My thanks to Hans Christian Rieck.
Tag: currach
Three-dimensional models of Irish traditional boats now online at Traditional Boats of Ireland
Scattery Island currach model
The Traditional Boats of Ireland website launched a few days ago has begun a programme of laser scanning traditional boats, and posting lines plans and rotatable 3D models.
Ballydehob, Ireland, boatbuilder Tiernan Roe was at the launch, which took place during the Glandore Classic Boat summer school. He reports that the material is impressive and particularly useful from the point of view of a boat builder or student of traditional boat types, as it is possible for the viewer to remove elements from the models to see how the boats were constructed.
Tiernan also reports that another Ballydehobian, Holger Lonze, is proposing a voyage in a Bronze Age boat from the copper-rich Mizen Peninsula in Cork to Cornwall.
Holger was previously involved in retracing St Columba’s voyage from Ireland to the Island of Iona. See Holger’s website here.
Tiernan also reminded me that the Atlantic Challenge takes place at Bantry from the 21st July.
Photos from the Inishkea Islands
[ad name=”intheboatshed-post”]
Deserted village on the Inishkea south island. As usual, click on
the thumbnails for much larger images
Barnacle geese in flight
A couple of days ago, I found this very welcome message from intheboatshed.net reader Duncan Sclare in my inbox. It has got me thinking that it’s more than high time I made a return trip to the West of Ireland to see some more of its wondrful remote Atlantic islands.
‘Hi Gavin,
‘Having read and enjoyed reading intheboatshed for some time now I thought I ought to add a little bit for others to hopefully enjoy.
‘One of my family’s favourite boating destinations is the Inishkea Islands, three miles off the west coast of Co Mayo, where we live.
‘The islands have an interesting history. They were inhabited up to the mid 1930s, but the community never really recovered from the great storm of 1927 when about 45 men mostly fishing from curraghs were drowned off the Mayo and Galway coast, ten of them from the Inishkea Islands.
‘The islanders moved to the nearby mainland and continued to graze animals and fish around the islands, as their descendants still do today.
‘Further back in time around 1900 there was a Norwegian whaling station on the south island. There are many myths and storys including tales of piracy and civil war, and stone-throwing incidents between north and south islands and, of course, various legends about poitín brewing.
‘The two villages on the one on each island are now slowly being reclaimed by nature, as can be seen in the photos.
‘I had the pleasure of meeting one of the last surviving people born on the island this summer. Her daughter and son in law had spent a couple of years doing up her old home, and brought her out on a beautiful August day to see it close up for the first time in almost 70 years.
‘There is a wide variety of wildlife including many grey seals that come ashore in the late autumn to have their pups. Barnacle geese, which give the islands their name, still come down from their breeding sites high up in Greenland to over-winter on the islands.
‘Mayo County Council are now putting together a long over due Conservation and Management Plan that will hopefully secure the islands future for all to enjoy and appreciate without damaging the rather delicate eco-system.
‘An excellent information site can be found here: Insihkea Islands.
‘Doing a bit of boat building myself will mail you if I have anything of substance to report. Keep up the good work
‘Regards, Duncan Sclare’
Many thanks for this Duncan – I’m most grateful you have taken the time to write in with your photos. I’m sure the image of the derelict cottages in particular will be very powerful for many people. Do let us know how your project goes!
For more intheboatshed.net posts about currachs including information about building the boats, click here.
Seal pup photographed on Inishkea
