Liverpool 1950s

A city of many faces, struggling to recover some semblance of order from WW11. 1.3 million people living cheek to jowl on the banks of the River Mersey.

Children playing on bomb sites, barefooted and wearing hand-me-downs and living on ration book food.

The docks were full of ships bringing cargo to and from all corners of the globe. The docks were teeming with cargo and it was too easy for things to go missing or be appropriated—smuggling was rife. Not just innocent cargo, but drugs and people. Big profits were to be made from illegal trade. The powers that be were, in many ways, powerless to stop what was becoming an unstoppable force—the city was awash with contraband.

The Mersey was also home to many passenger shipping companies. The great liners of their day plied their trade, taking passengers across the Atlantic to North and South America, Africa, the Far East and Australia. Thousands of people travelled without mishap, but beneath this layer of gentility were those looking to make money no matter what the cost.