There is
documentary evidence of the existence of a boat and station for saving lives’
at Formby Point in 1776.
It was William
Hutchinson, the Liverpool Dock Master; who, supported by the Dock Trustees,
arranged for Britain’s first life-boat station to be established at Formby. The
exact date of the establishment of Formby station remains uncertain but was
apparently between 1771 and 1776. A minute of the Liverpool Common Council
dated 5 March 1777 indicates that the boat and boathouse had already been there
long enough to need repair.
Richard
Scarisbrick of Formby was be appointed to take care of the boat and boathouse
to be built and stationed at Formby to assist and save shipwrecked persons and
goods on this coast. The position of the boathouse and boat is clearly
indicated at Formby Point. Although not much is known about this boat or her
service, it is surmised that she was probably of the type known as a Mersey
Gig, a two or three masted, versatile, sprit-sail rigged craft only requiring a
crew of three or four and capable of being pulled or sailed.
In 1799 the Dock
Committee appointed William Brown to look after the boat, and then on 9 April I
800, Robert Neale, the riding officer at Formby, was appointed to the care of
the boat and boathouse. The original boathouse was rebuilt in 1793 on the same site
at the end of what subsequently came to be known as Lifeboat Road. According to
a survey of the bay, when built it was situated 100 yards inland well above the
high tide line on land belonging to the Reverend Richard Formby, the lord of
the manor. This reverend gentleman was incumbent of St John’s, Liverpool, from
1784 to 1792 and later of Trinity Church, Liverpool. The Formby lifeboat was
the only one serving the harbour until 1803. Other Liverpool Bay stations were
at the same time established, completing the far-sighted improvements to safe
navigation of the port of Liverpool at that time.
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| St. Andrew Packet Ship in the hurricane of 8th January 1839 |
The Great
Hurricane of January 1839
The Liverpool
Shipwreck and Humane Society was set up to help victims of the great hurricane
which hit the Irish Channel and the port of Liverpool on 7 and 8 January 1839.
This hurricane caused great loss of life and damage both at sea and on shore.
Local people came to the aid of the victims of the hurricane, many of whom were
strangers to Liverpool.
As a result of
the many hardships connected with seafaring a number of charities were set up
in 19th century Liverpool especially to help sailors and their families in
difficult circumstances. Spiritual guidance as well as more practical help was
given to seafarers by the Gordon Smith Institute and the Mersey Mission to
Seamen.
The Liverpool
Shipwreck and Humane Society helped victims of shipwrecks and rewarded the
bravery of people who saved others’ lives. The Liverpool Sailors’ Home was set
up to protect sailors from dishonest lodging house keepers who attempted to
take advantage of them. The children of seamen who lost their fathers were
cared for in the Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution.
The four
charities are still in existence today but operate on a much smaller scale. The
decline of the shipping industry meant that there were fewer seamen and their
families in need of help.
Links
Sources
Liverpool
Central Library
Liverpool
Records Office
Formby Civic
Society
Old Mersey Times
National
Archives
Liverpool City
Council Archives
By Robert F
Edwards
