The Scandinavian impact on Irish seafaring technology ...

• Main Author: Wilson, Garth Stewart
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0096387; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0096387

In the Middle Ages mariners from both Ireland and Scandinavia sailed the North Atlantic, but in different types of ships and for very different reasons. The Irish sailors appear to have favoured skin-covered ships called curraghs as the means by which they sought out remote islands on which to establish monastic retreats. The Norsemen, however, travelled the northern seas in clinker-built wooden vessels seeking plunder, land and trade. When at the end of the eighth century the Vikings invaded Ireland, these two distinct seafaring traditions came into contact with one another. This thesis is an analysis of the impact that the arrival of Scandinavian seafaring technology had upon that of the indigenous Irish. Although this issue has been largely neglected by scholars, the little that has been done has tended to promote the conclusion that Viking seafaring technology displaced the vigorous but inferior curragh technology of the Irish. This thesis argues that rather than replacing the Irish tradition, the ...