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MD 1757

Michael M Dermott, silversmith, 1783 Probably then dead.

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1 About 1775, or 1780, John Nicholson appears to have had a partner whose initials

were S N-probably his relation, Samuel Nicholson.

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1 From about 1795 to about 1810, Carden Terry and John Williams were in partnership, and, I believe, that after that till about 1815, Mrs. Williams carried on the business under the name of "Terry and Williams."

2 From about 1810 to about 1820, John and Nicholas Nicholson were partners.

Then living, but retired or dead before 1842.

1828

Then dead.

Died about then.

Gave up work about then.

NOTICE OF AN ANCIENT IRISH COTT FOUND AT MAGHERY, COUNTY ARMAGH, AUGUST, 1894.

BY C. WINSTON DUGAN, M.A.

DURING the course of an excavation for a boat-pier and slip at Maghery

in the S.W. corner of Lough Neagh, and close to the mouth of the Blackwater, the workmen lately came upon an ancient Irish cott embedded in the peaty soil under the surface of the shore. It was carefully raised, and is now lying in the yard of a neighbouring farm-house.

The annexed sketch gives a pretty accurate idea of the form and dimensions.

This cott or canoe lay in a slanting position, the stem being about three feet below the surface, the stern about one and a-half. It was carefully examined and measured by Colonel Waring, Rev. E. D. Atkinson, a fellow-member of our Society, and myself. Its length,

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One-piece Boat found at Maghery, Co. Armagh, on Lough Neagh, August, 1894.
Length (A to B), 22 feet 9 inches. Breadth of Beam (c to D), 3 feet 11 inches.
Inside Depth (E to F), 2 feet 1 inch.

in its present condition, is nearly 23 feet. From the slope at prow we calculated that the boat in its perfect state must have been at least 3 feet longer. The projections for the insertion of the rowlocks, of which three remain perfect (G, & on sketch), are internal and opposite each other, and carved out of the solid oak on a level with the gunwale; the remains of two other rowlock projections, which had been broken away, were also found: these projections are pierced with square holes about one and a-half inch in diameter, in which the rowlocks rested. Along the bottom of the boat are five sets or pairs of foot-rests or stretchers, opposite each other; these have an angular form, entrant angles towards the sides, about two inches thick, and also cut out of the solid wood. There is no mark of a stern-post or rudder of any kind. Slots for the support of the rowing benches are cut out, close to the gunwale; only four remain perfect. The stern, which is shaped like a duck's breast, has a broad projecting flat plate on a line with the gunwale, pierced with

three holes about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, quite clean, as if done with an auger. These perhaps served for some arrangement for steering. Along the bottom of the boat in the central line are four exactly similar holes. These were filled with wooden plugs at the time of finding; the plugs subsequently fell out and have been lost. I regret this, as they would' have assisted me in forming an opinion as to whether they were used for fastening in timber for masts. The bottom of the boat has a flattish, rounded form, tapering towards the stern with a sharp slope, and inclining upwards. This must have been a steady, fast boat, fit to run into any of the shallow landing-places with which Lough Neagh abounds, or to make a rapid dash up the rivers flowing into it. It was probably propelled by ten oars worked by five rowers, each seated in the centre of a bench, and using two oars, the benches being too short to accommodate two oarsmen. Ten paddlers could, of course, have worked the boat, but the rowlock slots show that oars were used. The foot-stretchers are so placed as to give the greatest power to the rowers. There is no trace of in-timber of any kind remaining, if we except the holes at the stern and bottom. Several feet of the prow was decayed and had fallen away, so I conjecture that the boat may have lain on the shore for some time before it became embedded; otherwise it would have been found more intact. Most likely it sank by degrees into the peaty soil, and then became gradually covered by mud and silt from the flooding of the lough and adjacent river.

