Leaving Liverpool at noon of the 2nd September, 1886, warping out of
the dock into the river - a long process - we arrived, in the fine screw
steamer "Sardinian," of the Allan line, off Moville, at five on the
following morning; and we got out of the inlet at five in the
afternoon, after receiving mails and passengers. It may be asked, why a
delay of twelve hours at Moville? The answer is - the Bar at Liverpool.
The genius and pre-vision of the dock and harbour people at Liverpool
keep the entrance to that port in a disgraceful condition, year after
year - year after year. And the trade of Lancashire, Yorkshire,
Cheshire, and Derbyshire, is compelled to depend upon a sand-bar, over
which, at low tide, there is eight feet of water only. Such a big ship
as "The Sardinian" can cross the bar in two short periods, or twice in
the twenty-four hours, over a range, probably, of three or four hours.
On my return home I wrote the following letter about this bar to "The
Times": -
"THE BAR AT LIVERPOOL.
"SIR, - You inserted some time ago in 'The Times' a letter from
Professor Ramsay detailing the troubles arising to travellers from the
other side of the Atlantic, owing to shallow water outside the entrance
to Liverpool, and you enforced the necessity of some improvement, in a
very able article. Professor Ramsay was at that time returning from the
meeting of the British Association, held in the Dominion of Canada.
"Still, while time goes on, and the question becomes more and more
urgent, the bar, with its eight feet of water at low tide, remains as
it was, save that some navigators contend that it grows worse.
"Yesterday 340 passengers, of whom I was one, by the noble Cunard ship
'The Etruria,' experienced the difficulty in all its varieties of
trouble.
"After rushing through very heavy seas and against violent winds for
three or four days, we cast anchor a good way outside the bar at 5
o'clock yesterday (Sunday) morning. The weather was too rough for the
fine tug-boat, 'The Skirmisher,' to come so far out. So, after swinging
about till 10 o'clock, we moved slowly on, crossed the bar about half-
past 11, and were off the northernmost dock later on. Here the usual
process of hauling the ship round by the aid of the tug took place, and
then the further process of putting the baggage on board the tug, in
advance of taking the passengers. I was fortunate in being taken off
the ship in a special tug-boat by some friends, got to the landing-
stage, where the baggage is examined by the Customs, and, a carriage
waiting for me, was at the Central Station at Liverpool at one o'clock.
But, with all these comfortable arrangements, I had lost at least seven
hours, and had missed all morning trains. The other passengers, I fear,
did not get through for two or three hours later, and those for London
would be lucky if they just caught the 4 o'clock train.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 16 of 259
Words from 7851 to 8378
of 136421
