Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Unidentified Dredgers

A couple of years ago I asked did anyone remember two scrap dredgers lying in Vittoria Dock or a basin off the dock, at last I have found them, one was Mersey 24 a Grab Hopper type, which was in a collision in the Mersey and sank, it was recovered and beached at Egremont where it was repaired enough to get it into the dock, it was sitting on the bottom of the dock, and the engine room was quite clear water, all the silt stayed at the bottom, so you could swim around (no Mr Health and Mr Safety in those days. The thing that stuck in my memory was it had been rammed midships and there was the biggest piece of timber I have ever seen bolted across the gap, it was about 2 feet square and 20 feet long at least, it was sold to Westminster Dredging in 1957.
The other ship was Centaur a Bucket dredger, we used to climb up to the top of the bucket lift, she was sold for scrap April 1958.
In those days we didn't cause any damage so nobody bothered you, I think they were still there in late 58 early 59, awaiting removal, information found in a MDH&B stock list book. Kindly lent tp me last week. I left school in 59 so never went back down to the docks, mystery solved

Centaur