James Madigan’s grandfather Sinon Blunnie was the last of the commercial currach builders in County Clare and built Scattery Island currachs in his workshop overlooking Kilrush Harbour. It was in that workshop, with no electricity or running water, that a teenage James learned the craft of boat building from his grandfather. James kindly agreed to build a traditional Clare currach for the National Museum’s planned traditional boat gallery at Turlough Park when I met with him in April 2023. Last December, I travelled to County Clare to record James build the Clare currach.
Master shipwright James Madigan. © National Museum of Ireland.
The process of building a currach can be long and technical with several steps requiring a keen eye and a skilled hand. Both traits were obvious when James undertook the important job of fitting the ribs to our new currach. The ribs, and the later fitted laths, form the basket-like frame that supports the waterproof skin.
Clare currach prior to being turned to fit the ribs. © National Museum of Ireland.
James had the main frame of the currach completed when I arrived. The double gunwale boat was ready to be turned upside down to receive her new ribs. James made light work of flipping the currach over and then turned his attention to steaming the one and a quarter inch by half inch ash ribs. Using ash ribs gives the currach a flexibility that can absorb choppy waves. Tim Severin beautifully describes the limberness of the currach boat type in The Brendan Voyage.
James Madigan inserting ash ribs into a high pressure water pipe before steaming begins. © National Museum of Ireland.
To make the ribs soft and supple so that they are easily bent into the desired shape, they are placed in a high pressure water pipe and the nozzle of a wallpaper stripper inserted into the pipe. The stripper generates the steam that is captured in the pipe. The boat builder’s guide recommends that one hour of steaming is required for every inch of thickness. Based on that scale, the ribs were steamed for approximately twenty to thirty minutes.
Mikey Conneely bending steamed currach ribs, Inis Oírr, Co. na Gaillimhe, 1968. © National Museum of Ireland.
Boat builders did not always have the use of such modern marvels. Ribs were traditionally placed in a wooden trough and submerged in boiling water. The trough was then covered with straw and sacks to keep the steam within, as can be viewed in this footage of Mikey Conneely from Inis Óirr in 1968.
Nowadays, James Madigan employs the use of a wooden form on which he bends the ribs. The steamed ribs are fixed into place on one side of the form before being slowly bent across it. While still flexible, the ribs are also fixed to the opposite side of the form and allowed to cool.
The steamed ribs are fixed into place on one side of the form before being slowly bent across it. © National Museum of Ireland.
While still flexible, the ribs are also fixed to the opposite side of the form and allowed to cool. © National Museum of Ireland.
In Mikey Conneely’s time, the heated ribs were bent by hand and fixed into the upturned currach using one’s eye as a measure.
Mikey Conneely fitting the ribs, Inis Oírr, Co. na Gaillimhe, 1968. © National Museum of Ireland.
To prepare the ribs for fitting, James marks the centre of each rib that will help guide them to their correct position when pushed through the lower gunwale of the boat.
James Madigan marking the centre of each rib. © National Museum of Ireland.
Each marked rib is then carried from the form to the upturned currach and a small cut made at both ends assists the rib through mortises cut out of the lower gunwale. Each marking lines up with a centre timber running down the length of the currach. When James is happy with the positioning of each rib, a wooden wedge is hammered at both ends to keep the rib tight in the mortise.
Preformed, steamed ribs fitted through the lower gunwale and secured in place with wooden wedges. © National Museum of Ireland.
With some great boat building footage recorded complete with step-by-step commentary from James, we called it a day. The next phase of the build will see timber laths being fitted onto the ribs and eventually a waterproof skin will be applied to the outside of the currach.
My thanks to James Madigan for his time.
Recommended reading:
Severin, Tim, The Brendan Voyage, London: Arrow Books Ltd., 1979.
Comments about this page
A delight to read of these techniques and to know that craft and skills are alive and well.
Fantastic project! Hope there’ll be other traditional boats in the pipeline as well. There are few enough of the old generation around to build them💥
I visited Monty O’Leary near Castlegregory in Kerry last year, watched him building a currach. Would love to spend a few weeks with him and learn the craft. He does it all by eye. Planning an ANAM installation on the Maharees and the traditional wooden boat will be a major feature again, as it was in ANAM – Out of Place – in Connemara💥
Very interesting article. Great skills shown by Mr. Madigan.
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