.
The Pier Head, The Three Graces and Sailortown
Let’s start off at the corner of James St. and the Strand, just down the hill from James St. Station
The red and white striped building was the office of the White Star Line.I.JPG)
f
you are familiar with the original Scotland Yard building you may see a similarity; they were designed by the same architect - Richard Shaw.
White Star was the largest Trans-Atlantic liner company in the 19th century and a significant company in the Australian Clipper trade. Its most famous ship was the Titanic.
Many local people worked on the Titanic In fact the main staff thoroughfare on E Deck, a wide corridor which ran the length of the ship was nicknamed “Scotty Road” by the crew after the Liverpool street.
As news of the sinking reached Liverpool, relatives besieged the offices desperate for word of their loved ones. When the details finally came through, the Directors were too frightened to go down to the street so the names of the dead were read from the balcony you see on the building.
We will visit the Titanic Memorial soon.
If you would like to experience the style of the “Titanic” visit the Adelphi Hotel which has to an exact replica of the Grand Lounge of the ship.
To the left of this building, near to the overhead walkway across the Strand, you can see what could be the prow of a ship made of glass, sticking out from the building. This is an excellent restaurant called “Simply Heathcotes” It’s a great place to dine, and has some great offers on meals; you will have a superb meal at a fraction of what you’d pay in a London restaurant. If you do go, notice the restaurant is in the shape of a grand piano.
Also on Beetham Plaza is a Japanese restaurant, Etsu, and a champagne bar, Champu, owned by colourful local hairdresser Herbert. The cheapest bottle of bubbbly starts at £60, and prices rise rapidly after that.
The building stands on the site of the Goree Warehouse a six storey building which stored goods before they were sent to Africa as part of the Slave Trade .Washington Irving(No1Goree) and Nathaniel Hawthorn had their offices here. The plateau by the restaurant has the “Piazza Waterfall” by Richard Huws. In front of the steps by the waterfall is a memorial to the Africans transported through the island of Goree. The island, 3 kilometres from Dakar is now visited by tourists to see the Maison des Esclaves built by the Dutch in 1776, and the notorious “Door of No Return”, the portal that Africans passed through to board the slave ships. The island is now a World Heritage monument
Turn to face the river.
.jpg)
The building with the large square tower, decorated with art-deco friezes .jpg)
is, believe it or not, basically just an exhaust fan! It is the Georges Dock Building, opened in 1934, and is the ventilation shaft for theMersey Tunnel which runs for three miles, joining Liverpool with Wirral on thisside of the building is a memorial to the men who died.JPG)
working in atrocious conditions to dig the Tunnel.
As you walk towards the river, you enter the Mann Island area-
This was the home of pirates, crimpers(kidnappers) and the press gangs in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Let’s have two famous writers describe the scene
“....steamships with long ornate cutwaters lined up along the quaysides; three-masters with tonnages that would put the finest frigates to shame, announcing their impending departure by gaudy little boards on the rear displays of a thousand ships; poetic alluring names inlaid in gold and borrowed from the realms of India or the East Indies, from Afric’s burning shores, from the gulfs, straits, streams and rivers of the Americas and the South Seas, flags of all nations, floating in the mist and showing up the grey uniformity with their loud colours; mountains of bales spilling coffee, sugar and cotton onto the covers of the holds, Campeachy and mahogany piled up, all the products of the colonies, filling the air with exotic redolent fragrances.”
“Backward to Britain” Jules Verne
“And yet, Sailors love this Liverpool, and upon long voyages to distant parts of the globe, will be continually alighting upon its charms and attractions, and extolling it above all other seaports in the world. For in Liverpool they find their Paradise - not the well- known street of that name - and one of them told me he would be content to lie in Prince’s Dock till he hove up anchor for the world to come.”
Herman Melville.
This waterfront has witnessed a lot of excitement over the centuries- from the wildness of Mann Island (which was an island then), crammed with pubs and sailors of all lands, hookers and crimps, fights with the Press Gangs, news of invasions, fears of attack and kidnap, legalised piracy, fortunes won and lost, tearful farewells, people fleeing persecution from Europe, Irish escaping from the Great Famine-this area is steeped with emotion.
It was a dangerous place-sailors out enjoying themselves could be slipped a “Mickey Finn”- a sedative-by a crimp and wake up on a Royal Navy ship, pressed into service for years to come.
Some of the crimps became well-known- Da Costa the Yank, Shanghai Davies-with his lair in the Red Lion just off the Strand. Some of the landladies of the sailors lodging houses were in league with the crimps. They did not always fully deliver.
Ma Smyrden from her lodging house in Pitt Street managed to fool the crimpers into taking a” sleeping” sailor. It was not until morning that they discovered they had paid for a corpse..
