UNTIL RECENT TIMES the approaches to the Port of Liverpool were quite hazardous. The difficulties stemmed from the fact that seaward of the northern extremity of the Wirral peninsula the estuary suddenly opens out to become very shallow for the most part and fully exposed to the prevailing west or north-west winds. The sandbanks drying out at low water have always been subject to gradual change in position, leaving, before the New and later the Queen's Channel were dredged in the mid nineteenth century, two natural channels for shipping to enter or leave the port. These were: Formby Channel in direct line with the ebb from the river, hugging the Lancashire coast as far as Formby Point from whence it turned seawards.

Rock Channel hugging the Cheshire coast as far as Hoyle Lake from whence deeper water could be reached directly to the north west or a coastwise course followed across the mouth of the River Dee and down the Welsh coast.

Liverpool Town Council was extremely aware of these difficulties and from the beginning of the eighteenth century was anxious to improve the port facilities. The first enclosed dock was opened in 1715 and the Dock Trustees undertook the task of buoying the channels and erecting landmarks; lighthouses were at first resisted! The middle of the eighteenth century also saw the recognition, at first on the Continent, of a remarkable fact: that given promptitude and application, many people brought out of the water apparently drowned could be revived using simple measures, including a technique, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which was then well understood but later forgotten until rediscovered in the 1950s. Practical interest in these developments led to the foundation of the Royal Humane Society in London in 1774 and the Liverpool Institution for Recovering Drowned Persons in 1775. From the beginning there was close liaison between the originators of the London and the Liverpool Societies, Dr Thomas Cogan and William Hawes in London, and Dr Thomas Houlston in Liverpool. In both places a system of rewards, following the Continental pattern, was established for attempting the rescue of drowned persons, whether successful or not.

The 'Liverpool Scheme' in turn attracted the interest of the dock master and water bailiff, William Hutchinson.

His post included the duties of harbour master with jurisdiction over the whole extent of the port from the south bank of the Ribble in the north to Hoylake in the south. Hutchinson was a truly remarkable man and it is significant that his book A Treatise on Practical Seamanship published in 1777 received national acclaim and went into several further editions. Bound in with the first edition of this book, recently reprinted in facsimile*, was a chart of the Harbour of Liverpool by P. P. Burdett, 1771, corrected 1776, and it is a footnote to this chart which provides the first documentary evidence of a boat and station for saving lives in existence at Formby Point by 1776: 'N.B.: On the strand about a mile below Formby Lower Land Mark there is a boathouse, and a boat kept ready to save lives from vessels forced on shore on that coast, and a guinea, or more, reward is paid by the Corporation for every human life that is saved by means of this boat, etc.' Hutchinson's concern for the saving of human life from drowning is evident in the text of the book, particularly his ingenious suggestions in a section entitled On Saving Life from a Ship Lost on a Lee Shore. His pride in the 'Liverpool Scheme' is also evident as he states 'Liverpool leads the way for this noble purpose'. It was clearly Hutchinson, supported by the Dock Trustees, who arranged for the boat and station to be established at Formby.

The exact date of the establishment of Formby station remains uncertain as the minute book of the Dock Trustees prior to 1793 has long since been destroyed (probably in the fire at the Town Hall in 1795) but was apparently between 1771 and 1776. Fortunately the full minutes of the Town Council have survived from the sixteenth century onwards and the Dock Trustees from 1793. A minute of the Liverpool Common Council dated March 5, 1777, indicates that the boat and boathouse had already been there long enough to need repair: 'It is ordered that the boat and boathouse which was formerly ordered to be built and kept at Formby in readiness to fetch any shipwrecked persons from off the banks, be repaired and kept up for these purposes but that Mr Gerrard [the treasurer] do go over and agree with any *A Treatise on Practical Seamanship, 1777, by William Hutchinson. Reprinted with introduction by Morin Scott, 1979, Scolar Maritime Library, Scolar Press, London.

persons for such purpose and what the same will have by the year to take care of the said house and boat and doing this humane and good service and report it to the Council.' At the next meeting of Council on April 2 it was ordered that: 'Richard Scarisbrick of Formby, sailor, be appointed to take care of the boat and boathouse erected and provided to be built and stationed at Formby to assist and save shipwrecked persons and goods on this coast. And that Mr Gerrard do pay him the sum of five guineas for the good services by him already done herein and that he have a salary of two guineas a year from henceforth for such service. And that he and the boat's crew shall be handsomely rewarded hereafter for such good service done herein and not less than one guinea per head for every life or person they shall save and to be further rewarded as the Council shall on enquiring find he or they merit to be paid out of the dock duties.' Burdett's chart was updated and reprinted in 1781 (see Fig. I). In addition to a similar footnote (see Fig. 2) the position of the boathouse and boat is clearly indicated at Formby Point.

