ISBN: 0 7524 3267 2

pp 128

Author: Ian Collard

Published by: 

Tempus Publishing Ltd, The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL3 2QG www.tempus-publishing.com

- Price £12.99 in UK

It is several years since a new publication dedicated to the famous Birkenhead shipyard of Cammell Laird has appeared in bookshops. This is the first book to appear since demise of the Cammell Laird company in one of its UK guises. Though the company name is still kept alive many miles away in Gibraltar.

Covering the history of Cammell Laird since the foundation of the business by John Laird during the early 19th Century Ian Collard's new book brings the story of the yard right up to date ending in 2004 with its sale by current owners A&P Group to and its lease back from developers Reddington in Autumn 2004.

The book itself is divided into two sections .

Section 1 "The Yard" covers the history of the yard from its early days right through to the demise of Cammell Laird Holdings, in the wake of the cancellation of the COSTA CLASSICA project, the take over of the north yard site by A&P Group and its sale and lease back from Reddington in October 2004.

Section 2 "The Ships" provides a history of over 75 of significant vessels to be built in the yard for both merchant and naval service some of the ships included in this section being:

HMS Birkenhead, CSS Alabama, HMAS Melbourne, HMS Caroline, De Grasse, HMS Rodney, Ben-My-Chree [1927], HMS Ark Royal [1938 ], Mauritania [1939] Windsor Castle, Spero, Ulster Queen and many, many more. Each vessel is illustrated with at least one photograph many of which are taken in the Mersey or in the yard whilst launching or under construction. Many of the historic photographs in the book are drawn from the Wirral Borough Council Archives Collection.

Following the same formula used by Ian Collard's other shipping books, examples of contemporary publicity publications issued are also reproduced. This is supplemented by some launch invitations.

The book is presented in a slightly larger format than many of the other shipping and transport books produced by Tempus Publishing. "Cammell Laird" being part of their "Revealing History" series books, its size being the same as others in that series.

Cammell Laird is a highly recommended book that should be on every ship enthusiast's shelf.

However, given the prodigious output of the Cammell Laird yard over more than half a century, the way is possibly open for future volumes to record other ships and more specific aspects of the yard's history?