Yesterday was a Bank Holiday and as the weather was about as good as it gets here in May we went to Formby Point which is on the coast just North of Liverpool. It took us just over an hour to get there and after paying the Ranger and parking we headed off through the sand dunes to the sea.
This is not a bad spot for seeing ships on a clear day although they are too far away to photograph (with my camera anyway). You can see all the ships and other vessels entering or leaving the Mersey and the windfarms and oil platforms in the distance, while I was there I saw the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Companies 'Manannan' Heading out into the Irish Sea, Dutch registered tug Yogi towing a platform, Shoalway taking out the mornings dredgings and the LGT Tanker Mistral.
There are a number of recorded wrecks off the coast but I imagine a lot more than actually documented due to the treacherous sand banks. One of the more well known shipwrecks is the Blue Star Lines refrigerated cargo ship Iconic Star. Built in 1917 by Russell & Co of Glasgow, with a GT of 5500 her dimensions were 389.8 x 53.2 x 32.4 feet. She had a Triple Expansion Steam Engine manufactured by D. Rowan & Co. Glasgow and launched as the Ruberia she became Iconic Star in 1929.
On 16 October 1939 inbound to Liverpool from South America with a cargo of meat, fruit and cotton she wrecked about a mile West of Formby Point. Thankfully her cargo was saved and no lives were lost but she later became a total loss. Although a company won the contract to break her up and recover the scrap only a very small amount was actually recovered due to difficult access and tides resulting in her being left and used for target practice during the war.
On the beach there are also the remains of the the first lifeboat station in Britain. Established in 1776 by William Hutchinson who was Dock Master for Liverpool Common Council and rebuilt in 1809 its last launch was in 1916. There was little to see when I was there due to windswept sand covering much of the area but some areas of cobbles and the remains of walls were still visible.
Potentially interesting but not related to anything nautical are the prehistoric footprints which can be found in the exposed layers of mud on this stretch of beach. Between 3400 and 5100 years ago people were living by or making repeated visits to this shoreline. There are currently more than 220 recorded identified trails of human footprints as well as animal prints including wild cattle, deer, wolf, and wading birds. Most of the prints were made by children with a small number of women and only a few men. Strange to think they were going about their daily lives such a long time ago on this windswept section of coastline. Sadly the exposed mud is not like some of the dinosaur tracks I have heard of in which are rock and the footprints once exposed don't last long.
On the way back home we drove (much to the dismay of family members in the car) past Liverpool docks. There were three ships I had not seen before these being.
Bergen Trader I (Bulk Carrier) IMO 9643295
Maasborg (General Cargo Ship) IMO 9341720
Minerva Libra (Crude Oil Tanker) IMO 9317951
These have now been added to my list.
This is not a bad spot for seeing ships on a clear day although they are too far away to photograph (with my camera anyway). You can see all the ships and other vessels entering or leaving the Mersey and the windfarms and oil platforms in the distance, while I was there I saw the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Companies 'Manannan' Heading out into the Irish Sea, Dutch registered tug Yogi towing a platform, Shoalway taking out the mornings dredgings and the LGT Tanker Mistral.
There are a number of recorded wrecks off the coast but I imagine a lot more than actually documented due to the treacherous sand banks. One of the more well known shipwrecks is the Blue Star Lines refrigerated cargo ship Iconic Star. Built in 1917 by Russell & Co of Glasgow, with a GT of 5500 her dimensions were 389.8 x 53.2 x 32.4 feet. She had a Triple Expansion Steam Engine manufactured by D. Rowan & Co. Glasgow and launched as the Ruberia she became Iconic Star in 1929.
On 16 October 1939 inbound to Liverpool from South America with a cargo of meat, fruit and cotton she wrecked about a mile West of Formby Point. Thankfully her cargo was saved and no lives were lost but she later became a total loss. Although a company won the contract to break her up and recover the scrap only a very small amount was actually recovered due to difficult access and tides resulting in her being left and used for target practice during the war.
On the beach there are also the remains of the the first lifeboat station in Britain. Established in 1776 by William Hutchinson who was Dock Master for Liverpool Common Council and rebuilt in 1809 its last launch was in 1916. There was little to see when I was there due to windswept sand covering much of the area but some areas of cobbles and the remains of walls were still visible.
Potentially interesting but not related to anything nautical are the prehistoric footprints which can be found in the exposed layers of mud on this stretch of beach. Between 3400 and 5100 years ago people were living by or making repeated visits to this shoreline. There are currently more than 220 recorded identified trails of human footprints as well as animal prints including wild cattle, deer, wolf, and wading birds. Most of the prints were made by children with a small number of women and only a few men. Strange to think they were going about their daily lives such a long time ago on this windswept section of coastline. Sadly the exposed mud is not like some of the dinosaur tracks I have heard of in which are rock and the footprints once exposed don't last long.
On the way back home we drove (much to the dismay of family members in the car) past Liverpool docks. There were three ships I had not seen before these being.
Bergen Trader I (Bulk Carrier) IMO 9643295
Maasborg (General Cargo Ship) IMO 9341720
Minerva Libra (Crude Oil Tanker) IMO 9317951
These have now been added to my list.
At 7.30am this morning sitting in the morning sun at Trafford Wharf Arklow Rainbow was getting prepared to leave for a trip back down the Manchester Ship Canal to Runcorn.
Built in 2005 in the Netherlands by Bankmejer, Stroobos (Yard No. 308) she has a GT of 2999.
She was in the company of two other Arklow vessels who were on the other side of the canal at the scrap yard. One of these was Arklow Fortune, not sure about the other.
Built in 2005 in the Netherlands by Bankmejer, Stroobos (Yard No. 308) she has a GT of 2999.
She was in the company of two other Arklow vessels who were on the other side of the canal at the scrap yard. One of these was Arklow Fortune, not sure about the other.
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