Our research sessions normally take place every Monday (excluding Bank Holidays) in the Maritime Archives and Library at the Merseyside Maritime Museum commencing at 10.30am.
Our monthly talks are open to members (and invited guests by arrangement) and cover a balanced programme of topics within an overall maritime theme.
Talks are held at The Athenaeum, 18 Church Alley, Liverpool L1 3DD, usually on the third Thursday of each month from September through to May at 12.30pm, with coffee available from midday. The calendar of events is as follows:
The SS Great Britain was conceived and born in Bristol but lived her life operating out of Liverpool for thirty years. This talk is about her owners’ Liverpool business and their liner service to Australia
After WW2, with an increasing threat from the USSR, the UK implemented a major increase in the RN’s ability to deal with the threat of mine-laying in home waters. The inshore threat was countered by building 243 Inshore Minesweepers that proved so useful that their roles developed well beyond that envisaged with some serving the nation for over four decades’
This talk, given in memory of former LNRS President Bill Pape, will look at the development of containerisation and how it impacted on major shipping lines including Blue Funnel (Alfred Holt & Co).
The Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Company was formed in 1900 and could, perhaps, be described as one of the seed pearls of the now massive Florida based cruise industry although the company ceased to trade in 1967 after the Cuban Revolution. This talk looks at the ships it employed and some of the famous passengers carried which include Ernest Hemingway.
After a Conway cadetship (1906 – 08), Shoesmith rose to the rank of Chief Officer with RMSPC. In 1918 he took up painting full time and his iconic poster designs were used by many of the great shipping lines of the 1920s and 1930s. This talk looks at his most significant works.
LNRS member Bill Ogle served as Chairman during the final years of the Charitable Trust that sought to restore the Manxman. This talk will focus on three short videos which, professionally made, seek to explain the final phases of her long and varied career.
A fascinating and informal account of William Gladstone’s brother’s voyage in 1828 to visit his father’s plantations in the West Indies on the Liverpool sailing ship Roscoe.
In April 1918 the Western Front was in stalemate. News from the front was unremittingly bad and thus came about the daring naval raids on St George’s Day 1918. Designed to stop the submarine menace operating from Belgium and allow unfettered reinforcements to cross the Channel, this talk will highlight the key role played in the operations by the Mersey ferries, Iris and Daffodil.
The launching of the Russian armoured cruiser Rurik in 1890 presented a new threat to British global trade. In response, William White designed two ‘Powerful’ class cruisers. Often derided as white elephants, this talk illustrates that they were actually formidable vessels based on sound strategic thinking and design practice.
This talk looks at the first 175 years of the Cunard Line, its triumphs and disasters.
