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The birlinn () or West Highland galley was a wooden vessel propelled by sail and oar, used extensively in the
Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...
and West Highlands of
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
from the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
on. Variants of the name in English and Lowland Scots 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-type boat (first century BC), equipped with oars and a square sail, without the need to assume a specific Viking design influence. It is uncertain, however, whether the Broighter model represents a wooden vessel or a skin-covered boat of the currach type. The majority of scholars emphasise the Viking influence on the birlinn. The birlinn was
clinker-built Clinker-built, also known as lapstrake-built, is a method of boat building in which the edges of longitudinal (lengthwise-running) hull (watercraft), hull planks overlap each other. The technique originated in Northern Europe, with the first know ...
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 Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...
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. The birlinn appears in
Scottish heraldry Heraldry in Scotland, while broadly similar to that practised in England and elsewhere in western Europe, has its own distinctive features. Its heraldic executive is separate from that of the rest of the United Kingdom. Executive The Scottish h ...
as the " lymphad", from the
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
''long fhada''.


Use

In terms of design and function, there was considerable similarity between the local birlinn and the ships used by Norse incomers to the Isles. In an island environment ships were essential for the warfare which was endemic in the area, and local lords used the birlinn extensively from at least the thirteenth century. The strongest of the regional naval powers were the MacDonalds of Islay. The
Lords of the Isles Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( or ; ) is a title of nobility in the Baronage of Scotland with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title was ...
of the
Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
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, Lord of Argyll, the ancestor of the lords, firmly established himself in the Hebrides by confronting his brother-in-law, Godred Olafsson, King of the Isles. 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. In 1608 Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree was sent by
James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
to quell feuds in the
Western Isles The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islands form part ...
. His orders included the destruction of shipping, named in his commissions as lymphads, galleys, and birlinns belonging to rebellious subjects. 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 Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...
, Gigha,
Kintyre Kintyre (, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East Loch Tarbert, Argyll, East and West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, West Loch Tarbert in t ...
and
Knapdale Knapdale (, ) forms a rural district of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, adjoining Kintyre to the south, and divided from the rest of Argyll to the north by the Crinan Canal. It includes two parishes, North Knapdale and South 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.


Construction and maintenance

In some ways the birlinn paralleled the more robust ocean-going craft of Norse design. Viking ships were double-ended, with a
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
scarfed to stems fore and aft. A shell of thin planking (
strake On a vessel's Hull (watercraft), hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of Plank (wood), planking or Plate (metal), plating which runs from the boat's stem (ship), stempost (at the Bow (ship), bows) to the stern, sternpost or transom (nautica ...
) was constructed on the basis of the keel, the planks being edge-joined and clenched with iron nails. Symmetrical ribs or frames were then lashed to the strakes or secured with trenails. Over most of the ribs was laid a slender crossbeam and a thwart. The mast was stepped amidships or nearly so, and oars, including a steering oar, were also used. The stem and stern post sometimes had carefully carved notches for plank ends, with knees securing the thwarts to the strakes and beams joining the heads of the frames. The hull bore a general resemblance to the Norse pattern, but stem and stern may have been more steeply pitched (though allowance must be paid for distortion in representation). Surviving images show a rudder. Nineteenth-century boat-building practices in the Highlands are likely to have applied also to the birlinn: examples are the use of dried moss, steeped in tar, for
caulking Caulk (also known as caulking and calking) is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping. The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between board ...
, and the use of stocks in construction.
Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
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 A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
, oak and
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
abounded in the Inner Isles and on the mainland. The abundance of timber at
Lochaber Lochaber ( ; ) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of Loch Leven, a distric ...
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
adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...
s,
axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...
s, augers and spoon bits, awls, planes, draw knives and moulding irons, together with other tools typical of the Northern European carpenter's kit. As in traditional shipbuilding, generally, measurements were largely by eye. The traditional practice of sheltering boats in bank-cuttings ("nausts") – small artificial
harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
s – was probably also employed with the birlinn. There is evidence in fortified sites of constructed harbours, boat-landings and sea-gates. 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.


