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Ireland’s Iconic Boats
Irene Hislop
From Aran sweaters first worn by fishermen on the Atlantic to the Cliffs of Moher to Wexford’s iconic Hook Head lighthouse, many Irish gifts and images reflect our connection to the sea and to water. This is a small island where one is never very far from the coast, and it is crisscrossed with rivers and canals and dotted with lakes. The Shannon has featured in songs, and Lake Daravaragh is the setting for the Children of Lir, one of the most famous Irish legends. The most notorious women in Irish history was the pirate queen Grainne Ni Mhaille (Grace O’Malley). And of course, at different points huge numbers of Irish people left these shores, usually in ships. Naturally, a variety of boats have played key roles in Irish history.
With summer in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us are spending time at beaches, lakes and riversides to relax and cool down. Boats are big part of summer, and they are a big part of Irish culture year-round. So here’s a look at some of the most famous Irish boats.
The Titanic
This tragic ship was the subject of a Hollywood movie and has an entire museum dedicated to it in Belfast, where it was built. The Titanic was famous before it made headlines by hitting an iceberg and sinking. Controversy was built into it from the start. Harland and Wolff, the ship’s builders, were notoriously anti-Catholic and tensions were running high at the time – just a few years before the 1916 Easter Uprising. Rumours swirled that workers put anti-Catholic messages on the boat, and some people suspected that was why this allegedly unsinkable boat sank.
Belleek Titanic Hanging Ornament
The Jeannie Johnston
A visit to the Jeannie Johnston replica famine ship in Dublin would put anyone’s complaints about modern air travel into perspective. During the famine, Ireland lost a million people to hunger and starvation and another million to emigration. Not all who fled arrived alive to their destination. They were weak leaving, and the conditions on the ‘coffin ships’ were brutal. The Jeannie Johnston and other famine memorials around Ireland remind us that once, we were fleeing hunger and horror and building new lives in strange destinations where we were not always welcome – as difficult as that is to believe now with Irish gifts, music, drinks and dance so well-loved everywhere.
Galway Hookers
Galway Bay hosts the most glorious sunsets on Earth, and the distinctive deep red sails of these fine boats are the icing on that cake. Made of native Oak and Larch, these sailboats are rarely seen anywhere else and are an important part of Galway’s heritage. Today, they have rebounded from a period of serious neglect and now star at many local events.
Currach Boats
The image of a few men carrying a small boat above their heads appears on many Irish gifts. That boat is a currach, a traditional small craft that is also associated with the west of Ireland and the rugged Atlantic coast, particularly the Aran Islands. It was used mostly to haul turf and seaweed. Legend has it that St. Brendan crossed the ocean in a currach.
Aran Knitwear Inspired by Ireland's Seafaring Traditions
All of these boats are fitting symbols of aspects of our life and history on this little island. We’ve used them not only to cross the seas but to earn our living, fishing and harvesting seaweed. They are all part of our identity.
