English Coast News

A forty ton boat beacon which has been stranded on Formby beach since January 2007, has finally been dismantled and removed.

The boat beacon was built in 1929 at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and was stranded during a winter storm in 2007. It was washed too far ashore for it to be refloated and taken back out to sea.

The removal operation was undertaken by Peel Ports, assisted by two boilermakers from North West Ship Repairs who were able to cut the enormous structure into sub-sections.

The Peel Ports harbour master Captain Gallimore is quoted by the Formby Times: “This kind of beacon, which is a floating navigational aid, is now arcane. You do not see them anymore.”

As part of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture Celebrations for 2008, the Tall Ships Parade of Sail event takes place over the weekend of 19th July to 20th July, culminating on Monday 21st July with the “parade of sail” when the spectacular sailing ships will sail out of the Liverpool docks and out of the River Mersey at New Brighton heading for Norway.

The sailing ships will be berthed in the majority of docks located on the East/Liverpool Side of the river including Albert, Wellington and Sandon docks and will be open to the public on both days.

The best places to watch the parade from the Wirral side will be along the promenade at Woodside, Birkenhead, Seacombe Ferry, Egremont, Wallasey and New Brighton.

Sailing vessels scheduled take part include Statsraad Lehmkuhl (Norway) a three-masted steel barque, Shabab Oman (Oman) now a barquentine but previously a topsail schooner named Captain Scott, and Royalist (UK) built in 1971 by Groves and Gutteridge in Cowes, Isle of Wight, owned and operated by the Sea Cadet Association. There are nearly 70 other ships expected to take part. See the Tall Ships’ Races Liverpool 2008 website for further details.