Rigging and sails

Carved images of the birlinn from the sixteenth century and earlier show the typical rigging: braces,
forestay On a sailing vessel, a forestay, sometimes just called a stay, is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling backwards. It is attached either at the very top of the mast, or in fractional rigs between about 1/8 and 1/4 from the t ...
and
backstay A backstay is a piece of standing rigging on a sailing vessel that runs from the mast to either its transom or rear quarter, counteracting the forestay and jib. It is an important sail trim control and has a direct effect on the shape of the ma ...
, shrouds (fore and aft), halyard and a parrel (a movable loop used to secure a yard or gaff to a mast). There is a rudder with pintles on the leading edge, inserted into gudgeons. It is possible that use was made of a wooden bowline or reaching spar (called a '' beitass'' by the Norse). This was used to push the luff of the sail out into the wind. Traditional Highland practice was to make sails of tough, thick-threaded
wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...
, with ropes being made of moss-fir or heather. 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.


''Aileach'': a reconstruction

A reproduction of a 16-oar Highland galley, the ''Aileach'', was built in 1991 at Moville in
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
. It was based on representations of such vessels in West Highland sculpture. Despite the good seagoing performance of the vessel, its design has been described as misleading because of an over-reliance in the plan on cramped sculptural images. The vessel was designed with a high, almost vertical, stern and stem. It proved difficult to fit in more than one rower per oar and the thwarts were too close together. Less constricted images from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show vessels which are longer and larger.


Ireland

The Irish ''long fhada'' seems, from contemporary sources, to have resembled its West Highland equivalent, though there is as yet no archaeological confirmation. The ''
Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
'' 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 Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
. English officials found it necessary to counter them with similar vessels. The most famous of these local rulers was
Grace O'Malley Gráinne O'Malley (, ; – ), also known as Grace O'Malley, was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eóghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. Upon her father's death, she took over active leadership of the lords ...
, of whom Sir Richard Bingham reported in 1591 that she had twenty vessels at her command. She, like her father, was engaged in extensive seaborne trade. There was constant maritime traffic between Ireland and Scotland, and Highland mercenaries were commonly transported by birlinn to Ireland.Rixson, pp. 101–102


Naval technology

The birlinn, when rowed, was distinguished by its speed, and could often evade pursuers as a result. No cannon were mounted even in the later period: the birlinn was too lightly built and its freeboard was too low. It was highly suitable for raiding, however, and with experienced marksmen on board, could mount a formidable defence against small craft. Vessels of this type were at their most vulnerable when beached or when cornered by a heavier vessel carrying cannon.


Possible changes in design

There is some evidence that by the end of the sixteenth century new influences were affecting birlinn design. A carving made at Arasaig in 1641 shows a vessel with a lowered stem and stern. An English map of north-east Ireland made no later than 1603 shows "fleetes of the Redshanks ighlandersof Cantyre" with vessels one-masted as before but with a square sail mounted on a sloping yard arm and a small cabin at the stern projecting backwards. 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. If such changes occurred, they would reflect influences from the south-east and ultimately from the Mediterranean. The supporting evidence has been criticised for being slight and unconvincing,Caldwell, p. 146 but there is pictorial evidence for similar developments in the
Irish galley 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 bìrlinn, their mutual ancestor being the Viking long ...
.


See also

*
Irish galley 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 bìrlinn, their mutual ancestor being the Viking long ...


Notes


References

* Caldwell, David H. (2007), 'Having the right kit: West Highlanders fighting in Ireland' in ''The World of the Gallowglass: kings, warlords and warriors in Ireland and Scotland, 1200–1600''. Duffy, Seán (ed.). Dublin: Four Courts Press. * * * Watson, J. Carmichael (ed.) (1934). ''Gaelic Songs of Mary MacLeod''. Blackie & Son Limite


Further reading

* Macauley, John (1996), ''Birlinn – Longships of the Hebrides''. The White Horse Press.


External links


GalGael
– using the Birlinn to rebuild community in Scotland

from Mallaig Heritage
Image of fifteenth-century engraved Birlinn, in Rodel Chapel, Harris
on Flickr {{Scandinavian Scotland Norse-Gaels Boat types Transport in Scotland Scandinavian Scotland Medieval ships Sailing ship types Human-powered watercraft Tall ships 14th-century ships