Product Code Database
The birlinn () or West Highland galley was a wooden vessel propelled by sail and oar, used extensively in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland from the Middle Ages on. Variants of the name in English and Scots language include "berlin" and "birling". The Gaelic term may derive from the Norse byrðingr (ship of boards), a type of cargo vessel. It has been suggested that a local design lineage might also be traceable to vessels similar to the Broighter Gold (first century BC), equipped with oars and a square sail, without the need to assume a specific Viking design influence.Leslie Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series, 2003), p. 130, It is uncertain, however, whether the Broighter model represents a wooden vessel or a skin-covered boat of the currach type.'Broighter boat, circa 100 BC,' 5 May 2011, Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0528/1224297912869.html The majority of scholars emphasise the Viking influence on the birlinn.See, for example, Caldwell, p. 145
The birlinn was clinker-built and could be sailed or rowed. It had a single mast with a square sail. Smaller vessels of this type might have had as few as twelve oars, with the larger West Highland galley having as many as forty. For over four hundred years, down to the seventeenth century, the birlinn was the dominant vessel in the Hebrides.
In 1310, King Robert the Bruce granted Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray a reddendo or charter making him Lord of the Isle of Man in exchange for six birlinns of 26 oars. A 1615 report to the Scottish Privy Council made a distinction between galleys, having between 18 and 20 oars, and birlinns, with between 12 and 18 oars. There was no suggestion of structural differences. The report stated that there were three men per oar.Caldwell, p. 148
The birlinn appears in Scottish heraldry as the "lymphad", from the Scottish Gaelic long fhada.
The Lords of the Isles of the Late Middle Ages maintained the largest fleet in the Hebrides. It is likely that vessels of the birlinn type of galley were used in the 1156 sea battle in which Somerled, the ancestor of the lords, firmly established himself in the Hebrides by confronting his brother-in-law, Godred Olafsson.
In 1433, Alexander of Islay, Lord of the Isles brought his fleet of war galleys to Ulster to aid his cousin Donald Macdonald, Lord of Dunyvaig and the Glens, and the O'Neills of Tirowen (Tyrone) in defeating the O'Donnells, who were allied with King James of Scotland.Egan, S. (2018) The Early Stewart Kings, the Lordship of the Isles, and Ireland, c.1371-c.1433. Northern Studies, 49, pp. 61-78.
In 1608 Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree was sent by James VI of Scotland to quell feuds in the Western Isles. His orders included the destruction of shipping, named in his commissions as , galleys, and birlinns belonging to rebellious subjects. HMC 6th Report: Duke of Argyll (London, 1877), p. 623 "lumfaddis" and "birlinges".
Though the surviving evidence has mostly to do with the birlinn in a naval context, there is independent evidence of mercantile activity for which such shipping would have been essential. There is some evidence for mercantile centres in Islay, Gigha, Kintyre and Knapdale, and in the fourteenth century there was constant trade between the Isles, Ireland and England under the patronage of local lords. It is possible that the resources of the Highlands and Islands were not sufficient to support both naval and trading types of ship, leaving the galley with both roles. The derivation of the word birlinn from the name of a Nordic cargo vessel is suggestive of that situation. Otherwise the chief uses of the birlinn would have been troop-carrying, fishing and cattle transport.Rixson, p. 35
Oak was the wood favoured both in Western Scotland and in Scandinavia, being tough and resistant to decay. Other types of timber were less often used. It is likely that the Outer Isles of Western Scotland had always been short of timber, but birch, oak and pine abounded in the Inner Isles and on the mainland.Rixson, pp. 104–109 The abundance of timber at Lochaber was proverbial: " B'e sin fiodh a chur do Loch Abar" ("Bringing wood to Lochaber") was said of any superfluous undertaking.
The tools used are likely to have included , , augers and spoon bits, awls, planes, drawknife and moulding irons, together with other tools typical of the Northern European carpenter's kit.Greenhill, p. 247 As in traditional shipbuilding, generally, measurements were largely by eye.Greenhill, p. 245
The traditional practice of sheltering boats in bank-cuttings ("nausts") – small artificial – was probably also employed with the birlinn. There is evidence in fortified sites of constructed harbours, boat-landings and sea-gates.Rixson pp. 167–168
The influence of Norse shipbuilding techniques, though plausible, is conjectural, since to date no substantial remnants of a birlinn have been found. Traditional boat-building techniques and terms, however, may furnish a guide as to the vessel's construction.See "bìrlinn" in the on-line edition of Edward Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary: http://www.dwelly.org/ Dwelly-d Dwelly air loighne. This gives a comprehensive list of traditional Gaelic words and terms to do with boats.
Traditional Highland practice was to make sails of tough, thick-threaded wool, with ropes being made of moss-fir or heather.Rixson, pp. 158–159 Medieval sails, in the Highlands as elsewhere, are shown as being sewn out of many small squares, and there is possible evidence of reef points.Rixson, pp. 128–130
The Annals of the Four Masters record the use of fleets in an Irish context, often with a Scottish connection. In 1413 Tuathal Ó Máille, returning from Ulster to Connacht with seven ships, encountered a severe storm ( anfadh na mara) which drove them northwards to Scotland: only one of the ships survived. In 1433 Alexander Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, arrived in Ulster with a large fleet ( co c-cobhlach mór) to assist the O'Neills and his cousin, Donald Macdonald, Lord of Dunyvaig and the Glens, in a war with the O'Donnells.
In Ireland oared vessels were employed extensively for warfare and piracy by the O'Malleys and the O'Flathertys, western lords whose base was in Connacht. English officials found it necessary to counter them with similar vessels.Rixson, p. 42 The most famous of these local rulers was Grace O'Malley, of whom Sir Richard Bingham reported in 1591 that she had twenty vessels at her command.Rixson, p. 44 She, like her father, was engaged in extensive seaborne trade.1593 Petition of Gráinne Ní Mháille to Queen Elizabeth, State Papers Relating to Ireland (on microfilm, originals in the Public Record Office, London) SP 63/171/18
There was constant maritime traffic between Ireland and Scotland, and Highland mercenaries were commonly transported by birlinn to Ireland.Rixson, pp. 101–102
|
|