Although not much is known about this boat or her service, we may guess that she was probably of the type known as a Mersey Gig, a generally two or three masted, versatile, sprit-sail rigged craft only requiring a crew of three or four and capable of being pulled or sailed.

In 1799 the Dock Committee appointed William Brown to look after the boat 'in room of Robert Whitfteld, deceased, with the like allowances as enjoyed by his predecessor', and then on April 9, 1800, Robert Neale, the riding officer at Formby, was appointed to the care of the boat and boathouse 'in the room of William Brown'.

The original boathouse was rebuilt in 1793 on the same site at the end of what subsequently came to be known as Lifeboat Road. According to a survey of the bay, when built it was situated 100 yards inland well above the high tide line on land belonging to the Reverend Richard Formby, the lord of the manor. This reverend gentleman was incumbent of St John's, Liverpool, from 1784 to 1792 and later of Trinity Church, Liverpool. He seems to have had a local beneficial influence and interest in lifesaving somewhat akin to Dr John Sharpe at Bamburgh, as in 1798 we find he was presented with the Freedom of the Borough of the Town of Liverpool 'as a mark of respect for his unwearied and compassionateattention in a variety of instances to the unfortunate who have suffered shipwreck on the coast near Formby, both with regard to their person and property'.

It is important to realise that the Formby lifeboat was the only one serving the harbour until 1803. Whether it was adapted in any special way for its purpose is not known. In 1801, however, the Dock Committee directed the marine surveyor 'to obtain the best information and particulars he can from North Shields respecting the construction expense and management of the boat called the lifeboat'. Meanwhile Formby station was reported in February 1802 to have been destroyed by 'late tempestuous winds'—but ordered to be immediately rebuilt. It was also ordered that the boat 'upon the improved principle' be built by Henry Greathead to be used as occasion might require in the harbour. In the meantime a lifeboat was built in Liverpool at the instigation of the collector of excises and placed to the northward of the Fort, near the North Shore Coffee House.

The Greathead boat when she arrived in 1803 seems to have been the first boat on the Hoy lake station.

In 1809 the Formby station was finally rebuilt and received the boat from Liverpool, under William Croft as captain who was allowed to reside in the cottage adjoining the boathouse.

This building is that which survived with only slight modification up to the time of its final demolition in 1965.

The Greathead boat at Hoylake clearly impressed the Committee but from a minute of the Dock Committee dated April 5, 1809, it must be inferred that the performance of Formby station in the early years of the nineteenth century left much to be desired, its supervision perhaps having been neglected, following the death of Hutchinson in 1801, in favour of the two newer stations.

In fact Formby station continued to cause concern for the first 25 years of the century. In September 1816 The Liverpool Underwriters Association subscribed £25 to a fund for a new boat which the Dock Committee allowed to be placed on station in 1818, but the underwriters and the Reverend Richard Formby continued to express their anxiety.

Depredations by the sea and erosion of the adjacent sandhills were also causing problems.

Then in 1825 the whole subject of the 'Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned' and the state of the lifeboats in Liverpool Bay was referred to a subcommittee 'with power for them to provide and establish such boats as they may deem best and with a request that they will report their opinion upon the most effectual means of rendering prompt assistance in the saving of life and property in case of shipwreck on these coasts'.

The ensuing report presented to the Council on November 1, 1825, laid the foundation for the future satisfactory operation, not only of the Formby boat but also boats at Point of Air, Hoylake and at the Magazines (Wallasey). New boats were built for each station and boathouses built for the new boats at Point of Air and Magazines.

Rules were drawn up explicitly dealing with the manning of the boats, the master's remuneration and housing, and pay of the crew. Also the need for constant look-out by telescope, whichwas provided, and the exercise of the boat once a month under the superintendence of the harbour master.

The next decade, 1830 to 1840, saw three of the most destructive gales in the history of the port. The first of these occurred on November 29, 1833, and resulted in the loss of the pilot boat Good Intent, together with 12 men, in the surf about three miles north of Formby station.

The storm surge swamped the boathouse and waves beat heavily against the door. It proved impossible to use the boat to reach the wreck in which survivors hung in the rigging.

Eventually Richard Sumner, the village doctor, bravely swam out to the survivors.

Good Intent's punt, which had blown ashore, was then refloated and used by two of the lifeboat crew to assist both Dr Sumner, who might otherwise have been drowned himself, and six of the survivors who were thus brought ashore.

The somewhat conflicting subsequent newspaper reports paid tribute to the lifeboat crew and to Dr Sumner, whose bravery was recognised by the award of gold medals by the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the title at that time of the RNLI, and the Royal Humane Society and £50 from the Council. Two members of the lifeboat crew received £1 each.

