Liverpool and the Mersey, Vol. 1: Gladstone Dock and the Great Liners

• Author: Ken Longbottom
• Title: Liverpool and the Mersey, Vol. 1: Gladstone Dock and the Great Liners
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 128
• ISBN: 1-85794-053-9
• DCN:  
• Publisher: Silver Link Publishing Limited
• Location: Wadenhoe, Peterborough, United Kingdom
• Pub. Date: June 1995
• Language: English UK
• Subjects:
  • 1. Background to the new dock, 1895-1913,
  • 2. The First World War, 1914-1918,
  • 3. Completion of the Gladstone Dock and the inter-war years, 1919-1939,
  • 4. The Second World War, 1939-1945,
  • 5. The Post-war era, 1945-1995.
• Description: A Volume from the Maritime Heritage Series.
• Notes: Large Format Paperback.
• Size: 8 3/8" x 11"
• Dust Jacket: No
• List Price: GBP 14.99
• Synopsis: More than 190 rare archive photographs and maps, many never before published, to recount the story of this most famous dock and the Great passenger Ships that were once a regular sight there.

From The Back Cover

Many docks in ports throughout the world can lay claim to fame, but it is doubtful if any can match the importance and significance of Liverpool's Gladstone Dock. Throughout its history it has been associated with some of the world's most celebrated ocean liners, and has reflected Britain's changing mercantile and naval fortunes.

Intended to relieve the acute congestion in Liverpool's docks, the Gladstone's construction began in 1910. Interrupted by the outbreak of war, it was not officially commissioned until 1927, and immediately entered the record books as having the largest area of enclosed water of any dock in the world, playing host to such ocean legends as the Lusitania, Aquitania, the second Mauretania and the Canadian Pacific `Empresses'.

During the Second World War the principal naval forces of Western Approaches Command were based in Gladstone Dock and played a vital role in the Battle of the Atlantic. However, post-war economic recovery was followed by a steady decline from the late 1960s onwards, and today Gladstone Dock is but a shadow of its former self.

However, if Liverpool's position as Britain's `Gateway to the West' at the start of the present century becomes Europe's `Gateway to the West' at the beginning of the next, then it may be that the final chapter of the story of Gladstone Dock is yet to be written.

Maritime historian Ken Longbottom has selected more than 190 rare archive photographs and maps, many never before published, to recount the story of this most famous dock and the great passenger ships that were once a regular sight there.

Mercey Docks and Harbor Board, The Port of Liverpool, Ninth Edition, © 1935, Littlebury Bros. Ltd., Liverpool, England, Soft cover, 160 Pages + 121 Pages Advertising + Fold-out Maps. Subjects include: History of the Port of Liverpool, Northern Extension Works, Bidston Dock, The Liverpool Docks, The Birkenhead Docks, The Landing Stage, Railway Traffic at the Mersey Docks, The Commerce of the Port, Histories of Shipping Companies, Histories of Insurance Companies.