Mersey Shipping Memories

ISBN: 978-1-902953-29-8

pp 80

Author: Ian Collard

Published by: Bernard McCall, Coastal Shipping, 400 Nore Road, Portishead, Bristol, BS20 8EZ - www.coastalshipping.co.uk

Price £15.00 / €25.00

Visitors to the Irish Sea Shipping web site will be no strangers to the photographs of Wirral based ship photographer Ian Collard whose images appear regularly on the web site.

Ian has been an active ship photographer for over 40 years and a large number of photographs from his archives have already appeared in a series of books published by Tempus Publications. However, apart from some cover illustrations on these books Ian's vintage images have appeared in monochrome.

Mersey Shipping Memories, published by Coastal Shipping Magazine reproduces a selection of 77 photographs taken by Ian on its pages all in sparkling colour.

There are many gems in this book a few samples of which are reproduced in this review. Ships range from trans-Atlantic liners such as the EMPRESS OF ENGLAND to traditional cargo ships, early "box boats" including a Sea Containers "Hustler Class" container ship CITY OF MILAN seen in Liverpool Docks in the early 70s.

 The collection includes the classic Anchor Line liner CIRCASSIA built in 1937 by Fairfields of Glasgow as well as tugs and coastal freight and passenger ships from Coast Lines, B&I Line and of course the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

As I have said before when reviewing books on the ISS web site - it is not just the ships themselves that are fascinating but also the surrounding dock infrastructure and riverscapes.

Examination of these classic colour images reveals just how much has been lost when one compares the present with what was visible 40 years ago.

The images in Ian's book date from a more innocent age when enthusiasts were welcomed into the docks by the port authorities and not viewed with the suspicion prevalent today which has been generated by security advisors. 

"Mersey Shipping Memories" has been produced in landscape format with one ship occupying a full page and with a detailed history caption underneath. It is very shelvable and similar in format to the increasing number of vintage colour albums produced by a number of transport publishers in recent years.

This volume really is a "must have" for anyone interested in the Mersey Shipping scene and comes highly recommended.

John H. Luxton

November 03, 2007