The particulars given below, concerning the vessels belonging to Fleetwood, will form an interesting and useful accompaniment to the foregoing:—
| New Vessels[86] Registered. | Lost at Sea. | Broken-up (condemned). | Transferred to other Ports. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year. | No. | Tons. | No. | Tons. | No. | Tons. | No. | Tons. |
| 1850 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1851 | — | — | 1 | 83 | — | — | 1 | 27 |
| 1852 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1853 | 3 | 199 | 2 | 62 | — | — | 1 | 44 |
| 1854 | 1 | 128 | — | — | — | — | 8 | 1003 |
| 1855 | 2 | 104 | 1 | 595 | — | — | 5 | 562 |
| 1856 | 3 | 484 | 1 | 23 | — | — | 4 | 294 |
| 1857 | 8 | 364 | 1 | 26 | — | — | — | — |
| 1858 | 5 | 239 | 4 | 1050 | — | — | 1 | 54 |
| 1859 | 3 | 97 | 5 | 739 | — | — | 3 | 726 |
| 1860 | 3 | 865 | — | — | 1 | 29 | 2 | 74 |
| 1861 | 8 | 1012 | — | — | — | — | 7 | 518 |
| 1862 | 5 | 534 | 1 | 416 | — | — | 12 | 1844 |
| 1863 | 2 | 226 | 4 | 1308 | — | — | 4 | 318 |
| 1864 | 2 | 201 | 9 | 3363 | — | — | 3 | 666 |
| 1865 | 2 | 273 | 1 | 538 | — | — | 2 | 517 |
| 1866 | 4 | 520 | 5 | 1449 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 64 |
| 1867 | 3 | 439 | 6 | 605 | — | — | 2 | 214 |
| 1868 | 5 | 588 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1869 | 6 | 512 | 1 | 518 | — | — | — | — |
| 1870 | 8 | 1610 | 2 | 683 | 2 | 65 | 1 | 424 |
| 1871 | 10 | 991 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 339 |
| 1872 | 15 | 1588 | 3 | 427 | — | — | 1 | 42 |
| 1873 | 19 | 2921 | 6 | 1966 | — | — | 2 | 120 |
| 1874 | 15 | 2928 | 5 | 2304 | 1 | 32 | — | — |
| 1875 | 9 | 2410 | 4 | 2021 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 300 |
Now that the dock is no longer a mere word and promise, but has at length a definite signification and a material existence, there is every appearance that those into whose hands the fortunes of the port may be said to have been entrusted have no intention of any dilatory action in furthering the interests of their charge. Already, in 1875, a powerful steam dredger has been purchased at a cost of £12,000 and set to its labours in the channel and harbour. This dredger, which has superseded the older and much smaller one, launched in 1840 and used until recently, was built by Simonds and Company, of Renfrew, on the Clyde, and is of 100-horse power, being capable of raising 250 tons of sand, shingle, etc., in an hour. In addition it is able to work in twenty-six feet of water, whereas the original one was obliged to wait until the tide had ebbed to fourteen feet before operations could be commenced, so that really the work which can be accomplished by the new machine is out of all proportion to that which its predecessor could effect. Several iron pontoons, or lighters, furnished with false bottoms to expedite the business of discharging them, formerly performed by hand and spade, have also been obtained; and the bed of the river seaward from Fleetwood is rapidly being relieved of its superabundance of tidal deposits and scourings, which is carried by the lighters beyond the marine lighthouse at the foot of the Wyre and deposited in the Lune.
Steamboat traffic was, and is, the most important branch of shipping connected with the port, but notwithstanding the support and encouragement which has been so freely extended to the Belfast line, sundry attempts by the same company to establish sea-communications between Fleetwood and other places have invariably ended in complete failures. In the context we have endeavoured to trace a brief outline of the steamship trade of the harbour from its earliest days up to our time. The North Lancashire Steam Navigation Company was established in 1843, and commenced operations by running the “Prince of Wales” and the “Princess Alice,” two large and fast iron steamships for that date, between this port and Belfast on each Wednesday and Saturday evening, the return trips being made on the Monday and Friday. In that year, however, the number of trips was increased to three per week, the fares for the single journey being, saloon, 15s.; and deck, 3s. Another steamship the “Robert Napier,” of 220 horse-power, sailed also from Fleetwood in 1843, every Friday morning, at 10 a.m. for Londonderry, calling at Portrush, and returned on Tuesday, the fares being, cabin, 20s.; and deck, 5s. In 1844 we find that communications, through the exertion and enterprise of the above company, were open between Fleetwood and Belfast, Londonderry, Ardrossan, and Dublin, respectively. The Ardrossan line consisted of two new iron steamboats, “Her Majesty,” and the “Royal Consort,” each of which was 300 tons register, and 350 horse-power, the fares being, cabin, 17s.; and deck, 4s. The Dublin trip was performed once, and afterwards twice, a week each way, by the iron steamship “Hibernia,” which called off Douglas, Isle of Man, to land passengers, but after a year’s trial this communication was closed. In the summer of 1845, an Isle of Man line was opened by the steamship “Orion,” which ran daily, except Sundays; and at the same season the Belfast boats commenced to make the double journey four days a week, whilst the Londonderry route was abandoned. As early as 1840, on the completion of the Preston and Wyre Railway, a daily steam communication had been established to Bardsea, as the nearest point to Ulverston and the Lakes; and in the month of September, 1846, on the completion of Piel Pier, it was transferred to that harbour, and continued by the steamship “Ayrshire Lassie,” of 100 horse-power, the fares being, saloon, 2s.; and deck, 1s. In the following year this boat was superseded by a new steamer, the “Helvellyn,” of 50 tons register and 75 horse-power, which continued to ply for many years, in fact, almost until this summer line was closed, at a comparatively recent date, about eight or ten years ago. The Fleetwood and Ardrossan steamers discontinued running in 1847, and at the same time an extra boat, the “Fenella,” was placed on the Isle of Man route, whilst the Belfast trips were reduced to three double journeys per week. After a few years experience the Isle of Man line, a season one only, was given up; but the Belfast trade, continually growing, soon obliged the company to increase the number of trips, and step by step to enlarge and improve the boat accommodation. We need not trace through its different stages the gradual and satisfactory progress of this line, but our object will be sufficiently attained by stating that the two steamships were shortly increased to three. Afterwards larger and finer boats, having greater power, took the places of the original ones, and at the present day the fleet consists of four fine steamers of fully double the capacity of the original ones, which cross the channel from each port every evening except Sunday.
