Ships of the Chester River

Shipbuilding on the Dee from Chester to the Point of Ayr 1800 – 1942
by Richard Martin

This fascinating and well-researched book is the history of more than 600 vessels that were launched after 1800 in the Dee estuary, in Chester and north Wales, and the families and companies that built them. Although the industry on the Dee was not on the scale of that on the neighbouring Mersey estuary; ship building was a significant business in both Chester and the Dee ports throughout the nineteenth century. This is the first book to be published on this subject and reveals the great variety of Chester River vessels which sailed all over the world, serving in many different and interesting roles. Author, Richard Martin is a native of Chester and wrote his first piece about maritime history while studying geography at Sheffield University in 1968 and began researching this book the following year. He worked for Mersey Docks for 43 years and from 1979 edited the Port of Liverpool magazine Compass, which was sent to port users world-wide. 271 pages, illustrated in black & white.