A revival of the naomhóg tradition

A TRADITIONAL sea-faring craft closely identified with western coastal communities is enjoying a new lease of life.

Evacuation of islands, modern lifestyles and changes in fishing trends all threatened the survival of the naomhóg, or canoe, but renewed interest in rowing is ensuring that it will continue to have a role.

Renowned naomhóg builder Eddie Hutchinson has been plying his trade for almost 40 years at Moorstown, near Dingle, and is probably busier than ever.

“The naomhóg is now mainly a racing boat. It’s great to see so many young people taking up rowing. About five years ago, only about 20 people were rowing in Dingle, but that has gone up to 160. Also, up to 10 people have been attending courses in naomhóg-making during the last three winters,” he said.

In recent years, the number of naomhógs is the area has increased from two to 16. The evidence could be seen at Dingle Regatta recently.

The standard naomhóg is 25 feet in length and is rowed by four people — a most graceful sight as it glides over the water, as can be seen from films shot in the days when people inhabited islands and when they fished with man-powered boats.

To mark Heritage Week, Eddie Hutchinson will move into Ionad an Bhlascaod, the Blasket Island Interpretive Centre, in Dunquin today and will start building a naomhóg, which he hopes to have completed by the end of the week.

Centre manager Micheál de Mordha said the aim was to show visitors how a master craftsman such as Eddie goes about his work.

“Naomhóg-building is one of the last surviving old crafts in this area. The naomhóg was an essential tool of survival on the Great Blasket and the islanders became expert at using it,” Mr de Mordha said.

Old photographs from the Blaskets show upturned naomhógs sitting on wooden stands near the landing area. Others portray crouched men, like the legs of beetles, carrying the jet black boats to the water. In its heyday, the island had a fleet of boats stretching from the bottom of the village down to the breakwater.

Naomhógs were also used to bring coffins from the Great Blasket to the mainland, where islanders were traditionally buried. Some people can still recall seeing a flotilla of naomhógs crossing the Blasket Sound, forming the shape of a cross in a funeral procession.

According to local lore, the naomhóg came to the Dingle Peninsula after the bigger seine boat and has been around for a few centuries. In other parts of the west of Ireland, a similar boat is known as a currach.

There’s a belief in the Dingle Peninsula that the first naomhóg came to the area from Co Clare and that a family called Hartney, who lived north of Mount Brandon, were the first local builders of the boat in the early 19th century. But since the term naomhóg had been in use long before that time, not much credence is given to that supposition.

Over the years, the make and design of the naomhóg has change quite considerably. Animal skins were originally used to cover the base of the craft. Nowadays, boats are finished with a tar and canvas coating and this outer cover is still referred to as the ‘craiceann’ (skin).

The largest naomhóg ever crafted measured 37 feet in length. It was part of a project, in 1997, to mark the Northern Peace Process. It went to Tory Island, off Donegal, to Portrush, Co Antrim, to Iona in Scotland and to Bilbao in Spain.

A scale model of a naomhóg, again crafted by Eddie, was presented to the late Pope John Paul II and is in the Vatican.