Love Those Traditional Boats of Ireland

Years in the Making, a Stunning Book on Ireland’s Small Craft

Bob Miller, cruising buddy and boatshop partner, loaned me Traditional Boats of Ireland—an impressive collection of historical information, photos, illustrations, line drawings and lore on the subject.

Since not many of you are likely to buy the 668-page hardback (currently $397, up a tad from the $85 paid upon publication), we’d like to share a few boats in the book, which is out-priced by the even-more-rare Inshore Craft of Norway, available used for $998…and that isn’t $9.98.

Another terrific book along similar lines is Inshore Craft: Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles ($18 used—a bargain), which we also recommend.

Here’s a synopsis of Traditional Boats of Ireland from Waterstones, a chain of booksellers in the UK and Europe:

“Two centuries ago sail and oar dominated local Irish trade and fisheries. At least 60 types of traditional boats operated, such as flat-bottomed craft, smooth-hulled skin boats (curachs), Viking-style clinker sailing yawls and great carvel-built hookers (like the famous Galway Hookers). This remarkable work, many years in the making and arranged by coastal area, describes these craft, their construction and handling, usage and history with recollections by those who experienced the often arduous life associated with them.”

So, some images from Traditional Boats of Ireland.

A portion of the cover of Traditional Boats of Ireland by Criostoir MacCarthaigh, of the UCD Centre for Irish Forklore, who coordinated an exhaustive study of traditional boats for several years, covering all regions and specialized boat types of Ireland.

Norwegian-Inspired Dipping-Lug Yawls

(What a sheerline!…How would you like to be at the tiller?)

Evocative painting of another traditional small fishing craft with lugsail rig.

Galway Hookers

The famous Galway Hookers—generally 32 to 42 feet in length, racing.

Great racing action aboard another Galway Hooker.

American Mor, 38’ on deck, with rail down.

Graceful Gandelows

Our favorite Irish flat-bottomed rowing boat, the Gandelow, a Shannon Estuary fishing craft. This 18-footer is being rowed by Pat Doran in an estuary near Limerick in 2007. (We’d love to build and row one of these!)

Detailed Illustrations…

(I want to hand-dye a cotton sail to look just like this illustration.)

Curachs Galore, Big and Small

If you can’t get enough Curachs, the book dedicates 150 pages (!) to the subject of traditional Irish skinboats.

Rush-Raft Rowboats

So, first you gather rushes from your marshy neighborhood, then form a boat-shaped frame atop the pile of floating reeds…and cast off for parts unknown. This is one of my favorite images in the book, showing Patrick Gately rowing his Clioth Thulca on the River Suck in County Roscommon. (This might serve as the visual definition of “inshore craft.”)

…and this one, just because

This is too classic to leave out, reminding us of how we viewed beautiful boats in childhood…eager to go aboard in search of watery adventures. (Side note; Would you prop your pleasure craft up on a couple of funky stone cairns?)

If readers wish, I’ll be happy to share some images from the other two books mentioned—Inshore Craft of Norway, and/or Inshore Craft of the British Isles. (Please voice your preferences below.)

As always, thanks for reading. - Marty