Manxman builder joins rescue mission

Dec 13 2006 By Peter Elson Daily Post Staff

THE man who built the Isle of Man ferry Manxman is giving a £1,000 donation to help the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo campaign to save this last cross-channel steamer from being scrapped.

Former Cammell Laird shipyard worker Harry Mooney, 87, of Winsford, is making the donation from a legacy left to him by his late brother Albert Mooney, who officially became an honorary Manxman.

"It amused my brother that he was made a Manxman and I made Manxman on which he sailed," says Mr Mooney, whose brother was a Manx Electric Railway fitter and very well known for his community work.

During 1954, Mr Mooney worked at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, as a driller. This entailed drilling rivet holes and setting in place the steel plates forming Manxman's hull.

He had a very lucky escape from death or serious injury when he fell 30ft from scaffolding alongside Manxman after his pneumatic riveting hose became tangled around his ankles.

"I worked on Manxman and her five earlier sister ships, starting with King Orry in 1945, and was a bit weary by the time we finished," says Mr Mooney.

"I watched Manxman being launched on a grim, grey day in February, 1955, and remember the flash of gold from the polished bronze propellers. The ship goes down the slipway very gently at about 5mph. Quite slow and sedate.

"It was a heart-stopping experience, having put every plate together like a giant

Meccano set. There's great satisfaction and relief seeing the ship safely bobbing on the water.