In the year 1874 the whole of the interests of Frederick Kemp, esq., J.P., of Bispham Lodge, in the Fleetwood and Belfast steam line were acquired by the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Railway Companies, at that time owners of the larger share, and now practically sole proprietors. Up to the date of this transaction the vendor had been intimately and personally associated with the traffic as managing-owner from its first institution, in addition to which he was the chief promoter of the Ardrossan and Isle of Man routes.
With the solitary exception of the service whose progress has just been briefly traced out, there is perhaps no single branch of industry which has assisted so ably in maintaining and stimulating such prosperity as the town of Fleetwood has enjoyed, throughout its chequered career, as the fishing traffic. In the earliest years of the seaport, shortly before the Belfast steamer communication was established, a second pilot boat, named the “Pursuit,” arrived in the river from Cowes, but finding little occupation the crew provided themselves with a trawl-net and turned their long periods of vigil to profitable account by its use. This sensible plan of launching out into another field of labour when opportunities of prosecuting their more legitimate avocation failed them was not of long duration, probably no more than a few months, for on the Irish line of steamships commencing to ply the pilots secured berths as second officers, and their boat was laid up. The “Pursuit” soon became a tender to a government ship engaged in surveying; and about ten or twelve months later was purchased by some gentlemen, denominated the Fleetwood Fishing Company, and, together with four more boats, hired from North Meols, Southport, sent out on fishing excursions. At the end of one year the hired sloops were discharged, and five similar craft bought by the company, thus making a fleet of six smacks belonging to the place, connected with the trawling trade. In the course of three or four years the whole of the boats were sold, as the traffic had not proved so remunerative a venture as at first anticipated; and one only remained in the harbour, being purchased by Mr. Robert Roskell, of this place. Shortly afterwards a Scotch smack arrived from Kirkcudbright, and in about twelve months the two boats were joined by three or four from North Meols, owned for the most part by a family named Leadbetter, which settled here. Almost simultaneously another batch of fishing craft made its appearance from the east coast and took up a permanent station at Fleetwood. The success which attended the expeditions of the deep-sea trawlers was not long in being rumoured abroad and attracting others, who were anxious to participate in an undertaking capable of producing such satisfactory results. Year by year the dimensions of the originally small fleet were developed as new-comers appeared upon the scene, and added their boats to those already actively prosecuting the trade. To trace minutely each gradation in the prosperous progress of this line of commerce would be wearisome to the reader, and is in no way necessary to the object we have in view. It will be sufficient for the purpose to state that in 1860 the number of fishing smacks on the Fleetwood station amounted to thirty-two, varying in tonnage from 25 to 50 tons each and built at an average cost of £500 each, the lowest being £400 and the highest £1,000. The following will illustrate the plan by which men in the humble sphere of fishermen were enabled to become the proprietors of their own craft: A shipmaster supplied the vessel on the understanding that £100 was deposited at once, and the remainder paid by quarterly instalments, no insurance being asked for or proffered regarding risk. The arrangement entered into by the smack-owners for the conveyance of fish to shore, when they were engaged out at sea in their calling was most simple and business-like. The boats kept company during fishing, and on a certain signal being given one of the number, according to a previous agreement, received the whole of the fish so far caught by her fellow craft and returned home, for which service her men were paid 2s. each by the other crews, who continued their occupation and arrived in harbour generally on Friday. For the next week another smack was selected, and thus all in turn performed the mid-week journey. At present there are no less than eighty-four sloops belonging to this port, pursuing the business of fishing, and the arrangements both for their purchase and the landing of the captured fish have undergone a revolution. All boats are now paid for when they leave the shipbuilder’s yard, and the former custom of a mid-week relief, has been relinquished, each sloop returning and discharging as occasion requires. A fishing boat’s crew usually consists of four men and a boy. In conclusion it should be noticed that a special warehouse, about 90 feet long, was erected in 1859, solely for the use of the fishermen and agents, or dealers, connected with the trade.
