curaghs

The whole slip was covered with a mass of sobbing animals, with here and there a terrified woman crouching among the bodies, and patting some special favourite to keep it quiet while the curaghs were being launched.

The Aran Islands 1890

Part of the slip had been washed away during the winter, so we had to land to the left of it, among the rocks, taking our turn with the other curaghs that were coming in.

The Aran Islands 1890

When the steamer was getting near, the whole drove was moved down on the slip and the curaghs were carried out close to the sea.

The Aran Islands 1890

As we paddled slowly with the tide, trolling for pollock, several curaghs, weighed to the gunnel with kelp, passed us on their way to Kilronan.

The Aran Islands 1890

When the steamer is within a mile of the slip, the curaghs are put out and range themselves -- there are usually from four to a dozen -- in two lines at some distance from the shore.

The Aran Islands 1890

Without this background of empty curaghs, and bodies floating naked with the tide, there would be something almost absurd about the dissipation of this simple place where men sit, evening after evening, drinking bad whisky and porter, and talking with endless repetition of fishing, and kelp, and of the sorrows of purgatory.

The Aran Islands 1890

In the struggle we did not come off well, so I had to clamber across two curaghs, twisting and fumbling with the roll, in order to get on board.

The Aran Islands 1890

It is often curaghs go out to ships and find there is no ship.

The Aran Islands 1890

Two curaghs from Kilronan with a man who was to give help in identifying the cottages, the doctor, and the relieving officer, were drifting with the tide, unwilling to come to land without the support of the larger party.

The Aran Islands 1890

The boat-slip at the corner next the south island is extremely useful in calm weather, but it is exposed to a heavy roll from the south, and is so narrow that the curaghs run some danger of missing it in the tumult of the surf.

The Aran Islands 1890