A fascinating piece of maritime history has been brought to life in a conservation project by a Deeside company at one of Liverpool City Region’s most iconic waterfront locations.
The original submarine Resurgam was designed by a Manchester clergyman then built in Birkenhead in 1879, intended as a weapon to penetrate the chain netting placed around ships’ hulls to defend against attack by torpedo vessels.
But it sank off Rhyl while being towed to Portsmouth to be shown to the Royal Navy.
For many years the exact location of Resurgam was a mystery until being found in 1995 by an experienced wreck diver who had been attempting to clear snagged fishing nets. The submarine became designated as a protected wreck but plans to raise her have so far not been fruitful.
To keep the name afloat, an exact replica of the vessel was built by trainees attached to the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead to be put on display at Woodside Ferry Terminal – gateway to the River Mersey passenger crossing between Birkenhead and Liverpool.
However, the prominent positions on a seafront with extreme weather conditions began to take their toll.
Now a major renovation programme has just been completed by a partnership of heritage preservationists Curtis Painting Group, Deeside, and Woodside Area Community Interest Company.
Dave McCormick, project manager at Curtis Painting Group, said: “The ferry terminal is such an iconic building on the Mersey landscape and preserving historic buildings such as this along with artefacts like the Resurgam, prolonging their life for many more years to come, serves a number of purposes.
“The terminal building with its ornate ironwork and the 45-foot wooden-clad submarine are not only at the heart of the local community - and its future economic development - but also their stories are an important record of the region’s history over the past 200 years and a way of keeping it alive for future generations.”
Want more news like this? Sign up to the Business Live Wales newsletter here
