Manxman

If Peel Estates - who also own Mersey Docks had an ounce of social conscience, and the commercial wit to do more than build mini Shanghai towers, they would see that a restored Manxman operating as a hotel / restaurant / museum / convention centre would make a stunning,andpotentiallyprofitable, centrepiece for any development.

The trouble is that Peel are the biggest bunch of yield obsessed amenity trampling slobs that ever walked the earth. A look at the mini Milton Keynes that was Princes Dock says enough. Just look at the smug statements about employee numbers trotted out in support of Wirral Waters the other day. We have statistics - I'll bet you have! What do they say today?

And before anyone thinks I am talking out of turn I work in their sphere, and have plenty of experience with them

 

Your not the only one!

Lets still hope this wonderful and historic vessel is finally saved.

Jim S

 

So do I, but sadly I fear it's now too late. The photos that I've seen do not fill me with confidence. The corrosion & other structural damage seem to be very advanced now, & given the present financial climate I just cannot see a rescue bid being successful on cost alone. It's a shame, but there it is.

I'd love to be proved wrong though...

 

With regard to the ship it is sad that it was so near to preservation. I can only hope there would be a last minute bid.

I just hope that either way that it will spur individuals and groups to ensure other significant parts of the maritine heritage are not lost as well.

Regards

Duncan

 

Im afraid once Manxman is gone there isnt really much more out there (well not steam anyway and certainley not as unique as Manxman).

Perhaps one day when theres sweet FA left people may just wake up realise what mistakes were made.

Jim S

 

How very true, the Manxman is the last of a very long line, and when shes gone sadly in a few weeks time thats it - another aspect of our maritime heritage gone forever, what a disgrace for a country that once "ruled the waves".
I was over on the Island at the weekend and they had an excellent sailing boat event on in Peel, i remarked to a good friend of mine, that it was a great shame they did not put the Manxman next to the excellent museum there, which by the way has a wonderful section devoted to the Steam Packet. A great shame too that Peel holdings couldnt see beyond the end of their nose, she would have made a wonderful attraction too in liverpool, i suppose we will be saying goodbye to the QE2 next, what a disgrace for this country of ours.

 

some said the same about railway preservation when it started!

 

Very much like the wondful castles, stately homes and churches this country is blessed with but luckily we do not go around knocking these down as they are bottomless pits.

The fact of the matter is very shortly apart from Waverely and a 1950"s turd dumper (no disrespects to the lovely Shieldhall) we will have nothing elseto remind us of our steam powered sea going vessels as we have just sat back and let everything else disappear.

Its all a disgrace, sadly there is no Great in Britain anymore.

 

Better get the gas axe to York then - it doesn't return a profit

 

Luckily York is not affected by those morons who call themselves Peel Ports.

I understand cutting begins this week, how terribly sad and totally unneccesary.

How can Manxman survive this long only to be let down so very badly, what the hell is wrong with this country, do we really care that little?

Faiur play to Pallion, they have sat on her whilst a hopeful rescue attempt was put forward, but Im afraid time has run out and once cutting begins thats it.

Jim S

 

well thats it, i guess, its a pity because she could have been saved if people had acted sooner, wasnt there an earlier attempt that floundered something is very wrong with this country, we appear not to value our maritime heritage, but then think nothing of raising vast sums to restore another steam engine.

i personally think that there could have been a market for a heritage vessel running from minehead, london, and one of the channel ports in connection with steam tours and long breaks where the boat is part of the package, rich tourists would be the market aimed at, but it would seem that we are all now run by bean counters and if it doesnt return an immediate profit,its not worth doing, where as a longer term view would return a better profit margin

 

No doubt when shes gone, we might just realise what we had and what coudl have been done, but sadly by then its too late and nothing else to fill the gap.


Its such a shame we have a National Historic Ships Register which has no powers to do anything to save these vessels.

Jim S

 

Do you have any idea how much it would cost to restore the Manxman to a seaworthy state and then have her certificated to passenger ship standards, not to mention the number of crew to be paid and required to operate and maintain her? No amount of revenue from 'rich tourists' would cover that I'll bet. The best she could hope for was as a static exhibit, but even that is beyond reach now - apparently.

 

i have heard about 7 million but its all now just to late, someone did have the £35,000 that the owner wanted some time back, but for some reason it fell through, and the group fell apart
as recently as last month,the group were talking to us because part of their business plan involved summer seasons running to Boulougne, and spending the rest of the year up north

 

I can't imagine that summer season trips to Boulogne would have been profitable. The lovely old ship Royal Daffodil http://freespace.virgin.net/tom.lee/daffodilimg.htm lasted only to 1966 on day trips to Boulogne. By then the market for that type of excursion was shrinking fast. I doubt there would be sustained demand today.

 

I think, too that to make the old girl conform with modern SOLAS (that's Safety Of Life At Sea) regulations, for which there are no exemptions, would have been the final straw. That's what killed off several other 'old ladies of the sea' in recent times. Also, apart from costs, the alterations necessary to conform to modern damage stability criteria would, likely as not, make her unrecognisable. Harsh reality, but there it is.

Whether she could have been restored simply to lie alongside anywhere, just as the likes of HMS 'Belfast' do, I guess we'll never know now.

Vale, Manxman

 

One thing is for sure she deserves better than whats happening to her now.

Its nothing short of disgraceful.

Jim S

 

Heard today, via my group who have been kept informed on Maxman that contracts are, or have by now been drawn up for the scrapping of Maxman so it really is all over now, its nothing but discraceful that whilst we may have an at risk register historic boats are being lost because no one can afford the costs involved in saving historic vessels, government funding might have been an option,a few years ago but not in the present economic times so its RIP Maxman