Lost Place - Mersey Hulks Traditional Cache

The cache is hidden on a ferro-concrete barge, long ago left to rot in the historic channel of the River Mersey. She is unusual and is the result of war time austerity and shortages of materials such as steel. A concrete barge of 200 tons dead weight required only 18 tons of steel compared with 56 tons necessary for a steel barge of the same capacity.

At the end of 1939 the Ministry of Shipping inaugurated a modest programme of reinforced concrete ship-building, including 273 barges designed by Messrs L G Mouchel & Partners Ltd, in conjunction with Mr E F Spanner, on behalf of the Admiralty.
The individual panels and structure of the barges were probably cast at one of the three sites designated for this work: Barrow-in-Furness, the London Docks or just outside Hull. There are reports of concrete barges being built at Fiddlers Ferry and Queensferry.
Most of the coastal ports had their allocation and the boats were generally used for local lighterage and storage. The boats were never popular, being heavy and difficult to steer. They were rarely used for long distance traffic and very few were used on the inland navigations.