The 1963 re-enactment of a voyage in 563 AD by St Columba filled my mind – when I was 13.
Artifacts from The Aegre voyage aren’t just in physical form. But also stories that inspired me growing up. One is the Irish currach voyage from Derry to Iona in 1963, a re-enactment of the voyage of St Columba in 563 AD, from Northern Ireland northwards in a leather-skinned currach to the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. There St Columba founded a monastery that became a centre of the Christian world for hundreds of years. Learn more about St Columba.
The voyage re-enactment
In 1963 a traditional Irish currach was built comprising a light wooden framework with a tarred cloth skin. A design used in western Ireland since at least BC 54 when Julius Ceasar noted it, and is still used today for fishing.
Not quite Kon Tiki, but a remarkable adventure long before re-enactment voyages became popular.
The book
My uncle Jack (John) Barry, a clergyman in Ireland, was the original instigator. He subsequently wrote a book about the whole project, called ‘Joyful Pilgrimage’ published in 1963. There are still a few copies about of the 2nd Edition, published in 1964 by The Company of the Iona Curragh, but they are hard to find.
I have a copy of the book my uncle gave me, inscribed in the front.
A 25-minute film about the voyage made at the time, and narrated by Wallace Clark, is available on YouTube. Do watch it; it’s quite something.
Gene Feldman, my co-researcher for this website, recently found another video on YouTube, about St Columba. The second half of the video from, about 19 minutes, is about the 1963 currach voyage.
About the currach
Included in the book are technical comments on Curraghs Ancient and Modern by Wallace Clark and plan drawings by Richard McCullagh reproduced below:
The curragh was designed by Richard McCullagh, and built by Jim Boyd.
Wallace Clark wrote about the design, construction, rig and performance of the currach in the book, Joyful Pilgrimage. The book is long out of print and hard to find so I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing his words here:
Wallace-Clark-on-Currachs-in-Joyful_Pilgrimage_extractIf you want to read more, Richard McCullagh subsequently published The Irish Currach Folk: Life on the Western Seaboard from Galicia to Greenland (Wolfhound Press, 1992).
It’s a beautiful book. It’s expensive to buy new but ABE Books usually have a few used copies at a reasonable price.
2023 Reunion of crew members
in June 2023, four of the original crew got together in Bunbeg to celebrate 60 years since the momentous voyage while also remembering the nine other crew members who have sadly died since the trip. Billy Paterson and currach builder Jim Boyd met up with Alistair Jameson and John Connolly for the occasion. The Donegal News carried the full story with photos.
More about currachs
Following the posting of the above currach story, an old friend of mine from the NZ Outward Bound School, Ian Shapcott, wrote to me about his 94-year-old neighbour in NZ, Alan Byde. In his day in the UK, Byde was a world kayaking guru, writing the seminal book ‘Living Canoeing’ back in the late 1960s. But he also knew quite a bit about currachs and wrote about them in the very first edition of ‘Afloat’ magazine. This has been reproduced on the kayakarchy website. Well worth a look
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