7. The Historians

As Tom Cunliffe says in his poignant piece about the saving of OAKDALE “Without an understanding of where we have come from, we must struggle to lay a true course into the days that lie ahead.”

And that’s been the case since we began this journey of discovery back in August of 2021. The historians have helped to piece together the context in which a boat like this was built.

Why were boats like the OAKDALE so important to the region? Who built them and where did they sail? What cargo did they carry and for who? How long was their furthest journey?

How did they prepare meals on board? How were the boats built? How many men did it take to build one? How long did the boats last? Why build wooden boats in 1949 when metal hulls were the norm?

Dave Keenan, when he first bought the boat in 1975 and proceeded to dig her out of the mud at Burscough, asked questions like these and more. Fortunately at this time, the old crews, the skippers, mates and ‘deckies’ were still around, even though the use of Mersey Flats had reached its end in the late 1960’s. And so, he set about seeking out first hand accounts including those of the men who sailed the fully rigged versions of the boats back in the day.

The challenge now is in digging further into the past, beyond living memory and then cross referencing various contemporary accounts from the respective decades. And when all physical evidence has long since disappeared, it’s the historians who are then best able to gather together all the archive materials and written accounts and bring the past back into partial focus for future generations to learn from.

According the historians detailed accounts, in 1791, the first known sailing flat built in Runcorn was a 92 ton flat named the ROYAL CHARLOTTE. She was designed for estuary & coastal work and described at the time as a ‘substantial vessel’. No physical evidence remains of her, just a written account in the shipping register of the time.

OAKDALE then sits at a crucial point of time where decisions are made to either turn our backs on history or to make every effort to save her. 160 years of Runcorn’s flat-building history is held in physical form right now, the lines, the construction methods, the timbers used et al. In 100 years from now, future historians will look back upon this date and either point to a line of text in a Maritime register, or to an actual boat, a boat that’s travelled through time to inform future generations of her lineage and working life as a Mersey Flat.