Royal Canoe Club.
This club was founded in the 'sixties by "Rob Roy" Macgregor, who had built a small decked canoe, in which he had navigated the principal rivers in Europe and the Holy Land. Macgregor was not only an enthusiastic boating man, but he was a good Christian worker and philanthropist, well known in the East End of London. "Rob Roy" appealed to me and others to form a Northern branch of the Canoe Club on the Mersey. We did so in 1868, establishing our headquarters at Tranmere. The club was very flourishing, and the upper reaches of the Mersey formed a very attractive cruising ground; but the increase in the number of steamers destroyed canoeing on the Mersey as it has destroyed yachting. Living, as we did, at Seaforth, I was able to run my canoe down to the shore and enjoy many pleasant sails in the Crosby Channel. Finding an ordinary "Rob Roy" was too small and very wet in a seaway I designed and built a sailing canoe with a centre board, which was a great success and was the pioneer of sailing canoes.