Navy agents would also haunt the bars generously buying beer for sailors, awaiting an opportunity to slip a shilling into their pewter tankards. If the sailor then picked up the tankard he was deemed to have”taken the Kings’ shilling”-i.e. volunteered to join the Navy. Tankards with glass bottoms eventually put paid to this trick.
Subterfuge was not the only method used to press people into the Royal Navy. Press Gangs patrolled the waterfront to the warning shouts of “Hawks Abroad” seizing who they could and not being too discriminating between experienced sailors and local townspeople. A man could leave his home on a routine errand and disappear for years with his family ignorant of his fate.
Shipwrights were particularly well organised for resistance- if one of them was taken a bell would be rung and thousands would turn out to his assistance from the shipyards.
Even at sea danger was still present- Naval ships would lurk off the coast of Liverpool waiting to pounce on returning ships, seizing most of the crew and leaving just the officers and a few of the older crew to bring their ship to harbour.
So real was this threat that some ship owners sent out special crews of elderly sailors to meet their ships in Liverpool Bay, so that the real crew could be smuggled ashore on the Wirral.
One of their favourite lairs was Mother Redcap’s on the right of the Seacombe Ferry terminal The pub had 5 feet thick doors and was said to lead to a warren of caves.
Mother Redcap, real name Poll Jones, had a trustworthy reputation. Sailors, who had no access to banks, would leave their cash with her, and the money would always be there for them on their return. She knew a good deal when she found one - given the mortality rates amongst sailors she accumulated a fortune from unclaimed deposits.
Folk lore has it that her hoard is hidden in the caves behind the pub, which were reputed to stretch to Chester. When the current house was being built- Now Mother Redcaps Rest Home - it was hoped that Mother Redcaps hoard would be found- but the builder was disappointed.
The activities of the Press Gang even led to war! During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain and France both blockaded the U.S.A. and intercepted her ships.
After the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the French blockade was almost meaningless because of French naval losses. In 1811 Napoleon offered to withdraw the nonexistent French blockade if the British would withdraw their very real one.
Britain refused, and also ignored another American grievance, the pressing of American sailors into the Royal Navy. Much of the ensuing Anglo-American war of 1812- 1815 took place between the U.S.A. and Canada, with raids on Toronto, and Washington The latter attack led to the hasty repainting of a certain building, known thereafter as the “White House”
Of course all the wildness of Sailortown- the drunken sailors, the violence the sins of the flesh attracted moralists determined to save the sailors from themselves. Philanthropists bought pubs and converted them in to coffee houses. A number of charitable institutions set up sailors homes where they could sleep while ashore, safe from the crimpers.
There was no doubt that they were fighting a losing battle against the desires of the sailors to pack in as much enjoyment as they could in between voyages. As Melville rather sniffily observed
“Much is said of ameliorating the condition of sailors; but it must ever prove a most difficult endeavor, so long as the antidote is given before the bane is removed.”
Some people, often criminals on the run, or fleeing debtors wanted to go to sea,but didn’t have experience. To provide this “training schools” such as Paddy West’s grew up.
Situated in Great Howard St. Paddy’s provided accelerated development-with students “learning” to furl a sail by rolling up the window blind, placing their hands on a ship’s wheel, having a bucket of water thrown over them, walking around a bull’s horn and stepping over a codline so they could claim they’ve “Rounded the Horn and Crossed the Line.”
For this one days qualification the hopeful sailors were charged two months pay. Paddy West’s was so well known to sailors that it featured in a sea shanty,
“As I was rollin’ down Great Howard Street
I strolled into Paddy Wests’ House
He gave me a plate of American hash
and swore it was Liverpool Scouse
Said he “Now young feller you’re here just in time
For aboard a big clipper you’ll very soon sign
Although service on a privateer was dangerous many sailors preferred it to other types of ship for two reasons;
- They could not be pressed into the Royal Navy
- They could in a single voyage earn a fortune.
Privateers were legally licensed pirates- Government approved raiders free to attack any ship of hostile countries. Given the number of wars in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries there was plenty of scope for raiding.
All countries did it- indeed the U.S. Navy originally consisted only of privateers- at the Declaration of Independence America did not have its own navy, so it quickly licensed its merchant ships, including John Paul Jones’s”Providence”, which prowled off the Liverpool coast and attacked Whitehaven.
A Liverpool Privateer, Billy Boates, so named because he had been found abandoned as a baby in a boat heard as he walked along the Pier Head that his ship had captured a Spanish galleon laden with bullion. He danced along the waterfront singing
“Billy Boates-born a beggar, die a lord”
Captain John Dawson, the privateer lived near St. Nicholas’s Church. He took command of The “Mentor built by a carpenter called Peter Baker who lacked the skills of a shipwright and consequently built a ship that listed heavily. The merchants who had ordered it refused to accept it and Baker terrified he would end up in debtors gaol, persuaded Dawson to take command. The Mentor put to sea, the laughter of the sailors who had refused service on such an unseaworthy ship ringing in Dawson’s ears.
