THERE was a four-way battle between Barrow, Fleetwood, Morecambe and Heysham to see which was better placed to take rail passengers across the sea to Belfast.

Heysham was the eventually winner but not before decades of competition, details of which emerged from the shipping books held in the historic Linen Hall Library, Belfast.

Work was close to completion on the Stone Jetty at Morecambe in February 1851 and a paddle steamer called Albion delivered passengers to the Furness Railway at Roa Island.

A direct Morecambe to Belfast started the same year and around 1854 was taken over by the Midland Railway.

The Midland used a propeller-driven ship called Arbutus.

It faced competition on the Belfast route from vessels operated from Fleetwood in a joint venture operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire and the London and North Western railways.

By 1860 there were overnight sailings from Belfast five times a week and took 11 hours in Laurel, Lyra and Arbutus.

The Arbutus left Morecambe on Wednesday evenings direct to Londonderry in Northern Ireland and came back on Friday afternoons.

Passengers wanting to see the natural geological wonder of the Giant’s Causeway could get off Arbutus to reach shore by small boat – weather permitting.

A boat called Myrtle was used for return trips from Morecambe to Fleetwood, Grange Pier or Roa Island.

Trains from Leeds could deliver passengers directly to a small station on the Stone Jetty at Morecambe but sailings relied on the tide being in.

In 1867 the Midland switched its Belfast service to Roa Island and from 1881 to Ramsden Dock at Barrow.

A timetable from 1880 showed that passengers could get on a train at London, St Pancras, at 10.35am and be at Roa Island for 7.20pm.

The steamer for Belfast left at 8pm.

The route was worked by Swift and the Royal Mail paddle steamers Roe, Herald, Armagh and Tyrone.

A joint venture ran the ships of the Barrow Steam Navigation Company – made up of the Midland and Furness Railways and Belfast agents James Little and Sons.

The Barrow to Belfast sailings continued until the First World War.

Barrow and Morecambe had been badly hit by competition from the new harbour at Heysham from September 1904.

Morecambe’s twice weekly sailings to Dublin, started by the Laird Line in 1889, was lost to Heysham.

Heysham had been developed by the Midland Railway and could be used at all states of the ride – allowing a regular and reasonably accurate timetable.

Heysham offered services to Belfast, Antrim, Donegal and Londonderry.

Trips to Dublin ended in 1926 and to Londonderry in 1936 for passengers and 1963 for freight.

By 1928 Heysham took Fleetwood’s Belfast trade and used three new ships – the Duke of Argyll, Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Rothesay.

The last passenger and car ferry sailings from Heysham to Belfast were in April 1975 as tourist traffic went into decline due to political unrest in Northern Ireland.