Sir W. Wilde1 describes three varieties of the ancient Irish onepiece canoe. I should say that the Maghery cott belongs to the third or later variety. This is larger than any of those described by him, the external dimensions being at least 25 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 24 feet deep. The oak tree from which it was carved must have been 30 or 40 feet long, and 5 feet across in the stem.

3

Sir J. Ware also describes the Irish coiti, or one-piece cott, and mentions them as being used on some of the rivers in his day. Similar boats, called by Pliny Monoxyla, "Lintres ex uno ligno excavatæ," and by Livy “Alvei,” were common enough amongst the ancient Germans and Gauls. The Greeks also had such vessels which were termed, Scaphi, i.e. vessels hollowed or scooped out.

Columbus and Vespucci1 make frequent reference in their letters to one-piece canoes, quite similar to the Irish coiti, in use by the natives of the Carribean shores of South America, and of the West Indies. The former, referring to the island Guawahani, where he first landed in the New World, says the natives visited our ships in canoes made of one piece, fashioned in a wonderful manner, some of the large ones containing

1 46 Catalogue" of Museum, R.I.A., "Veg. Materials," pp. 202, 203.
2 "Antiquities of Ireland" (Harris), pp. 180-181.
3 Μονον ξυλον.
4"Littera di Amerigo Vespucci" (Primo Viaggio).

5 Personal narrative. (Translated.) Boston, 1827, p. 35.

as many as forty-five men, and they rowed with an oar resembling a baker's shovel, and went very fast. Now this shovel exactly corresponds to the ancient Irish paddle depicted by Sir W. Wilde. Fernando Columbus describes the capture by his father, of a one-piece canoe near Honduras, in 1502, which was as long as a galley, and eight feet wide, containing twenty-five men, a number of women and children, and loaded with commodities.

Verrazano, the celebrated Florentine navigator, who discovered portion of North America (Carolina and Virginia) in 1523, describes the boats of the natives as constructed out of single logs with admirable skill, 20 feet long and 4 feet wide, without the use of stone, iron, or other metal. They hollow the log to the proper shape by burning, and then form the bow and stern by same means. Also, describing the natives met with in Narragansett Bay, he says, "they cut down trees with jasper and other hard stones, and with them construct their boats of single logs, hollowed out most admirably, and large enough to seat ten or twelve persons." The oars are short, with broad blades, rowed by the force of the arms. These are also like the Irish paddles described by Wilde. Robertson also describes the construction of these one-piece canoes. *

The Maghery cott is pretty smooth on the inside, and must have been finished off with metal tools, perhaps after the burning out in the Indian fashion.

I mention these instances in order to show that certain uses and practices in a community are not always safe guides in forming an opinion as to its state of civilisation. The use of one-piece canoes by the aborigines of Venezuela and North America, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, does not prove that people in other countries, using similar kinds of boats, were in a similarly barbarous state. Ware says they were used by many Irish in his day; but surely no sane person will assert that any of our countrymen, at that period, 1654, were in the social condition of the natives of the countries described by Columbus, Vespucci, and Verrazano.

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The currach or coracle, a canoe made by covering a slender frame of wood or wicker-work, with skins, &c., was in use from the earliest times," as described by Cæsar, and is still in use by the hardy fishermen of Aran and Tory Islands. Of course, owing to the perishable nature of the materials, no ancient specimen of the currach has come down to us.

"Catalogue," supra, p. 204.

244 Historie del F. Columbo," cap. 88. 3Letter to Francis I.," 8th July, 1524.

4 "History of America," Book Iv., cap. vi.

5 Vid. Herodot. Clio. Lucan, lib. 4. Solinus, cap. 35. Pliny, lib. 4 et 7.

6 Comment. Belli Civ., lib. 1. Ed. Elzevir, p. 492. This passage is interesting, since it shows that Cæsar learned the art of making such boats from the Britons."Imperat Cæsar ut naves faciant cujus generis usus Britanniæ docuerat. Primum statumina ex levi materiâ fiebant: reliquum corpus viminibus contextum, coriis integebatur."

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