Ships of the Mersey

A photographic history of the Mersey docks.

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Overshadowing the port of Chester, Liverpool grew in size from the 1800s on sugar and slavery. Expanding over the following two centuries, the port has grown to take over part of the other side of the Mersey, with docks at Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Wallasey, as well as along the coast from Liverpool. Ian Collard brings together a superb selection of images of shipping on the river from the 1860s to the present day, looking at how the ports on either side of the river have developed and the ships which have called there. From the Mersey ferries to the greatest of ocean liners, Mersey Shippingtells the story of the ships, the people and the buildings of the Mersey docks system.