. CATALOGUE OF THE WATERCRAFT COLLECTION. 225 



10 feet 5 inches; sail, head, 8 feet 10 inches; luff, 3 feet 4 inches; 

 leach, 11 feet 8 inches. Scale of model, 3 inches equal 1 foot, 



A catamaran is sometimes made by combining two of these boats 

 2 or 3 feet apart, and occasionally an outrigger similar to that 

 adopted by the Hawaiian and Polynesian islanders is used. Un- 

 tanned leather thongs generally compose the fastening, although 

 grass rope is braided for halyards, stays, etc. 



Gift of C, H. Harlow. Cat, No. 76,316 U.S.N.M. 



PART 3. 



DESCRIPTION OF VESSELS AND BOATS OF EUROPE. 



Irish curragh. 



This type of boat is built and used by fishermen on the west coast 

 of Ireland. It is an open, round-bottom, keelless boat, with full 

 round bow and square stern, made by covering a frame of willow 



FIG. 69. IRISH 



withes with tarred canvas, the frame consisting of a stout and 

 roughly made wooden gunwale, to which is fastened the basket-like 

 bottom over which the canvas is spread. 



Dimensions of curragh. — Length, 7 feet 10 inches; beam, 3 feet 

 4 inches ; depth, 25 inches. 



Boats of this type were much in favor on certain parts of the 

 coast of Ireland where the fishermen are not able to furnish them- 

 selves with more expensive craft. The boats were often from 18 to 

 upwards of 20 feet in length and 4 or 5 feet beam; they float like 

 a bubble on the water, and so long as they do not come in contact 

 with anything to injure the cover are considered safe and seaworthy. 



" The curragh differs slightly in shape in different islands, being 

 sometimes long and somewhat narrow, but generally very broad 

 and flat bottomed, without much sharpness of shape even in the 

 bows, where the wooden frame of the gimwale comes to a point, 

 while it is cut square at the stern. It is necessary to exercise caution 

 in launching or beaching a curragh, for the bottom consists merely 

 of a framework of light laths bent from side to side of the boat and 