He who laughs last, laughs loudest-In 1778 The “Mentor came upon a French East Indiaman, the “Carnatic” and captured her with jewels on board worth £135,000,-millions in today’s terms. The wealth was
partly used to build a grand hall in Mossley Hill, dubbed Carnatic Hall by local wits. When the original hall burnt down, its’ replacement officially accepted the name. The grounds of the old Hall now house University halls of residence.
John Rowlands was making a living as a butchers delivery boy on the docks. Born in a workhouse in Wales, he had made his way to Liverpool to live with his Aunt Maria and Uncle Tom Morris in Roscommon Street in Everton. He delivered to a ship called the “Windermere”, and Captain Hardinge asked him if he would like to go to sea. He became a cabin boy, but when they docked in New Orleans the captain refused to pay him.
Penniless he wandered New Orleans asking for work.
A gentleman called Stanley helped him and became such a friend that John Rowlands took his name. He went on to serve in the Confederate Army, and later the U.S. Navy.
As a top journalist for the “New York Herald” he was involved with some of the major explorations of the era, travelling through Abyssinia Most famously Stanley is remembered for his words of greeting to another explorer feared lost in Africa. Stanley was commisioned to find him and after a gruelling search through treacherous jungles he greeted him with the immortal words “Dr.Livingstone I presume”.
Stanley subsequently led expeditions for the King Leopold of the Belgians. We cover this notorious king's rapacity in his African colonies in the "SAints and Sinners" section
Until 1872 a Mariners church -Originally the” Tees”a ship that saw action at Trafalgar was anchored at the George’s Dock. It had 3 tiers of galleries, and could hold 1000 worshippers.
A little further along the River, where the Ferry Terminal is at the Waterloo Dock stood the Wishing Gate.
In the 18th Century. the loved ones of departing sailors would say farewell, with a wish for their safe return, given mortality rates of some 20% they needed all the help they could find
A floating swimming baths used to be anchored off the Pier Head- a ship with opening at both ends that allowed the tide to flow through the baths. It was superseded by the construction of swimming baths at George’s Pier Head in 1826.
It may be hard to imagine but Liverpool was a popular seaside resort, with people coming from miles around for the invigorating air and the sea and river bathing. The Bronte’s were amongst the visitors, with Bramwell Bronte staying here for much of the year in 1839, with other shorter stays. It is not surprising that when Emily Bronte, living in a remote sheltered vicarage, and looking for a dark character to bring an air of the wild and exotic to her writing would create the worlds best known fictional Liverpudlian character, Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights
Waterfront Miscellany.
Brendan Behan landed from the Dublin boat in 1939 and was discovered to have bomb making equipment . He said
“I intended to put big bombs in Lewis’s, and Hughes’s... I would have put one in Cammell Lairds shipyard if I had a chance”
His youth (he was just 16) saved him from a more serious sentence and he received a 3 year sentence in a juvenile prison- an experience which led to his book “Borstal Boy”.
The first news of the Spanish Armada was brought by a Liverpool ship en route to the Canaries. Captain Humphrey Brooke turned his ship around and raced to Plymouth to sound the alarm.
Silas K. Hocking Methodist minister in Docklands In1850 observed that over 20,000 children lived uncared for in the dock area half died before the age of 11
The first crossing of an ocean by a steamship was from Savannah to Liverpool in 1819 by the “Savannah”
The maple trees that lined Canada Boulevard in front of the Graces were given by Canada to commemorate their sailors who died in the war at sea. A plaque here also marks their loss.
You might wish to have a ride in the horse drawn carriage from here.
The Leeds-Liverpool canal now runs past the Pier Head.
Head towards the Semi-circular monument by the river , a memorial to
sailors who were lost in World War ll.
The nearby statue is Captain Johnny Walker, a naval hero for his record in the Battle of the Atlantic the Second World War’s longest battle. .
You could not have stood on this spot a few hundred years ago-you would have been in the middle of the Mersey! The modern River is half a mile wide, but it used to be a mile wide, reaching to the Strand.
A little further along are two square memorials with a smaller memorial between them. The first pays respect to Belgian sailors lost during the War. the middle is for British . and the final is for seafarers from the Netherlands.
Let’s look at the three magnificent buildings that are known as “The Three Graces.” If you like them from the outside wait until you see the interiors. You can walk through each building and I would highly recommend you do so.