In 1834 a prominent brick landmark erected in 1719 under the provisions of the first Liverpool Dock Act was converted to a lighthouse and from this time up to the taking over of the Liverpool Bay stations by the RNLI in 1894 the superintendence of Formby lifeboat was placed in the hands of the keeper of Formby Lighthouse. The first lighthouse keeper/lifeboat superintendent, Lt Joseph Walker, RN, was unfortunately drowned in the next major gale, in January 1836, along with four of the crew when the lifeboat capsized after going to the help of the schooner Bryades aground on Mad Wharf. The boat had been launched from her carriage three miles north of the station.

On returning to this spot she capsized in the surf. Two crew members, Edward Liversley and Henry Aindow, survived beneath the upturned boat in a pocket of air, with a third survivor clinging to the keel. Afterwards nine new cork lifejackets were found still tied to the thwarts! This tragedy had an unfortunate sequel in 1839 when a further highly destructive gale hit the river. On Monday January 7, at 11 o'clock in the morning, Mr Christopherson, the lighthousekeeper, perceived through the haze a vessel with fore and main mast gone, about three to four miles south of the lighthouse, but could not persuade the crew to launch.

The next day, the gale still blowing, two further wrecks, occurred. The first, on Burbo Bank, was judged to bewithin reach of Magazines lifeboat, but the next, the brig Harvest Home outward bound for St Thomas's, struck on Mad Wharf. Attempts were made to get the lifeboat launched without success as she repeatedly became swamped and had to return to shore to be baled out. Finally conditions improved on the Thursday and the survivors were rescued from the wreck.

The boat at that time, presumably the one built in 1825, was described by the marine surveyor as 'very old, heavy and unwieldy' and she was replaced by a new boat specially built by Thomas Costain, a Liverpool boatbuilder, at a cost of £128 8s lOd, in 1841. Length 30ft, beam 9ft 3in, depth 4ft, with 12 oars double banked, she had two sprit sails and ajib. A model of a 'Liverpool' type Costain boat of this period is in the National Maritime Museum. She has barrels for extra buoyancy beneath the thwarts but no built-in aircases and was clearly not self righting—a characteristic which seems, in Liverpool Bay, not to have been popular. Costain submitted an improved version for the DukeServices rendered by Formby lifeboat 1840-1916 Dates Vessels assisted Lives rescued 1840-49 65 1850-59 36 1860-69 18 1870-79 21 1880-89 9 Station closed 1890-99 8 1900-09 11 1910-16 6 59 44 60 7 14 for 2V2 years 6 6 Total 174 196 (Statistics prior to 1840 are not available) of Northumberland's premium in 1851 and this came high in the results.

The isolation of Formby boathouse required a long trek for both horses and men before even reaching the boat. The horses were provided by a farm over mile away. After launching, the horses were stabled in the boathouse. During her working life of 34 years the 1841 boat assisted 127 vessels and rescued 138 people.In 1874 Costain provided a new boat, length 32ft 3in, beam 9ft 4in, pulling 12 oars; her rig was as before and she cost £265. Henry Aindow, survivor of the 1836 disaster, retired as master in 1881 and was followed as master and keeper by his son John in 1885 (salary £7 10s a year). In 1888 it was noted that the Formby boat had not been launched for three years and was costing £200 a year to maintain. The keeper of Crosby lighthouse and superintendent of the boat was asked to give six months' notice to the crew.

This raised considerable opposition in the township and an angry petition was signed by 237 inhabitants opposing the closure, but without effect, and the station was closed in 1889, the boat going to Point of Air. John Aindow was left in residence, his sole duty being to read the tide gauge and keep the necessary records for the Tidal Observatory at Bidston.

Unfortunately in 1891 ss Hawarden Castle went aground directly opposite the lifeboathouse. Four lives were lost.

The coroner subsequently criticised Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, which was still responsible for the Liverpool Bay lifeboats, for the closure of Formby station. After due consideration the Dock Board asked the RNLI for its advice and whether it could suggest a better arrangement. In reply-the RNLI stated that, having looked at the area, Formby was still the best place and it offered to take over the station and boat.

At first the Dock Board was reluctant to agree to this and re-opened the station itself in 1891, with a telephone link to Crosby lighthouse. A new front was added to the boathouse, which increased the amount of space inside and provided a small lookout over the doorway—features which remained until the boathouse was finally demolished. The inspection book of this period still survives and makes very interesting reading. On one occasion the boat, after being launched in the teeth of a north-westerly gale, had difficulty in getting back to the station and so sailed up river to Liverpool Pierhead where the crew disembarked, left the boat and came home by train.

In 1894 the station was taken over with all other Liverpool Bay lifeboat stations by the RNLI and a new boat John and Henrietta was placed on station in 1896 with a ceremonial launch in front of a large crowd gathered on shore. Her length was 35ft, beam 9ft with 12 oars; she carried two standing lug sails and a jib and was fitted with two steel drop-keels; she was built at Cremyll in Cornwall. The coxswain/ superintendent was again John Aindow.

This boat continued in service, with John Aindow's son taking over as coxswain in 1910, until the First World War when, owing to difficulties in Continued on page opposite.