Museum Display
Wallace Clark MBE, the well-known adventurer and sailor, had dreamt for many years of recreating a medieval Birlinn or Highland Galley. Highland Galleys (Birlinn in Gaelic) are derived from Viking longships, but have a rudder hung from a straight sternpost, replacing the Viking steering oar, which may have made them easier to steer.
They were the workhorses of the Highlands and Islands for four hundred years between 1200 and 1600AD, and were used for both trade and military purposes, becoming a symbol of power for the Clans. While sailing in the Hebrides one early morning, Wallace day-dreamed about seeing a medieval Highland Galley rounding a point and picking up a clan chief.
His dream became a reality while sailing one day with his close friend, a real-life Clan Chief, Clanranald, on his modern yacht, Birlinn Chlann Ragnhaill into Loch Boisdale from Arisaig. Ranald Macdonald, the 24th Captain of Clanranald is a chief of the Macdonalds and a direct descendent of Somerled, whose eets of dozens of Highland Galleys were the basis of Macdonald power in the Islands and a galley image is on the Clan Seal. Fired by whisky and porridge, the two old friends hatched a plan to build a full-size replica (as none has survived) to experiment with and to see how the galleys would have sailed.
The design was given to the renowned Colin Mudie, an Edinburgh-born sailing-ship designer, celebrated for his wide range of work, including modern tall ships, and Brendan, the leather curragh, and the Bristol-based Matthew, both of which vessels sailed the Atlantic.
McDonald Brothers in Moville, Co. Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland, were chosen to build the Birlinn. The family rm has been building wooden double ender clinker-built shing boats since 1750, and they were familiar with the techniques involved in building a Birlinn. They were the perfect Boatbuilders to take on the challenge particularly as their ancestors rowed across to Ireland from Scotland after the 1745 Jacobite uprising, in a boat they built themselves.
The Launch
The villagers of Moville were so proud of the result that they carried her down to the sea on their shoulders for the launch. Wallace Clark was then ceremonially thrown fully-clothed into the water – to his great surprise!
Amid great celebrations and an audience of several thousand, Aileach was launched on 5th May 1991. Then the mast was stepped, the boat was rigged, and sea trials commenced.
The First Voyage, May 1991
For her maiden voyage, a revolving crew of Scotsmen and Irishmen rowed and sailed the Aileach over a period of six weeks the four-hundred and seventy nautical-mile-distance from Westport in Mayo, Ireland, to Stornoway in Lewis. Regular stops were made for welcomes and celebrations at Granuaile’s Castle on Clare Island, Rathlin Island, Red Bay, and County Antrim; and Islay for visits to Dunnyveg, Ardmore, Port Askaig, and Finlaggan; Colonsay, Iona and Staa, Eigg, and Armadale, Kyle and Portree
Trip to The Faroes 1992
The following year, the crew came together to take on an extremely daunting challenge – a trip to the Faroe Islands, three-hundred and fty nautical miles toz the north across the North Atlantic Ocean, and midway between Iceland and Shetland.
Aileach sailed to Castle Tioram on Loch Moidart to be prepared and to have modern safety equipment installed. With her crew of nine, including the lmmaker of Storm Voyage, she left Moidart on 4th June. Out to sea, north of The Butt of Lewis, Aileach was hit by a storm, with high winds producing 20ft waves, which broke the rudder. Despite being rudder-less, she proved her seaworthiness and took no water and, with a jury rig, downwind sailing proved possible. She was kindly helped to Stromness in the Orkney islands by Stornoway Lifeboat, where the rudder was re-built. She then set o again and made a successful crossing to Torshavn in the Faroes where jubilant crowds turned out to meet her.
Over the following years, hundreds sailed on the Aileach, discovering the joys and hardships of galley sailing and rowing. As a living archaeology project, she enabled the team to learn how galleys were sailed over ve-hundred years ago.
In 1993, Aileach raced around the Isle of Skye against a hundred-year-old Faroese rowing/ shing ski. The race showed the strength of the Aileach as a fast sailing vessel, often achieving ten knots; and the rowing power of the Faroese, who rowed and sang for twenty-three hours non-stop on a diet of dried haddock, fresh limpets taken from oshore skerries, and whale blubber.
In 1995, Aileach retraced a route taken by Robert the Bruce in 1315. Starting at Port Askaig on Islay, Aileach sailed to West Loch Tarbert, was carried on a trailer across the peninsula, sailed to Tighnabruaich, Rothesay, Largs, Helensburgh and on to Glasgow. There were great celebrations at all the stops and eighty people altogether took part in the sailing and rowing. The event raised considerable funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
In 1998, Aileach went on a fabulous tour of Mull and the inner Hebrides, visiting schools to show children an important part of their past. Often the galley was greeted by singing schoolchildren and stories about galleys, which fascinated the crew. Many children came on board to see the galley being rowed and to have a go themselves. Even seals were interested, often accompanying Aileach through the water.
In 2004, Leith Rotary brought Aileach to Leith for the Festival of the Sea. There she was a great success, allowing some hundreds of people, both young and old, to row her around Western Harbour. Leith Sea Cadets even enjoyed some sailing experience with her under the supervision of Nicholas Schellenberg, Gordon McIntyre and Cron Mackay.
Aileach – Objective Achieved
Aileach proved that she could survive gales and twenty-foot waves, even when with a broken rudder, and that her high bow and stern are highly eective in preventing waves from coming on board. Her shallow draft makes for a very comfortable sail, allowing her to explore shallow waters, and to be brought right up onto beaches.
She demonstrated that birlinns could be very eectively rowed and sailed around the Scottish coastline with no need for harbours. They were made to measure for Hebridean coastal conditions – a fast and exible sailing machine.
