28-gun salute; Maritime Tales by Stephen Guy of Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Byline: Stephen Guy

Three atmospheric marine paintings show the River Mersey over 30 years of change as Liverpool began its phenomenal growth into the second port in the British Empire.

Painted by three renowned artists, they are on display in the Merseyside Maritime Museum's Art & The Sea gallery.

28-Gun Ship on the Mersey was painted by John Jenkinson, who was active between 1800 and 1821. The Mersey is seen at the height of the Napoleonic wars. It was possibly painted in 1805, the year of the Battle of Trafalgar when Admiral Lord Nelson destroyed France's hopes of controlling the seas.

This momentous victory enabled Britain to rule the waves for the next century with great benefits for trade and commerce.

The warship to the left of the painting is a 28-gun frigate, a type of vessel used for patrol and defence work. Although the figurehead of someone in white flowing robes is clearly visible, the vessel has not been identified.

The Liverpool shore is seen in the background with ships in the docks, windmills and the domes of the Town Hall and St Paul's Church (now demolished).

About 20 years later we see a much busier scene. The Brig St Lucia in the Mersey was painted by Robert Salmon (1775 to about 1845).

The painting was commissioned by Hugh Owen, the ship's captain from 1821 to 1823. A fine example of Salmon's work, it includes a very detailed view of Liverpool.

Forests of masts crowd behind the dock walls on the waterfront with scores of tiny people scurrying along the quaysides. Further inland, the town is lost in a haze of smoke from countless chimneys, a feature of Liverpool until the Clean Air Act brought clear skies in the 1960s.

St Lucia was built in Liverpool in 1818 for the Caribbean trade in sugar and other tropical goods.

Combatant entering the Mersey by Thomas Dove (1811 - 1886) was painted some time after 1835 when the artist arrived in Liverpool.

In this scene we are in mid-river where the Combatant is portrayed in two different positions off the newly-built Perch Rock fort and lighthouse. At this time New Brighton was being planned and open fields can be seen above the Red Noses - sandstone bluffs that were landmarks to generations of seafarers.

Dove was one of several artists who moved to Liverpool, presumably to take advantage of the large demand for ship portraits in the rapidly-expanding port. He returned to his home town of Whitby in 1868 and continued to paint before succumbing to illness and old age.

Buy the Maritime Tales book (pounds 3.99) at the Merseyside Maritime Museum open seven days a week, admission free, and at bookshops, newsagents and merseyshop.com.