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The Irish galley was a vessel in use in the West of Ireland down to the seventeenth century, and was propelled both by oars and sail. In fundamental respects it resembled the Scottish galley or Birlinn, their mutual ancestor being the Viking longship. Both the Irish and Scottish versions were colloquially known as "longa fada" (longships). The Irish galley was commonly an eight or twelve-oared vessel and was used for both warfare and trade. It was notable for its speed when rowed.
Conventional galleys were being built in a number of Irish ports in the fourteenth century, and were even commissioned by the English Crown.Rixson, pp.167–168 The use of such oared vessels in Northern Europe, in contrast to the Mediterranean, had greatly declined by the sixteenth century; their survival in the west of Ireland, as in the Scottish Isles, was facilitated by very local conditions, among them the ready availability of bays and islands.
Cartographic images of the later sixteenth century, however, show interesting differences from the vessel shown in the carving. This may reflect foreign influences, since Irish galleys traded to Spain and Portugal.
Some of the most pleasing and detailed images of the Irish galley are to be found in a map of east Ulster made around 1602. It is a map by Richard Bartlett or a copy thereof. The ships depicted have a long hull, a high transom and a rudder. They have a long projecting prow, with a fairly sizable cabin on the poop. Each ship has one mast, each with a crow's nest, and a triangular sail resembling a lugsail. The rigging, with its stays, shrouds, sheets and tacks, braces, lifts and blocks, is unremarkable. The oars are prominent, with roughly ten per side, and forming a single bank along a great part of the hull. The vessels resemble those described by English mariners of the time, and are crowded with men.
Two maps of Ulster made by the Elizabethan cartographer Francis Jobson around 1590 show vessels similar to that described above, together with conventional English sailing ships. On one of these maps ("ploated for her Majesty in anno 1590") two galleys are shown, one in the northwest, the other in the northeast. Each has eight oars, and both resemble Bartlett's images (though in a somewhat simplified form) with regard to the hull and the rigging. The first galley has two masts, one a main-mast with a vertically striped square sail and crow's-nest, the other a foremast with a triangular sail. The second galley has a single mast with what appears to be a lugsail. The second map shows three more oared and sail-carrying vessels of a very similar type and appearance.
A third map of Ulster by Jobson, dated 1598, shows three galleys, each with eight oars and two with a foremast carrying a sloping spar. A third carries a topsail on the main-mast. As with the vessels described above, the forestay descends to a beak, with a cabin aft.
The depiction of these galleys matches in terms of detail the conventional sailing vessels that are also shown. Galleys were hardly used in the Elizabethan navy,Tom Glasgow, Jnr. "Oared vessels in the Elizabethan navy," The Mariner's Mirror, Volume 52, 1966 – Issue 4, pp. 371-377. "The interest manifested in oar-sail-propelled vessels in the reign of Henry VIII was conspicuously lacking during the reign of Elizabeth I." Elizabeth inherited two galleys, but neither lasted long, and only a few more were acquired. See also Loades, David M. (2009), The Making of the Elizabethan Navy, 1540-1590: From the Solent to the Armada. Boydell Press. and it is not likely, therefore, that the galleys shown are of English provenance.
It has been argued that for trading voyages, including those to the Iberian peninsula, the Irish would have used sturdy vessels of the caravel type, a view which finds support in the galleys shown.Chambers, Anne (2019). Grace O'Malley: The Biography of a Pirate Queen, 1530-1503: p. 105. Gill Books.
There is pictorial evidence that by the end of the sixteenth century similar influences may have affected the design of the Scottish galley. A carving made at Arasaig in 1641 shows a vessel with a lowered stem and stern. Bartlett's map (referred to above) shows "fleetes of the Redshanks Highlanders of Cantyre" carrying what resembles a lugsail on a sloping yard arm, with a small cabin at the stern projecting backwards.From the Dartmouth Collection of the British National Maritime Museum. Two Clanranald seals attached to documents dated 1572 show a birlinn with raised decks at stem and stern, a motif repeated in later heraldic devices.Rixson (1988) If such changes occurred, it is possible that they reflect (as in Ireland) influences from the south-east and ultimately from the Mediterranean.
Certain images of Scottish ships appear to show vessels built in accordance with these techniques. They were clinker-built, open-decked amidships, single-masted and oared, the major difference being that, unlike Norse ships of the classical period, they had a rudder attached to a steep transom.Rixson (1998), p 138. From the evidence available, it is likely that Irish galleys resembled their Scottish equivalents in their basic construction, rigging, steering and means of propulsion, though in both cases allowance must be made for advances in design (see previous section).
The O'Malleys and the O'Flahertys, lords of west Connacht, were the main users of galleys, which they used for plundering or for transporting the troops of other chieftains. In the sixteenth century the Crown made a determined attempt to suppress the Irish fleets with its own ships.Rixson (1998), p 42. In December 1559 the following was recorded in the English State papers:
Grany O'Malley or Grace O'Malley (Irish language: Gráinne Ní Mháille) was the most famous of the seafaring chieftains. The Governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, wrote of her in 1591 that she had twenty ships,Rixson (1998), p 44 though it is uncertain whether this was her usual complement. She, like her father before her, was a notable merchant by sea.1593 Petition of Grace O'Malley to Queen Elizabeth, State Papers Relating to Ireland (microfilm: original in the Office of Public Records, London) SP 63/171/18
These ships were used for the export of salted and pickled fish, linen, wool, hides and tallow. From Spain and Portugal they would import copper, silk, wine, figs, pomegranates, cumin, cinnamon and saffron.Ireland in Schools: 'Grace O'Malley, Granuaile: Chieftain, trader, pirate: ships': www.iisresource.org/Documents/0A4_Grace_Fleet.ppt
It is likely, however, that such ships were not as large as the English galleon. They were certainly vulnerable to cannon fire (their light construction meant they could carry no great guns themselves), though they could easily hold their own with English craft of a similar size.Rixson (1998), p 50, quoting from an account by Captain Plessington of the warship Tramontana, which captured an Irish galley between Teelin and Killbegs in Donegal in July 1601: Not withstanding she rowed with thirty oars and had on board ready to defend her a hundred good shots which entertained a skirmish with my boat for most of an hour and had put her to the worst. Coming up with my ship to the rescue, I quickly, with my great shot made an end to the fray. This galley comes out of Connaught and belongs to Grany O'Malley whereof a base son of hers is captain.
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