Coracle

near Ironbridge A typical coracle's structure consists of a framework of split, interwoven willow rods, tied with willow bark. The outer layer was originally an animal skin such as horse or bullock hide (corium), with a thin layer of tar to waterproof it; today replaced by tarred calico, canvas, or fibreglass. The Vietnamese/Asian version of the coracle is made of interwoven bamboo and made water proof by using resin and coconut oil. Oval in shape and very similar to half a walnut shell, the coracle has a keel-less flat bottom to evenly spread the load across the structure and to reduce the required depth of water; often to only a few inches. This structure helps to make the boat more maneuverable and less likely to snag when used on narrow and/or shallow slow-running waterways. Each coracle is tailored to the local river conditions. In general there is one design per river, but this is not always the case. The Teifi coracle, for instance, is flat-bottomed, as it is designed to negotiate shallow rapids, like at Cenarth Falls, while the Carmarthen coracle is rounder and deeper, because it is used in tidal waters on the Tywi, where there are no rapids. Teifi coracles are made from locally harvested wood: willow for the laths (body of the boat), hazel for the weave ( in Welsh.) Tywi coracles have been made from sawn ash for a long time. The working boats tend to be made from fiberglass these days. Teifi coracles use no nails, relying on the interweaving of the laths for structural coherence, whilst the Carmarthen ones use copper nails and interweaving. They are an effective fishing vessel because, when powered by a skilled person, they hardly disturb the water or the fish, and they can be easily manoeuvred with one arm, while the other arm tends to the net; two coracles to a net. The coracle is propelled by means of a broad-bladed paddle, which traditionally varies in design between different rivers. It is used in a sculling action, the blade describing a figure-of-eight pattern in the water. The paddle is used towards the front of the coracle, pulling the boat forward, with the paddler facing in the direction of travel. The Welsh Coracle is intended to be carried on the back; Welsh saying is (load of a man is his coracle). ==History==

Designed for use in swiftly flowing streams, the coracle has been in use on the British Isles for millennia, having been noted by Julius Caesar Where coracle fishing is performed by two coraclers the net is stretched across the river between the two coracles. The coraclers will paddle one handed, dragging the net in the other, and draw the net downstream. When a fish is caught, each hauls up an end of the net until the two boats are brought to touch, and the fish is then secured, using a priest (or knocker – a small block of wood) to stun the fish. A new tax was introduced in 1863 on the commercial capture of migratory fish in Wales; this led to a decline in the number of coracles. During the 1930s, the government decided to begin revoking the licences of commercial fisher families on the death of the main licensees. It took some years for this plan to be completed but eventually led to a more significant decline in the number of craft. In the 1920s and 30s James Hornell visited hundreds of rivers in the British Isles to talk with remaining coracle makers and users. He documented the tradition in his book British Coracles and the Curraghs of Ireland (The Society for Nautical Research, 1938) containing drawings, diagrams and construction details gleaned from regular makers. Current status Coracles are now seen regularly only in tourist areas of West Wales, and irregularly in Shropshire on the River Severn. A public house in Sundorne, Shrewsbury called "The Coracle" has a pub sign featuring a man using a coracle on a river. The Welsh rivers Teifi and Tywi are the most common places to find coracles in Wales. On the Teifi they are most frequently seen between Cenarth, and Cilgerran and the village of Llechryd. In 1974, a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas (c. 1923–2014) of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in hours. The journey was undertaken to support a claim that Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota in the US could have been copied from coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century. For many years until 1979, Shrewsbury coracle maker Fred Davies achieved some notability amongst football fans; he would sit in his coracle during Shrewsbury Town FC home matches at Gay Meadow, and retrieve stray balls from the River Severn. Although Davies died in 1994, his story is still associated with the club. ==Safety==

The design of the coracle makes it an unstable craft. Because it sits "on" the water, rather than "in" it, the vessel can easily be carried by currents and the wind. The Coracle Society has published guidelines for safely using coracles. ==Similar craft==

The oldest instructions yet found for construction of a coracle are contained in precise directions on a four-thousand-year-old cuneiform tablet supposedly dictated by the Mesopotamian god Enki to Atra-Hasis on how to build a round "ark". The tablet is about 2,250 years older than previously discovered accounts of flood myths, none of which contain such details. These instructions depict a vessel that is today known as a (), or Iraqi coracle. Many scholars believe that the basket that baby Moses was cast adrift in on the Nile (in Exodus 2:3) was in fact a coracle or quffa, based on the similarity of that passage to Neo-Assyrian legends depicting infants cast adrift on rivers in . The Irish (also or ) is a similar, but larger, vessel still in use today. Curachs were also used in the west of Scotland: The currachs in the River Spey were particularly similar to Welsh coracles. Other related craft include: • India – • Iraq – or • Native American societies – bull boat • Tibet – ku-dru and kowas • Vietnam – or Indian coracle Indian coracles ( ; , , , , 'crab') are commonly found on the rivers Kaveri and Tungabhadra in Southern India. Coracles are light, bowl-shaped boats with a frame of woven grasses, reeds or saplings covered with hides. Indian coracles are considered to have been in existence since prehistoric times, Types The coracles found in the Hogenakkal are of two types, which differ mainly in size. The smaller ones are about 6.2 feet (1.9 metres) in diameter, and are used primarily for fishing. The larger ones, which measure up to 8.4 feet (2.6 metres) in diameter, are used for tourists. but can still hold eight people at a time. Other kinds of coracles usually can only hold one person. In modern times, a sheet of LDPE plastic is often embedded between two layers of bamboo. Coracles are steered and propelled using a single paddle from the front of the boat in the direction of travel, making them unique. Local names • , sometimes spelt – Tamil or They share details with the myriad types of coracle used across Eurasia. Modern can be up to 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter and carry four to five tons. Modern are of similar size and construction as their ancient counterparts, with both being made from woven bundles of reeds or basketry waterproofed with bitumen. Vietnamese coracle The Vietnamese battle coracle, called ' or ', dated back to the 10th century, is traditionally believed to have been created by a general named Tran Ung Long to be used in battles. However, thuyen thung were probably strongly developed during the French colonial period when the colonialists imposed high taxes on seafaring, local fishermen built coracles to avoid the regulations on boats. Pelota The pelota of South and Central America was a hide vessel similar to a coracle, but it often lacked an internal wooden framework, relying entirely on the stiffness of the hide to stay afloat. Thus it could be carried about on horseback and deployed when there was a river to cross. ==See also==