Huskisson Dock
Encyclopedia
Dock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
on the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
which forms part of the Port of Liverpool
Port of Liverpool
The Port of Liverpool is the name for the enclosed 7.5 mile dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the river...
. It is situated in the northern dock system in Kirkdale. Huskisson Dock consists of a main basin nearest the river wall and two branch docks to the east. It is connected to Canada Dock to the north and Sandon Half Tide Dock
Sandon Half Tide Dock
Sandon Half Tide Dock is a half tide dock on the River Mersey, England and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Kirkdale, connected to Huskisson Dock to the north, Wellington Dock to the east and Bramley-Moore Dock to the south...
to the south.
The dock was designed by Jesse Hartley
Jesse Hartley
Jesse Hartley was Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the Concerns of the Dock Estate in Liverpool, England between 1824 and 1860.-Hartley's career:...
and opened in 1852. It is named after a former MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and Treasurer of the Navy
Treasurer of the Navy
The Treasurer of the Navy was an office in the British government between the mid-16th and early 19th century. The office-holder was responsible for the financial maintenance of the Royal Navy. The office was a political appointment, and frequently was held by up-and-coming young politicians who...
, William Huskisson
William Huskisson
William Huskisson PC was a British statesman, financier, and Member of Parliament for several constituencies, including Liverpool...
. Initially dealing in timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, it later traded in grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
and provided berthing facilities for passenger ships on North American routes. The main basin was enlarged and a branch dock created in the 1860s to accommodate larger ships. The dock was expanded again at the turn of the twentieth century when two further branch docks were built.
On 3 May 1941 Huskisson Branch Dock Number 2 was the site of the SS Malakand
SS Malakand
SS Malakand has been the name of at least two ships, both of the Brocklebank shipping line, named after the Malakand area of the Indian sub-continent.One SS Malakand was a 7,000-ton cargo liner built by Harland & Wolff in 1905...
explosion during the Liverpool Blitz
Liverpool Blitz
The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, at the time mostly within the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire but commonly known as Merseyside, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.Liverpool, Bootle, and the...
, when 1,000 tons of explosives on board the ship were ignited during an air raid. Four people were killed and debris from the ship was strewn up to 2.5 miles away. The two ton anchor stock from the ship landed outside Bootle General Hospital, Derby Road, 1.5 miles from the scene.
Largely destroyed by the explosion, Huskisson Dock was rebuilt after the War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Huskisson Branch Dock Number 2 was subsequently filled in and is now the site of a timber yard. Huskisson Dock remains in use, handling general bulk cargoes.
Throughout the late 1970s the Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n 'river' ships (named after Nigerian rivers) were regular visitors to Huskisson Dock. The Nigerian sailors were veritable traders, loading locally purchased, second hand household appliances onto ships for sale in ports of call in Africa, en route to Nigeria.