That photo would of been on a Sunday or bank holiday, every one is in there Sunday best. Plus the ferry's where packed like that in the late 40s every weekend
Ships that pass in the night, seldom seen and soon forgoten
This photo is one of several of the same scene taken by Alfred Priestley of Egremont in the mid-1890s. The vessel moored mid-river in the background is the Cunard liner RMS Lucania, launched in 1893, which held the Blue Riband for the fastest Transatlantic crossings between 1894-1898. She was scrapped in 1909 after being damaged by fire while laid up in Huskisson Dock.