"THE QUEEN OF CONNEMARA" -- Francis A. Fahy Oh! My boat can safely float in the teeth of wind and weather, And outrace the fastest hooker between Galway and Kinsale; When the black floor of the ocean and the white foam rush together, High she rides, in her pride, like a sea-gull through the gale. Oh, she's neat! Oh, she's sweet! She's a beauty in ev'ry line! The Queen of Connemara is that bounding barque of mine. When she's loaded down with fish till the water lips the gunwale, Not a drop she'll take on board her that would wash a fly away; >From the fleet she'll slip out swiftly like a greyhound from her kennel, And she'll land her silver store the first at ould Kinvara quay. There's a light shines out afar, and it keeps me from dismaying When the skies are ink above us and the sea runs white with foam, In a cot in Connemara there's a wife and wee one praying To the One Who walked the waters once, to send us safely home. Cruinniu NA mBAD (The Gathering of the Boats) - a modern-day festival which recreates an age-old tradition of ferrying turf (peat) in the Connemara area of Co. Galway in the west of Ireland. Per stories by Galway storyteller, Tom Halloran from Clarinbridge as told to Charlie Piggott in the latter's story in July-Aug 1988 issue of "Ireland of the Welcomes" - in days gone by the harbours and inlets of Galway Bay were alive with traditional sailing boats going about their daily business of plying fuel and net fishing for herring. The traditional household fuel in the west of Ireland is turf (peat) which is a surface sediment of twigs and leaves deposited a few thousands years ago by post ice-age Ireland forests and compressed over the centuries. Transportation of turf from the bogs to outlying villages was one of the main functions of the traditional boats. Because few roads existed around the bay up to 75 years ago, the only means of communication and transportation was b! y the sea. A sailing vessel evolved in Galway over the centuries to withstand the harsh conditions existing on the west coast of Ireland called the Galway Hooker. Built with incredible strength and buoyancy, they were built by just a few families, among them the Caseys, Clohertys and Mulkerrins of Mweenish, and the Brannellys and Keanes of Kinvara, and this knowlege of building was passed down to each generation within these families. The hooker has been described as "a boat of local design, solid, cow-like with brown sails, a strong, safe fish-and-cargo vessel of the days before there were engines, with which to negotiate the coasts and sounds and islands." A hooker design existed in the U. S. called the "Boston Hooker," but appears to have been introduced by Galway emigrants in the 1850s. The hookers are locally subdivided into several classes: Bad Mor (big boat), Leath Bhad (half boat), Gleoiteog and Pucan. Due to the sudden upsurge of mechanisation, these handsome vessels almost became extinct. From well over 200 boats documented to be fishing out of the Claddagh village alone in the 1850s, just a handful were in existence by the early 1970s. Thanks to the efforts of people like John Healion and Bill Crampton, and others, many discarded older boats were reconstructed to their former glory and several new vessels were also built. The Galway Hooker Association was founded in 1978. An annual festival is now held in Kinvara harbour on the southern shores of Galway Bay. Kinvara has many maritime associations - the Vikings landed in the 10th century and the brandy-smuggling de Lemaines were very active in rigged schooners in the 18th century. The festival was the brainchild of Anthony Moylan, a hooker owner from Kinvara, whose idea it was to recreate the turf-ferrying spectacle of older days and for racing. Besides the hooker class, visitors observe an assortment of other sea-going vessels such as yachts, curraghs (canvas canoes), flat-bottoms, trawlers and work-boats of various types. One unusual sight is the climin race. A climin is a mass of seaweed weighing several tons which has been hand-cut and bound with ropes; floating on the water surface, not unlike an iceberg, it is propelled forward with long poles by two competitors standing on each climin. The festival has a variety of other events including "sean-nois" singing, traditional music, photographic and craft exhibitions, horse-shoe throwing and tug-of-war competitions. Sean-nois is Gaelic for "old-style," and this ancient form of unaccompanied singing is an integral part of the daily life of the "badoiri" or boatmen. They can be heard singing in ! Gaelic, as this is still the everyday language in the west of Galway, and the characteristic broad sounds of the language can be heard on the waterfront and in the drinking houses.