Navigation
Capt. William Gill of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, charted a safe, navigable channel (the Victoria Channel) through the treacherous uncharted waters of the estuary in 1830.
Since the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, large commercial vessels do not usually navigate the estuary beyond Garston on the north bank, or the locks into the Ship Canal at Eastham. Deep-water channels are maintained to both. Until the early 20th century, commercial traffic bound for further upstream was carried in large flat-bottomed sailing barges known as Mersey Flats. These could carry cargo inland to Howley Wharf in Warrington and (via the Sankey Canal) to St Helens. Motor barges delivered to riverside factories at Warrington until at least the 1970s, but nowadays only pleasure craft and yachts use the upper estuary and the tidal river, with a number of sailing clubs based at this point in the river. On most high tides, seagoing yachts with masts raised can navigate as far upstream as Fiddlers Ferry – about 3.1 mi (5.0 km) downstream of Warrington – where there is a small marina accessed via a river lock. Although river craft can continue upstream to Howley Weir, there are no landing or mooring facilities. Portable craft can reach Woolston. The barrier to further navigation here is a legal one in that the Mersey then shares its course with the Manchester Ship Canal for some miles upstream.
Read more about this topic: River Mersey