A tourist attraction on the banks of the Mersey
The Tayleur, the largest merchant ship of its day, was built in Warrington in 1853 and chartered by the The White Star Line to sail to Australia. Although its design included five watertight compartments it sunk on its maiden voyage with a heavy loss of life – sixty years before the Titanic disaster in 1911.
The gold rush of the 1850s saw a sudden and unprecedented demand for trips to Australia. It has been estimated that in one month in 1853 more than 30,000 people left Liverpool for Australia.
The Tayleur was designed by William Rennie from Liverpool and built for Charles Moore & Company for £34,000 (the cost today would be almost £2 million) and chartered by the White Star Line. It was designed to carry more than 650 passengers and 4000 tons of cargo. The construction of the vessel on the banks of the Mersey attracted considerable attention and speculation – many believing that it was too large to navigate the rivers course to reach the coast.
Taking just six months to build, the Tayleur was launched at Warrington on 4 October 1853 before huge crowds. Escorted by three tugs the Tayleur made it to Runcorn to the west and then waited for the tide to continue to Liverpool the following day.
Bound for Australia but disaster strikes
A number of the passengers commented that the vessel was still being completed as they boarded the vessel. Despite this the vessel was escorted out of Liverpool, by the local pilot service, on 19 January 1854 bound for Melbourne in Australia. Two days later, with visibility heavily reduced by fog the vessel was caught in a storm. Land was unexpectedly sighted and despite dropping both anchors the vessel could not avoid striking the rocks of Lambay Island – five miles (eight kilometres) from the Irish mainland. The vessel was washed onto rocks a number of times and began to sink almost immediately.
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