ROGER BARNES


The American author Herman Melville, writing in 1849, compared Liverpool to the “miserable wooden wharves and shambling piers of New York.... [Whereas] in Liverpool I beheld long China walls of masonry; vast piers of stone; and a succession of granite-rimmed docks, completely enclosed... In magnitude, cost and durability the docks of Liverpool surpass all others in the world... Sailors love this Liverpool; and upon long voyages to distant parts of the globe, will be continually dilating upon its charms and attractions, and extolling it above all other sea-ports in the world.”


But this flourishing, bustling, cosmopolitan city was accessed by shallow and intricate channels, swept by strong currents. A series of shipping losses led to the Liverpool Pilot Act of 1766, and a fleet of 40-ton cutters were built to operate the first pilotage service. By 1852 the larger pilot schooners had arrived on the scene.


SEAKINDLINESS


Deeply respected for their strength and seakindliness, the pilot schooners kept station in the Irish Sea in fair weather and foul. The Liverpool pilots co-operated from the start, operating a fleet of closely matched vessels. Unlike the freelance pilots of the Bristol Channel, who competed for incoming ships, the Liverpool pilots operated a strict rota system, maintaining their stations in all conditions, pitching into the chop off the cliffs of Anglesey on a dirty night with 12 pilots on board. For nearly half a century the black-hulled Liverpool schooners welcomed ships to the Second City of Empire. Then, from 1896, steamers replaced these stout ships. This


CLASSIC BOAT APRIL 2012 63


ROGER BARNES


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