All Beatles, All the Time – It Must Be Liverpool!

Day 24, 2023 North Atlantic Adventure

Sunday, June 4, 2023; Liverpool, England.

Today was museum day for me, and it started with the Beatles, of course. After all, we’re in Liverpool, and while the mythical Liver birds on top of the Royal Liver Building might be the icon of the city, the Beatles are its heart and soul.

I guess everyone knows that John, Paul, George and Ringo came from Liverpool, and the Beatles Story museum on Royal Albert Dock chronicles their story. It starts with the friendship between John and Paul, continues through the formation of the band, its early day in Liverpool and Germany, and covers its initial trip to the United States, Beatlemania, further albums and the band’s eventual breakup and the careers of the individual members.

My museum ticket entitled me to headphones and a digital audio player, so it was easy to walk through at my own pace.

In February I purchased a ticket for a 10 a.m. entry – as it turns out I could have bought one at the door. It’s hard to know about these things. We docked early, so by 9 a.m. I was heading down the River Mersey waterway. The walk was just under a mile from the cruise ship terminal, the temperatures around 60 (heading for the low 70s), the sun bright in the sky and the walkways full of tourists.

A war memorial caught my attention with its poignant poem. And the fad of placing locks in public places has taken hold here, with stretches of them along the waterway.

Friends on Holland America tour buses had the advantage of passing by other Beatles landmarks, such as boyhood homes, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Still, I found plenty to do along the waterfront.

Liverpool had the earliest wet docks in the world. Before that, ships anchored and their cargo was offloaded onto small boats for transport to shore. In Liverpool, they created “docks” that were essentially enclosed tidal basins. The water was encircled by warehouses, and the entry was closed so the water would stay in during tidal changes. Ships could dock and directly transport goods to the warehouses. Today the docks are used for tourist activities.

I headed to another of the early warehouses at Royal Albert Dock to tour the Merseyside Maritime Museum. Liverpool was once the major port for England, and the museum focuses on two of the maritime greats headquartered here – the White Star and Cunard shipping Lines.

The Lusitania was a Cunard ship that was sank by a German U-boat during World War I. The deaths of its American passengers contributed to the eventual entry by the United States into the war. The book Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson gives a fascinating account of the tragedy.

While the White Star-owned Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it also had strong ties to Liverpool. White Star remained based here but had moved the departure port for its luxury ocean liners to Southampton, to be closer to the London market.

The museum contained interactive exhibits (for example showing how blocks and tackles can lighten a load) and a section on life at sea.

Also in the former warehouse building is the International Slavery Museum. A dark side of Liverpool’s maritime history is that many of the British companies embroiled in the African slave trade were headquartered here. The exhibits ranged from African life, the slave trade and middle passage to the horrors of slavery stretching from Brazil to the United States. Etched into the walls are quotes from leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. about freedom from slavery.

The museum complemented the focus on slavery in West African ports I visited earlier this year.

We sailed out of Liverpool with a rising tide, past dozens of wind turbines. Sunset wasn’t until nearly 10 p.m., as we continue to sail north and the summer solstice beckons. Tomorrow is the only sea day in the middle of this two-week cruise, and we’re all looking forward to a lazy day.