Author: Ian Collard

The major company in the short-sea passenger and freight business in 2020 is the Swedish Stena Line, who operate services to Europe, Scandinavia an...

The earliest mention of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, was in the twelfth century when monks built a priory there and established a ferry cro...

Liverpool City Centre History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this famous old port city. Local author Ian Collard guides u...

In 1873 a company was formed to construct the first railway across Canada. It soon branched out into shipping, chartering ships from the Cunard Lin...

A Mersey ferry was recorded in the Domesday Book, and for around a thousand years, they have plied between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral an...

From its humble thirteenth-century origins, Liverpool grew rapidly to become the greatest port in the British Empire outside London, but by 1980 th...

Wallasey History Tour offers a fascinating glimpse into the past of this town on the Wirral Peninsula. Local author Ian Collard guides readers arou...

The Blue Star Line was founded by brothers William and Edmund Vestey in 1911 to ship meat in refrigerated vessels from Australia, New Zealand and S...

When Arthur Anderson invited William Makepeace Thackeray to take a cruise in 1844, and to write about it, British shipping lines offered passage on...

An Act of Parliament passed in 1836 authorised the Southampton Dock Company to build a dock at Southampton. The foundation stone for the new docks ...

Since Arthur Anderson invited William Makepeace Thackeray to take a cruise in 1844, and to write about it, British shipping lines have offered pass...

Birkenhead From Old Photographs offers a captivating glimpse into the history of Birkenhead, providing the reader with a visual representation of t...

Although Liverpool has existed as a port since the thirteenth century, it wasn't until the seventeenth century that it truly began to grow on the p...

In the late 1960s, P&O established ferry services in the North Sea and English Channel. Roll-on/roll-off operations and containerisation were i...

Ellerman Lines was formed by John Reeves Ellerman at the end of the nineteenth century. Ellerman left home at age 14, and at 24 he established J. E...

Founded in 1838 in Liverpool, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was the first to operate steamships in the Pacific and primarily traded from the...

The Wirral Peninsula in north-west England lies within Cheshire and Merseyside but has its own distinct identity. In the east, on the estuary of th...

Although its first inhabitants were medieval monks, Birkenhead began to grow during the nineteenth century because of its links with Liverpool. Lat...

In 2010, the world's oldest steamship line celebrated its 180th anniversary. For 183 years, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. has been the lifeline ...

Over the course of 100 years, the Isle of Man developed from a collection of fishing villages into one of the main holiday destinations for people ...