To your left is the Royal Liver Building, .jpg)
on top of which stand the
famous Liver Birds; the symbols of Liverpool. Old legends say that it was these mythological birds that led the founders of the city to the pool around which the
return of her loved ones from the sea. He is facing the city looking to see if the pubs are open yet! The Liver Birds are taller than a double-decker bus. They were designed and made by Carl Bartels, a German sculptor from the Black
Forest who settled in England at the beginning of the 20th century. All references to his contribution were erased in 1914.
The Liver Building was designed by W. Aubrey Thomas in 1908 and completed just three years later. It was the first large scale reinforced concrete building in Britain and the techniques used were to lead to modern-day skyscrapers. The clock-faces are larger than the clocks on Big Ben, and the diameter of the hands are about the length of a bus. Before they were erected the clock-face was used as a giant dining table in celebration of their construction. Each dial of the Clocks has a 3.1/2 ton framework to carry the 660lb of opal glass on the front. .The wind off the Irish Sea is so strong that it can push the hands of the clock into inaccuracy
The Liver Building occasionally has art or photographic exhibitions in the hall on the ground floor . There is a fountain and the original stained glass window from the shipping hall. The floor is Spanish marble, and incorporates a replica of the Liver clock face. There is also a cafe. .
The Cunard Building .JPG)
was built in 1916 and just under the ridge on the
top storey are the crests of the countries that were allies of Britain when the First World War broke out.
The decisions to build the “Queen Mary” and the “Queen Elizabeth” were made in the boardroom here. Cunards’ latest liner the Queen Mary 2 is, the largest and most luxurious liner in the world. She has a heritage
trail feature running through the public areas which covers Cunards’ long history in Liverpool, since the departure of the paddle-steamer “Britannia” from Liverpool bound for Nova Scotia in 1840. The ship also has its own Royal Court theatre
The right-hand building is the Port of Liverpool Building .JPG)
which was
completed in 1907 and is likened to an Italian palazzo. It is well worth taking time
to admire its internal beauty. The shape of the central dome is reflected inside so
that its circular base is replicated from the ground floor all the way to the top. .
These are working buildings but I’ve never had a problem popping in for a look
around during working hours. If they are open go and have a look starting with the Port of Liverpool building.
Walk along Canada Boulevard, past the Liver Building.
On the wall right at the end is a plaque recording the part played by logistics in winning the Second World War.JPG)
Britain was dependent on the lifeline for all its oil, half its food, and most of its raw materials. During the War the Port handled 75 million tonnes of
supplies, and nearly 5 million troops. The American Port Commander, Colonel Duffie was awarded the Legion of Merit, the highest medal for noncombatant soldiers.
We are a long way from the D-Day beaches
and yet near here was the start of a critical supply line-the Pipe Line Under The Ocean, or PLUTO. This started near where the Britannia Inn now stands( Riverside Drive about a mile along the river
towards the Airport).It ran the to the South coast, and then under the Channel to.JPG)
Normandy. It fuelled the liberation of Europe, safeguarded from air attack.
Follow the wall towards the River. On your right is the Titanic Memorial This used to be just dedicated to “the heroes of the engine room”-feelings were running so high that they avoided all mention of the “Titanic”
The first Trans-Atlantic cable was laid from here, which brings us to the notorious London murderer Dr. Crippen . Crippen was believed to have murdered his wife, Cora,and buried her in their cellar.He told people that she had gone to the U.S.A. and had died there. A Liverpool actress Mrs Egerton who knew them both became suspicious when she saw his mistress Ethel Le Neve wearing some of Belles’ favourite jewellery, and alerted the police. Crippen managed to stall them with another story, and fled the country with Ethel, initially to Belgium, where they took the S.S. Montrose bound for Canada, travelling as father and son. As far as the British police were concerned they had disappeared. However the "Montrose" was one of the few liners with the latest technology- the Marconi wireless. The Captain became suspicious of the pair when he saw them holding hands on deck, He contacted his base who alerted the Police. Inspector Drew of Scotland Yard raced to Liverpool and caught the White Star liner Laurentic which despite being 3 days behind the Montrose reached Canada before it. Drew climbed on to the Montrose disguised as a pilot and greeted Crippen with “Good afternoon Dr. Crippen, remember me Inspector Drew with Scotland Yard”. Crippen surrendered meekly.
A sensational postscript to this story emerged in 2007 following investigation by the American criminal scientist John Trestrail, who compared DNA taken from the corpse in the cellar with the DNA of Cora's family. This proved that the body in the cellar was not Cora Crippen's and so Dr.Crippen's story of his wife's disappearance may have been true. Far from being a murderer, he may have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice, with Cora not coming forward and so allowing him to be executed. Nobody knows who the body really was but it is possible she may have been a victim of a botched abbortion.
Mrs Egerton returned to Liverpool to run the pub which still bears her name, on Pudsey street, behind the Empire Theatre.
If you walk further along the riverside you will come to The Loop Art Gallery, on the Ground Floor of 12 Princes Dock.