Ferries have crossed the River Mersey for over 800 years

The Beatles performed four times on The Royal Iris at The Cavern Club’s famous Riverboat Shuffle Cruises.

Transcript

00:00Ferries have sailed across the River Mersey for over 800 years

00:04as Benedictine Monks ran the first ferry service from Birkenhead to Liverpool in 1150 AD.

00:10Staff's the secret to Mersey Ferries.

00:12I think we have unbelievable staff at all levels,

00:15from bridge crew, customer service officers, people that tie the boats on.

00:20And back of house, we have a strong team and a maintenance team.

00:24As well as the commuter service and River Explorer cruises,

00:27these boats also play host to exciting events throughout the year.

00:32It's mainly from about sort of May to October.

00:37So we'll do Manchester Ship Canal, where we'll go up towards Warrington.

00:42We then go out into the bay for sort of two and a half hour bay cruise.

00:46We're about 10, 12 miles into the bay.

00:49You know, you see seals, old shipwrecks.

00:52Then in the evenings, mainly Fridays and Saturdays, we do party cruises.

00:56Over the years, the Mersey Ferries have not only provided transport for visitors and the people of the region,

01:02they've also played their part during both world wars.

01:06In the First World War, two of the Wallasee Ferries, the Iris and Daffodil,

01:10were commandeered by the government and used as a landing craft for the Royal Marines

01:15in a daring raid on the port of Zybrugge in April 1918.

01:19Both of the ferries were badly damaged by artillery and machine gun fire,

01:23but managed to escape and limp back to Dover.

01:25Because of their work, King George V allowed the vessels to use the word Royal in their name.

01:31And after extensive refitting, they resumed their peacetime activities as the Royal Daffodil and the Royal Iris.

01:37The Sunday closest to St George's Day, we do the Zybrugge events at Seacombe

01:43and take some of the, you know, the Navy out on the vessel and put some ashes in.

01:50Construction of the new Mersey Ferries currently underway at Camel Laird's Birkenhead shipyard

01:55with services due to start by summer 2026.

01:59It's really exciting, you know, 63 years since we have the last new vessel.

02:05So it's a generation thing.

02:07The build of it is really good, coming on well, on time, on budget.

02:13But it's still a nod to the past.

02:15It still looks nothing similar to the current Royal Iris.

02:19The Liverpool Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminals name so in honour of the frontman for 60s beat group

02:24Gerry and the Pacemakers.

02:25Forever associated with the ferries through the classic song, Ferry Cross the Mersey,

02:31it's still played on the River Explorer cruises every day.

02:35And that's not where the Mersey Beat Connection ends.

02:38The Beatles performed as part of the Caverns Riverboat Shuffle Cruises on the Royal Iris,

02:44also known as the Fish and Chip Boat, thanks to the popular and fashionable on-board Chippy.

02:49With a fascinating past, relevant, present and exciting future,

02:55the Mersey Ferries are here to stay.

02:58The Mersey Ferries