#currach

[scian-of-follies]

Today I was reminded this little gold boat from 100 BCE Ireland exists and decided to pass on the joy!

Look at the tiny oars!!!

Little boat is just under 20 cm long and was found as part of the Broighter hoard on the shore of Lough Foyle in County Derry in 1896.

It's a super cute example of the Irish goldwork that used to be so prevelant.

[ltwilliammowett]

The Irish Currach

The currach is a traditional Irish boat built from a light wooden frame covered with tarred leather or canvas. They were usually 4.80 to 5.50 m long and slightly less than 1 m wide. Depending on the purpose for which they were built and where they were built, they could be seaworthy with a keel and sail or flat as a river or coastal vessel. It is not known exactly when they first appeared on the coasts of Ireland, but they seem to have been around since the Neolithic period.

A modern Kerry currach 

Used for fishing or transport, they could also be used for other purposes. Pytheas of Massalia is said to have used one around 340 BC during his exploration of north-western Europe. Whether he actually did so is questionable, since his account of the voyage has been lost and other ancient authors like to portray him as a liar and label his observations as fictitious. Today's researchers, however, believe him to a large extent.

Pytheas on his voyage to Thule in 340 BC, by Stephen Biesty 2011

In chapter 4 of the Navigatio Sancti Brendani, the author describes how St Brendan and his monks built a curragh for the planned sea voyage in 565 and 573 AD across the open sea to the "Isle of the Blessed". The material is described in detail: resin-soaked ox hides tanned in oak tan for the covering, ash wood for the frames and oak wood for gunwale, oars, oars and mast, all made waterproof with (sheep) fat. Then a hull was constructed from longitudinal and transverse frames joined with leather strips, the skins pulled over them and sewn together with flax fibre threads. Oars, mast, leather straps (for the shrouds and sheets), leather sails, as well as spare skins, woods and grease completed the equipment.

Book illustration Manuscriptum translationis germanicae Cod. Pal. Germ. 60, fol. 179v (University Library  of Heidelberg, Germany), written around 1460 AD. St. Brendan in a currach.

A similarly constructed boat is described in the mythical tales Immram Curaig Maíle Dúin ("The Voyage of the Boat of Máel Dúin") from the 10th century and Immram Brain ("Bran's Voyage") from the 8th century. The currach survives to this day and caused quite a stir in the 17th century when an attempt was made to recreate a seagoing one. Captain Thomas Phillips, described and drew it as follows: "A portable vessel made of wicker, commonly used by the wild Irish". The ocean-going vessel is about 6m long, has a keel and rudder, a ribbed hull and a mast in the middle of the vessel. Because of the keel, the ship is built from the bottom up. A fairing (probably made of animal skins) was added, with the sides supported by poles in the gaps.

The mast is supported by stays and double shrouds on each side, the latter sloping down to an outer plank which serves as a chain stay. The forestay runs over a small fork above the yard, which carries a square sail: a branch is tied to the top of the mast. The stern is topped by double half-rings which could support a cover.

Captain Thomas Phillips - Currach, 17th century

Phillips' sketches suggest that such a vessel was by all means common in his time and probably in use earlier. The keel would improve the handling of the boat, but the hull would remain flexible.

A modern Donegal Sea Currach

Today's currachs are sturdy, light and versatile vessels. Their framework consists of a truss formed by frames and stringers and surmounted by a gunwale. There is a stem and stern post, but no keel. For this it is rowed but can also have a mast and sail, but with a minimum of rigging. The outside of the hull is covered with tarred canvas or calico, a substitute for animal skin. They are used for, recreation, fishing, ferries and for transporting goods and livestock, including sheep and cattle.  

[huariqueje]

Carring the Currach    -   Charles Vincent Lamb

Irish,  1893-1965

Oil on canvas ,  25 x 30 in.   64  x 76 cm.

[blackdragontavern]

"The Ocean Wins: The Engineering of the Currach"

If you wanted to cross the freezing, brutal expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean today, you would want thousands of tons of welded steel beneath your feet.

But long before the Vikings built their longships, and centuries before Columbus, the ancient Irish monks were navigating those lethal waters in something entirely different. They used cow hides stretched over a flexible frame of woven hazel or willow, slathered thickly in animal fat to make it waterproof.

It was called a Currach. In the 6th century, the legendary Saint Brendan the Navigator supposedly sailed one of these leather vessels all the way to North America.

To the modern mind, taking a leather bowl into a hurricane sounds like a suicide mission. But historically and practically, there is a brutal genius to the design. When a massive, heavy, rigid wooden ship gets caught in a North Atlantic storm, it tries to cut through the waves. It fights the ocean. And the ocean always wins. The immense pressure of the water would crack the rigid timbers, shatter the hulls, and drown everyone aboard.

The Currachs survived.

Because the Currach lacked a heavy wooden keel, it didn't try to cut through the water. It was too light to fight. When a fifty-foot swell rolled in, the leather ship didn't resist the pressure; it simply rode up and over the crest of the wave like a cork.

There is a profound lesson in that ancient engineering. We are conditioned to think that the only way to survive a massive threat is to build a rigid, impenetrable wall against it. We armor ourselves. But a wall can be broken.

The Currach survived because it yielded. Heavy armor only protects you until something hits harder than the steel.

Pack light, traveler.

[poem-today]

A poem by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Currach

He knew. Even as a boy in his father’s currach, He knew. He knew that the sea would someday grasp him in her terrible teeth, destroy him, drown him in her salted grief, her embrace wet and wide as the slow dawn of death in the eye of a fish. He knew. He knew it as he built the currach, as he curved each slender rib of wood and covered it in canvas as bleak and black as a mourning gown pulled over slender shoulders. He knew that someday it would buck like a colt and hurl him into dark water. He knew. Even as he married me, loved and laughed and poured a baby into me, he knew. He knew as he surged through sea-swell, seeking to fill his nets with silver. He knew, and still he refused to learn to swim, for the struggle against his lot could only prolong his agonies. He knew. He knew our lives together could never be long. That by the time our child was born he would be long gone. He knew. He knew. He knew.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

[hogbu]

Currach in the Bay par Judith

[aranaccessories]

Another of the beautiful currachs dotted around the island as part of the 'Curacha' exhibition to celebrate the 21st birthday of Áras Éanna (the island's arts centre). This one takes inspiration from Naomh Gobnait (St. Gobnet), the main female saint associated with Inis Oírr. It's located in the island's church ❤ Swipe to see more details, and to learn more about the artist, Kathleen Furey. #currach #áraséanna #irishart #artexhibit #irishchurch #inisoírr #inisoirr #inisheer #inishere #aranislands #gobnait #irishpainting #irlandia #irland #irlande #irlanda #ireland #instaireland #séipéal #artinchurch (at Inis Oirr, Aran Islands) https://www.instagram.com/p/CS4XBdbIYTj/?utm_medium=tumblr

[greatdrams]

Currach Irish Whiskey Atlantic Kombu Seaweed Charred Cask Matured https://greatdrams.com/currach-irish-whiskey-atlantic-kombu-seaweed-charred-cask-matured/

Currach Irish Whiskey Atlantic Kombu Seaweed Charred Cask Matured

This is a whisky unlike any other we’ve seen before, and all the better for it.