Restoration Diary

“We first visited the ferry back in August 2018. Laid up at Duke Street bridge in Birkenhead on the East Float Dock, paused in time since 2012 and without any maintenance she was already falling into disrepair. From weathered decks full of moss and plants, to extensive rusting – on the face of it she was in poor condition. But under that thin layer of weathering, there was a beauty waiting to resurface and we instantly saw her full potential.”
– Philip Borg-Olivier, Co-Founder and CEO

Who lives in a ship like this? In her as-was condition, she wasn’t so easy on the eye. From psychedelic carpets to engineer’s quarters, take a look back at the innards of this once working cross river vessel.

“Stepping inside for the first time in 2018, it was instant nostalgia. Like one of those old buses we all took into town, freezing cold with garish patterned textiles and mouldy window frames. A real flashback to the ‘party boat’ era, exploring the ship and sharing stories. Or going even further back, being on the outside decks brought back memories of days spent on the tourist trail, going out on the river with family as children. There’s something really special about being on the water, it’s just that feeling of being away from the hustle and bustle of the city, cocooned in an intimate space.

Going down below was an eye opener. The inner workings of this huge hulk of steel, with oil and diesel fumes, soot and grease. We found loads of amazing artifacts like old newspapers and crisp packets from bygone times and graffiti on the walls. That was a moment where we realised just what was ahead and the energy this project would take.”
– Joshua Boyd, Co-Founder & Creative Director

After months of discussion and planning, the vessel was acquired from Mersey Ferries in February 2019. The team set out designs for extensive restoring and repurposing and she was booked for dry dock at Carmet Slipway in Brombrough, to commence a first rip out. Photographs captured that magic moment of her return to the River Mersey for the first time in over five years and evenutal arrival at the shipyard.

“There was huge anticipation for the sight of tug boats coming towards Duke Street, a crowd of people had gathered to watch the ferry sail off again – ex crew and captains, Mersey Ferries staff and our own family and friends. It was an emotional day for some, but really exciting to take a trip on those tugs, watching her being towed down the river. Not something you’d forget in a hurry.

When we arrived at Brombrough, we disembarked from the tugs and had the priviledge of watching her raise out of the water as the vessel was hauled up on frames onto the slipway. This was the first time a Mersey Ferry had been dry docked here, with a brand new scaffold and winch system specially installed for the job. You could cut sense the tension in the air… and the relief on everybody’s faces when it finally came into place, with a huge sigh of relief! We took a moment to admire the scale of the vessel, pretty titanic in our eyes!”
– Philip

Now in place on dry land, a huge team of engineers and workmen descended on the yard to begin the process of hull clearing and building scaffold for the rip out. Barnacles, mussels and algae started to be blasted away from the hull for condition inspections… before a giant hole was cut in her portside bulkhead!

“What a moment to see the ship in full glory out of the water. It really brought her scale into perspective, watching those little men in hard hats starting the process of clearing all the growth away and beginning to disassemble working parts from this huge, iconic figure. If there was any illusion about the engineering operation, that quickly evaporated cranes and plant vehicles circled in for the next stage of works”.
– Josh

“Whilst the Engine Room rip-out was underway, teams began stripping metalwork away in the Promenade Bar. We started external painting of the undersides of the hull, offering a glimpse of what was to come. Seeing the marine growth cleared off the shell was like cleaning up – but the paintwork felt like a makeover. Whilst a massive task lay ahead as more areas of the ship’s inner working parts were uncovered, It was hugely encouraging to see bright colour shine through in the Spring sunshine on the outside.”
– Phil

“From the off, we knew that clearing and utilising the Lower Deck space, specifcally the former Engine Room and Lower Saloon spaces would be absolutely core to our plan for the vessel. By opening up a third and final tier of the ship, we could create a diverse offer across multiple spaces and gain the flexibility to achieve a huge range of things in future. Upper Deck – Bar, Main Deck – Restaurant, Engine Room – Event Space. It was vitally important to carry out this messy work whilst in dry dock.

So, with the hull opening cut and daylight casting into the Engine Room for the first time in many years with a first engine out, we really got a good look at the mountain of steel that would need to be cleared to achieve our goal. We watched as further plant machinery and the second engine was separated and never-ending streams of inky-black oil and fuel drained into the bilges of the ship. As this van-sized marvel of engineering was craned into full daylight onto the back of a wagon, the first glimpse of open space started to reveal itself.”
– Phil

“With the full clearance of the Engine Room, we decided to remove the entire interior bulkhead, or inside ‘skin’ of the hull. The team started to remove the dividing bulkhead walls between compartments and really opened the space up. With tonnes of steel removed, we planned for future work that would include removal of the engine beds and installing portholes. Without engines, we moved to cut out the funnel shaft and exhaust pipes, along with all the encasing bulkhead walls – this gave space to install a new access stairwell from the Main Deck down into the increasingly grand space which started to reveal itself in full.

“Shipbuilding is an ancient craft and it was interesting to come across so many quirky words that you’ve never heard of before, or those sayings which you don’t immediately relate to maritime terminologies but stem from that seafaring past. I asked our foreman, Mike what the plan was for the ‘ceiling’ one afternoon – which he quickly corrected with, “Deck Head!”. I’m sure it was part correction and part clip around the ear…”
– Josh

“After months of good progress, we finally re-floated the vessel and planned to move her across to ABP Garston over the other side of the river. At the height of a long summer, we took a step back to appreciate the work that had been done so far and start to look ahead towards the next destination.

It was great to see the pride in the teams of people who were involved in that progress, with a big team photograph in front of the ship as it was lowered back into the Mersey.”
– Josh

“The team Associated British Ports Garston were absolutely brilliant in accommodating us – providing a berth on the North Dock where we could complete on remaining works, before progressing towards moving the ferry into Liverpool and launching to the public. My father-in-law was Dockmaster at the time and it was fortuitous that we could bring her there, especially with less travel time each morning to get on site!

“On the day of the tow it was a bright, clear, ice-cold morning. It was a really stunning sight to witness the vessel move into the dock across mirror-like water. We immediately recommenced works, installing the gangway access and finishing off paint work to the upper levels. We even designed and fitted our very own ship-shaped copper clad bar! Riding high in those first weeks, came the inescapible at the start of 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic emerged. This caused an immediate shutdown of works which would go on to be continually disrupted for the majority of the two years that followed. With our tourism-sector businesses hit hard, it was a tough time. But we persisted, chipping away at sections of work on this massive vessel as best we could.”
– Phil