Jigger Flats that Became Sea Casualties
Ariel , Catherine Roberts , Connovium , Ellen , Eva Lena , Florence , Jane , John Parry , Mercy and Vixen are ten examples of jigger flats that were abandoned, rescued or lost at sea. John Leather, who dedicates a chapter of Barges to the sailing flats of Cheshire and Lancashire, claims that flats were the principle carrying craft of the North West of England. Flats are reported to have operated on the River Dee, the River Mersey and the River Weaver. It is explained, on page 201, that sailing flats could be sloop-rigged or jigger-rigged. Sailing flats, which are claimed to have navigated the coasts of North West England and Wales, are reported to have visited the eastern coast of Ireland as well as the Bristol Channel. It is claimed, on page 9 of the twenty-first volume of The Shipwrecked Mariner , that the coasts of North Wales and North West England were perilous to ships. Most of the sea casualties that occurred along the coast of North Wales are reported to have o...