Welcome to the oldest ferry service in the world, and the only one with two No.1 songs to its name. Records date back to 1150, although a ferry service probably go back several centuries to Roman times. From the days when it took the monks of Birkenhead Priory an hour and a half to row their passengers across this fierce tidal river, the Mersey’s ferries have been at the heart of Liverpool’s history, and the fortunes of the ferries have followed those of the city. Here are great buildings, natural environment, history, and daily life on board.

True or false?

• The ferry across the Mersey has been a royal highway since 1318
• Two Mersey ferries took part in a raid on U-boats in Zeebrugge in 1918
• A killer whale was spotted in the Mersey in 2001
• Butch Cassidy's father set sail for America from the Mersey
• A Mersey ferry could travel across the Atlantic to New York on one tank of fuel
.... read the book to find out!

Contents

Chapter 1: the story
• From the monastic service of the 12th century to the familiar sight of today’s ferries plying back and forth across the river
• Early days: the first recorded mentions of a ferry service; the monks, royal patronage, private owners, prices and values
• Working on board: the crew, masters and mates; a typical 24 hours in the service
• Pirates to parties: the development of the ferry service, from early hazards to glamorous summer nights
• Modern day ferries: after the threat of closure in 1977, the renewal of the ferry service to award-winning standards

Chapter 2: the ferries
• Today’s distinctive vessels are light years ahead of the monks’ open rowing boats. Powerful, stable, comfortable and safe, the current fleet has a superb track record, carrying millions of passengers on thousands of trips
• Evolution: how the ferries developed from elbow grease to diesel, via sail and steam; their design, build and statistics
• Royal boats: Daffodil and Iris are the most famous names on the Mersey; their wartime adventures and modern incarnations
• Journey’s end: favourite boats of the past, and their final destinations around the world, under new names
• Familiar favourites: today’s fleet of three ferries; their stories and daily life aboard

Chapter 3: the river
• So what’s so special about this river? How it has evolved, what you can notice today, and what you have to imagine of its past
• Natural history: the river’s formation and geography, the tides and channels, river birds, marine mammals and fish
• Canals: the Manchester Ship Canal (‘the Ditch’), the Weaver, the Leeds-Liverpool Canal and the Sankey
• Docks: life on the river and the development of the docks from the old haven to the modern Freeport
• Trade and shipping: the lifeblood of Merseyside for over 1,000 years, from Phoenician traders to containerisation
• Migration: millions of people leaving Liverpool for the New World, and all those flooding to the city from around the world

Chapter 4: the shore
• How the fishing village of Liverpool and the sparsely populated Wirral developed, and what to see from the ferry today
• Liverpool gazeteer: a listing of the key landmarks on the Liverpool shore
• The Liver Birds: the symbol of Liverpool, established by King John in 1207 and now recognised the world over
• Wirral gazeteer: a listing of key landmarks on the Wirral shore