October 2nd, 1872. Beautiful weather in the morning; showers in the early afternoon.

At half past ten in the morning we went by carriage to visit a museum. We then proceeded to the floating landing-stage, where we boarded a boat. As on the previous day, our route was lined by police, and a band played on the quayside while we boarded. We cast off and headed west down the river. After going two miles downstream we reached the forts situated at the harbour mouth. The fort on the dock on the right bank fired a seventeen-gun salute. The boat then turned round and made its way back upstream.

We then proceeded to Birkenhead, on the south bank of the Mersey, where we disembarked. There was a large shipyard here with a number of dry docks. At the point on the bank where we landed were three dry docks. In two of them new ships were being assembled, and in the third a ship was undergoing modification. The new vessels under construction were both iron steam-packets, intended for service in the Pacific. The vessel undergoing modification was also a mail-boat. Since it was not long enough for its new purpose, it had been cut in half at this yard and a new section had been inserted amidships to lengthen it by over twenty feet, thus increasing it to a suitable size.