall, in the mid 1960s, that Da (an experienced rigger who travelled around the local docks) came home mid week, mid afternoon. He was unusually quiet but simply informed me that the docks were finished: "palletisation, containerisation, automation...next thing, Joe the Blow will be a robot mounted with a bleeper?". I mentally shed a tear each time I worked on container ship, as an engineer. Walshy.
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Dan
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You're right Walshy. Things are always changing - sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse.

I love the pictures that show the faces of the men who worked on the docks.

From the Liverpool Echo archive.

1965 Gladstone dock
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c1969 dockers
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January 23 1967
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January 23 1967. Unloading Pyrobor (anhydrous borax), used in the manufacture of glue, charcoal, reagent chemicals, ceramics, borosilicate glass, fiberglass, alloys.
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Dan
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Seaman's strike 1966.

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Meeting at the old graveyard in Christian Street opposite the TGWU headquarters

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October 5 1966

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fatboyjoe90
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Thanks Dan,for reposting some of the photos of Seaman's strike 1966, that was posted just over 2 years ago. :roll:
Cheers Joe.
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Dan
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Sincere apologies Joe. :roll: :roll: :roll:
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fatboyjoe90
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Apologies accepted Dan. :wink: :wink:
Cheers Joe.
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Dan
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More from the Liverpool Echo archive

December 23 1946 Unloading 54,000 cases of Jaffa oranges

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1960s Waterloo Dock cafe

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1960s

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December 30 1963

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Dan
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The Dockers' Umbrella: City railway served Liverpool's busy port

LIVERPOOL’S famous Overhead Railway stretched from Seaforth in the north to Dingle in the south

Liverpool Echo , 23 APR 2008

SEAFORTH SANDS was opened after the completion of the railway’s northern extension on April 30, 1894, just over a year after the official opening. It was the line’s most northerly station and, following the opening of the Lancashire and Yorkshire company’s Seaforth and Litherland station in July 1905, it offered a route to Southport.

The station was located where Fort Road (no longer existing) and Crosby Road South met and had the distinction of having only the second moving escalator in the country, which was installed in 1901.

BROCKLEBANK DOCK station was situated at the bottom of Miller’s Bridge in Bootle and was one of the original stations. It was just 696 yards from Alexandra Dock station.

After the closure of Langton Dock station in 1906 it was a very busy place, used by tradesmen, labourers and dockers all working the ships in the Langton Graving Docks.

GLADSTONE DOCK station, which opened on July 16, 1930, was the last station to be built on the railway, serving the dock of the same name. It was badly damaged in the Liverpool Blitz but was rebuilt and restored to service. It was situated at the junction of Grove Road and Regent Road.

The dock served the magnificent transatlantic passenger liners that made Liverpool one of the most famous seaports in the world. Today the dock is overshadowed by the huge Liverpool Freeport just to the north.

ALEXANDRA DOCK station was one of the Liverpool Overhead Railway’s original stations when it opened in 1893.

Before the extension to Seaforth Sands, Alexandra Dock was the most northerly station on the line. It was situated outside Alexandra Branch Dock No. 2 between the Strand Road and Church Street junctions with Regent Road.

Alexandra Dock itself was by far the largest in the Liverpool system, the main basin covering nearly 18 acres.

CANADA DOCK station suffered heavy damage in a German bombing raid in December 1940. The track just south of the station received a direct hit, resulting in the loss of two whole spans of track. It was soon restored to full operation.

The station, one of the 11 original stations on the line, was situated near the junction of Bankfield Street and Regent Road outside Canada Branch Dock No. 1. It was originally constructed for transatlantic passenger traffic, but later the dock became the centre of the timber trade with Canada and the United States.

HUSKISSON DOCK station was built in 1896 as one of the two stations which replaced Sandon. It was another of the northern docks used for the big passenger liners, being the main berth for the Cunard and Ellerman Lines and a popular viewing spot for the tourist passengers of the Overhead.

NELSON DOCK station was, along with Huskisson Dock, one of the two stations built in 1896 to replace Sandon, reflecting the changing patterns of trade in this area of the docks.

The station stood on the top of a steep incline between the junctions of Blackstone Street and Walter Street with Regent Road. The 1 in 80 rise acted as a natural brake for trains on the "Up" line.

CLARENCE DOCK was another of the original 11 stations, serving Clarence, Collingwood, Salisbury and Stanley Docks. It was situated on the corners of Saltney Street and Regent Road.

Clarence Dock was used by hundreds of smaller vessels, and so the Overhead station became an important stop on the network.

PIER HEAD was probably the busiest of all the stations, providing a service for dockers and passengers making their way to the landing stages. It also served office workers in the city’s bustling commercial area.

