A STEAMBOAT named after a south Durham industrialist was unveiled yesterday (Thursday, May 5) in Liverpool’s Albert Dock after a £3.8million restoration.

Watching with pride as guests climbed aboard the Daniel Adamson steam tug was Alan Hutchinson of Evenwood, County Durham, who is the great-great-great-nephew of Mr Adamson.

“The boat is remarkable, and they’ve made a splendid job of it, but it feels very strange to be here and see his name on it,” said Mr Hutchinson, 77.

Daniel Adamson was born in Shildon in 1820, the son of a publican and railway pioneer. He was apprenticed to Timothy Hackworth at the age of 13, and by the time he was 19 had built a complete locomotive.

In 1850, he became manager of a foundry in Stockport and then set up his own business in Manchester building boilers.

He became renowned across Europe for his engineering expertise, lived in a huge mansion, The Towers, in Didsbury, and employed more than 600 men.

But he was best known for saving the Manchester Ship Canal, the 36-mile waterway connecting Liverpool docks with Manchester. He was the driving force behind the immense scheme although he died in 1890, four years before it was completed.

Because of the high regard in which he was held, a steam tug, built in 1903, was named in his honour. A decade ago, the vessel – nicknamed “the Danny” – was earmarked for scrap, but was bought by the Daniel Adamson Preservation Society for £1.

The society’s volunteers have spent £3.8million of Lottery money restoring the Danny’s 11 steam engines and intricate brasswork and woodwork.

The tug will be open to the public for the first time during this weekend’s Steam on the Dock Festival, and the BBC’s One Show broadcast a preview last night – including an interview with Mr Hutchinson, who had his own building company and then a shop on the Woodhouse Close estate in Bishop Auckland.

He was accompanied to Liverpool by his wife Myra and grand-daughter Amy.

“It’s nice because it is part of our family history and the boat is so good to see,” said Amy.

Dan Cross, chair of the preservation society, told the Liverpool Echo: “It’s fantastic that the Danny has been restored to its former glory.

“We are immensely proud of all our volunteers and workers for managing to restore the ship on Merseyside at the shipyard where it was first built.”

*For more on the story of Daniel Adamson, see tomorrow’s (Saturday) Weekend Memories