Criccieth - Jack the Sailor.

Description

Criccieth - Jack the Sailor. It was common for journalists to write a column in the weekly Welsh language news papers under a nom de plume. A widely read and popular column was Jack y Llongwr (Jack the Sailor) who wrote at the end of the 19th century. His character was of an old sailor who had “swallowed the anchor” and taking to tramping around his old haunts. There was hardly any place in Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire that he didn’t visit. He had a unique style of writing, full of nautical jargon and terms, often including mangled English words. At every community he seemed to know, or heard of, everyone and everything was going on. By the turn of the century the style changed and he became more opinionated and political. Perhaps a different writer had taken over. Other publications emulated him but Jack was the most popular and in the street, shops and chapel he was often discussed and people puzzled over his identity.

Unfortunately, these articles are in colloquial Welsh with slang and so unavailable in English