Liverpool's Growth - Privateers & Slavery Tears

In the early 1700s, with ships now sailing to and from the British West Indian and North American colonies, and also to more distant European destinations and to the Baltic in particular, the problems of berthing in and around the River Mersey needed to be addressed. With the Great gale of 1703 causing damage to ships it increased the call for a dock and as early as 1707 the town's Members of Parliament, Thomas Johnson and Richard Norris, urged the Liverpool City Council to approve funding for the construction of the world's first wet dock. In 1708 the merchants who controlled Liverpool Corporation effectively mortgaged the town, which was a huge risk, but it paid off handsomely paving the way to many decades of dock expansion on both sides of the river. The tidal range at Liverpool is substantial which made the lading and unlading of ships very slow. To rectify this situation, the City hired England's first major civil engineer Thomas Steers, a Londoner by birth. His plan was to partially fill in the pool, line it with quay walls, and build a lock to cut it off from tidal changes in the Mersey. Liverpool’s first dock was relatively high-tech unlike the Howland Great Dock in London which was basically just a man-made pond. Liverpool's equivalent had quays, warehouses and all the other things industrial shipping lines would need to function. The 3.5 acre dock opened in 1715, with space for 100 ships which had previously taken two weeks to turn around, loading and unloading by hand while being interrupted by the tides. Now in the new wet dock, where tides were non-existent, ships could now be turned around in two days and some almost overnight. Liverpool now became a major seaport and, although the town already existed, it was this opening of the port that made it a city. The dock was technically very difficult to build and cost £12,000, double its original estimate. The Corporation was nearly bankrupted but its success more than repaid them encouraging further rapid increases in overseas trade through Liverpool. As the century wore on Transatlantic trade, including sadly slave trade, boomed, and Liverpool boomed with it. During the second half of the eighteenth century the amount of shipping owned within the port more than doubled, if not trebled. In 1751, 220 vessels were reputedly owned there, while on the 30th of September 1793, 606 vessels were officially on the Liverpool shipping register. In 1790, the new-born United States opened its first oversees consulate in Liverpool.

This was the time of Privateering which arguably brought more wealth into Liverpool than the slave trade, although neither activity is something to look back on with pride. It should be said though that some of these Privateers did involve themselves also in this abhorrent slave trade.There has been plenty written about Liverpool's involvement in the slave trade and I don't propose to add to it here. Suffice to say that an excellent site for more on this subject can be found here - https://www.devilsnest.co.uk/

18th Century Liverpool Privateers

Pirates existed in Liverpool in the 1700s and flew the British Flag above their ship, not the Jolly Roger.
These pirates were known as Privateers and were employed to attack and steal from other ships by the government. Liverpool sailors were awarded privateer status by Queen Elizabeth I when they were given a document called a Letter of Marquee from the High Admiralty to officially be employed to go out and attack ships from countries that Britain was at war with. This effectively sanctioned the piracy which was to bring great wealth to the city. Liverpool, along with London and Bristol, was the main port of Privateers to set sail from to plunder the seven seas.
It had been the good fortune of a Liverpool captain and shipowner, however, to render a more important service to his Queen and country at that exciting time. Worthy Master Humfraye Brooke brought to England the first intelligence of the Armada being at sea. He was outward bound from Liverpool to the Canaries in 1588 when he had espied the Biscayan division of the Spanish fleet in the distance, sailing north. Suspecting its errand, he put ship about and made all haste to Plymouth, whence he despatched couriers, or perhaps went himself, to London. He received substantial marks of favour from the Government for his foresight, prudence, and activity.

In the case of these 'private men of war', the network size was usually at least as large as those in the slave trade, and often larger. Liverpool’s merchants did perceive privateering as a particularly risky activity during the Seven Years' War but one that brought huge rewards. By their use of their networks, however, through which they both spread risk, and brought in wider financial and human capital, they were essentially rational in their pursuit of this particular business. Privateers were basically licensed pirates, with one of Merseyside's most famous being Fortunatus Wright, born in Wallasey on May the 3rd 1712, and who became famous for his daring exploits. At least thirty-six wooden warships were built in Liverpool for the Royal Navy between 1741 and 1811. The Privateers had huge industrial sailing ships equipped with 20-30 cannons on them and often over 100 men. Many ships were old navy warships left over from the wars against the Spanish Armada. There were 306 licenses for privateers being taken out by Liverpool merchants alone during the Seven Years' War, and 1384 during the American War of Independence (1776-83). Some gave their ships fearsome names and in the year 1744, Liverpool appears to have possessed four privateers, namely, the Old Noll, of 22 guns and 180 men with Captain Powell ; the Terrible, of 22 guns and 180 men with Captain Cole ; the Thurloe, of 12 guns and 100 men with Captain Dugdale ; and the Admiral Blake, whose armament is not stated, with Captain Edmondson. Hundreds of ships would leave Liverpool each year and it is thought that everyone in the town was connected to Privateering in some way. You either worked on the ships, fixed them, loaded and unloaded them or someone in your family did.
Liverpool Privateers plundered literally millions of pounds worth of spices, tobacco, cotton, rum, cocoa, coffee and ivory from other ships. Not to mention the gold and jewels, so if you were brave enough a fortune could be robbed at sea. Thomas Goldney II, the principal backer of the voyage of Woodes Rogers, had invested in 36 shares at £3,726 and his returns were £6,826 1s, a huge profit for its day, although at the time he believed there was more profit to be made. One ship the Mentor captured an unarmed French ship, the Carnatic in 1778, which was carrying a valuable cargo including a box of diamonds. The £400,000 windfall allowed the Mentor’s owner Peter Baker to build a magnificent house in Mossley Hill called Mossley Hall, known locally Carnatic Hall. It provided a temporary home for the Liverpool Museum's collections from 1945 until the restoration of the building after its virtual destruction in 1941 and purchased in 1947 by The University of Liverpool. In the 18th century Britain was constantly at war with France, Spain and latterly the rebellious North American colonies, and Liverpool played an important part in these wars with Liverpool sailors often press-ganged or conscripted to serve in the Navy, sometimes without pay.

The height of the fountain jets relates to the height of the high tide that day.

The Liverpool Privateers were the real Pirates of the Caribbean, but they were mostly wealthy businessmen, like William Hutchinson. Around 1740, William Hutchinson, who later would become master of the Old Dock, moved to Liverpool and joined forces with Fortunatus Wright, the famous Liverpool privateer. Between them they captured many foreign merchant ships, which they sold, or ransomed the cargos in friendly ports. By 1752 William could afford to order his own boat with a 90 foot keel to be built for the Jamaica Trade. He was still active as a Privateer as late as July 1758 during the Seven Years' War with France as Captain and part-owner of the Liverpool privateer during the first part of the Seven Years War (1756-63). During two years of successful cruises in the Liverpool in the Mediterranean and home waters in 1757-58 he was described as 'the ablest and boldest of the Liverpool privateers'. Under his guidance further improvements were made to Liverpool’s docks, not least the construction of George’s Dock. He also invented the reflecting mirrors for lighthouses,  and made observations of tides at Liverpool, which ultimately led to the production of Holden's tide tables.

In 2008, at the completion of the Liverpool One development, a fountain was constructed marking the boundary of the Old Dock. On the pavement beside the fountain examples of William Hutchinson’s tidal measurements have been inscribed. The numbers marked into the paving refer to measurements made by Hutchinson of the heights and times of high water at the Dock for January 1783.

Go to Part 3 - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/01/liverpools-expansion-revolution-and.html