An "honourable" sailor who was "full of fun" has died at the age of 84.
Carl Leckey died at his home in New Brighton on January 11 after suffering from heart failure. He leaves behind his wife Rose Leckey, 82, children Angie, 60, and Jeff, 59, and four grandchildren: Willow, Ayisha, Adam and Sam.
Carl was well known from his work on the water and as one of the Black Pearl pirates in New Brighton where he went by the name Billy Bones. Paying tribute to her dad, Angie described him as an "honourable man" who "touched so many lives."
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Angie told the ECHO: "He was absolutely obsessed with boats, with sailing, with the whole respect for the sea and for other people who have gone before and those who have lost their lives. He was a very honourable man.
"He built a boat on the canal so mum and him spent holidays on the boat after working on a boat on the Mersey."
Carl started his career working on the Mersey tugboats for 15 years before going on to become a leading lock keeper for the British Waterways in Cheshire.
He was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study ports and harbour services in the USA and China. In 1995, Carl received an MBE from the late Queen Elizabeth II for his work improving the working conditions on the waterways and setting up a new branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union.
Following his retirement, Carl carried out research into those who had lost their lives working on the Mersey and arranged plaques to be installed on the seafront in their memory. He also wrote 13 books and donated the royalties to different charities.
Angie said: "My dad was full of fun. He was like a little boy that never really grew up. He loved the Wizard's Den joke shop in Liverpool - it was one of his favourite places.
"He used to buy these jokes and play jokes on us all. He absolutely loved having the family over.
"When all of us think about my dad, we think about him laughing. Even on your darkest day you'd look at him and his eyes would twinkle and you just knew you were going to laugh.
"We knew he touched people's lives so much but to see other people write it - it's just lovely. It helps with the grief."
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