The station was on the landward side of the Liver Buildings but long before the famous landmark was built. The Overhead was opened in 1893 while the Liver Buildings were not built until 1911.

There was a magnificent bowstring bridge near the station which was an ideal site for advertising posters.

CUSTOM HOUSE station served the huge Customs & Excise building in Canning Place and was one of the original stations.

The station, which stood at the junction of Strand Street and Canning Place, was damaged by German bombs in 1940 and as a consequence the Customs & Excise relocated. The station was renamed Canning in 1945 to avoid confusion.

BRUNSWICK DOCK station was another of the original stations built in 1893 and was also heavily bombed. It had a hydraulic lift bridge to enable a section of the track to be swung upwards to allow traffic carrying large loads to pass into the dock estate. It was located at the junction of Hill Street and Sefton Street.

DINGLE station, on the corner of Park Road and South Hill Grove, was the southern terminus of the line following the extension in 1896. It was more than half a mile inland, while the other stations were mainly parallel with the dock wall. The station was distinguished by the fact that it was the only station on the Overhead below street level!

The station was the scene of a disaster in December 1901 when a fire on an incoming train engulfed the station. Six people were killed.

PRINCES DOCK is the last dock, travelling south, before reaching the Pier Head and was one of the railway’s original stations. It was located where Roberts Street meets Waterloo Road.

Princes Dock had the longest floating landing stage in the world, used by thousands of passengers boarding liners, ferries, ships to Ireland and other coastal ports.

Princes Dock station was forced to close on March 14, 1941, due to German bomb damage and was never re-opened. An industrial estate stands near the site of the station today.

JAMES STREET station was located on the corner of Mann Island and Strand Street, opposite James Street and not far from where the existing James Street station on the Merseyrail network is located.

James Street was the place to alight for workers in the great shipping offices, the Corn Exchange and the Harbourmaster’s offices.

WAPPING DOCK station, which also suffered bomb damage during World War II, was located at the junction of Blundell Street and Chaloner Street.

Wapping was just 808 yards beyond James Street and was the destination for workers and visitors who used the port’s huge bonded warehouses nearby.

TOXTETH DOCK station was built in 1893 and was situated near the junction of Park Street and Sefton Street, next to Cheshire Line’s Brunswick goods station.

The actual dock was later filled in and the reclaimed land used for building.

HERCULANEUM DOCK station was the Overhead’s original terminus on Sefton Street near the present-day Brunswick Business Park. However, when the southern extension was built in 1896, the original station was converted into a carriage shed and a new station built.

Just beyond the station there was a huge lattice girder bridge. The bridge carried the track to the tunnel which took the Overhead to its destination at Dingle. The tunnel had a clearance of just 33 inches above the existing Cheshire Lines’ St Michael’s tunnel.
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Dan
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BBC Report from the Albert Dock in 1967.

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Dan
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The carrier Prince of Wales at Portsmouth. August 27 2022.

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Gardner 180
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Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:17 pm

Good morning Dan, A great photo of " Prince Of Wales " departing from Portsmouth. I have sailed down there
many times on several of Brittany Ferries ships en route to Ouistreham (Caen)by car for short breaks in Normandy
and also in my lorry doing deliveries further south. I have attached a picture of " Duke De Normandie ", stern-on
to Sword Beach at Ouistreham. I wish I could send bigger pictures.

Best regards, Ray Smyth.
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Dan
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Curse of Dan. The Prince of Wales has broken down off the Isle of Wight. The aircraft carrier is in trouble too. :)

Translation of the tweet:

The second British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales #بورتسموث departed and went on a long flight
As part of the deployment, it is planned to use fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II fighters and drones.



There you go Ray, MV Duc de Normandie.

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Gardner 180
Posts: 432
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:17 pm

Thank you Dan for the great picture of MV Duke de Normandie at Portsmouth.
Your picture of HMS Prince Of Wales has brought back some more memories.
At the centre, far left in the picture are two pub restaurants which my wife and
me visited many times, they are The Spice Island, and the Still & West where we
would have a meal and a drink prior to catching the night sailing to Ouistreham,
or St Malo, or Santander. I have attached a picture of MV Bretagne at Santander
in foul weather in February 1992, an hour later set off northbound up the Bay of
Biscay. We had done a 1200 mile round trip from Santander to Mojacar in the
Province of Almeria carrying furniture for a long time friend of ours who had
bought a small property there. It was a trip and a half. The 2nd picture is on the
way back to Santander where I needed to stop for a Jimmy Riddle, the snow had
eased a lot, compared with what it was like in the first 50 miles of the trip south.

Cheers, Ray Smyth.
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