A History of the Liverpool Docks and Trade

Dawn Littler (Merseyside Maritime Museum)

This essay looks at the development of the Liverpool dock system from the eighteenth century, and how this was closely tied to the specialised types of cargo and commodities the port has handled throughout its history. Where relevant it draws on the collections of the Maritime Archives and Library at Merseyside Maritime Museum, items from which are included in Global Commodities.

There were no docks in Liverpool until the early eighteenth century. Before this time ships anchored in the river or in the ‘pool’, a tidal inlet, and cargoes were brought ashore in small boats. Liverpool's first dock, which later became known as the 'Old Dock', was built between 1710 and 1715 by the engineer Thomas Steers. When it opened on 31st August 1715 it was the earliest enclosed commercial wet dock in the world, and was an immediate success.

Enclosed docks were needed because the River Mersey’s tides made it an unsafe place to load and unload ships, while fast and efficient cargo-handling needed sheltered anchorages with direct access to the quaysides, storage and land transport. The promoters of the first Liverpool Dock Act, the town’s two MPs, Sir Thomas Johnson and Richard Norris, were prominent tobacco merchants; tobacco-importing was one of Liverpool’s most valuable import trades in the eighteenth century and the two men were keen to seek better port facilities for their ships.