Mersey Shipping Through Time

The Mersey has changed over the past century. Famous ships and shipping lines have changed or gone altogether, the means of shipping goods has changed and the numbers of people in the docks have drastically fallen. Household names such as Blue Funnel Line, Elder Dempster and Pacific Steam Navigation Company have been replaced by Fred Olsen, HAPAG-Lloyd and Maersk, while Cunard ships once more call into the Mersey, no longer carrying passengers heading for America or Canada, but holidaymakers in floating hotels. With the advent of box boats and superfast ferries, we no longer see many of the traditional vessels that once called. Ian Collard calls upon his vast archive, as well as modern images, to show us the changing face of the Mersey over the past decades. Inside are views of the Mersey ferries, the transformation of the docklands itself, on both sides of the river, and the ships that now sail up the Mersey to discharge cargo and passengers in the dock system.