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The Coracle: One Man in a Tub
My introduction to the coracle was not the most promising, I grant you, just a joke email from a bored colleague. But, apparently, it was all I needed. Because, it’s not just racing down a river in a glorified snow sled, shield, or basket, but a journey through such wild territories as Welsh Indians, cadavers, poaching, and sheep wrasslin’, just to name a few.
Welsh Indians?
Did Prince Madog of Wales reach America in 1171? In 1799 the governor of Tennessee reported the discovery of skeletons in armor embossed with the Welsh coat of arms. Moreover, there are subsequent accounts describing a tribe which claimed Welsh ancestry, spoke a language similar to Welsh, and appeared to be ‘white.’ Tribe members fished from boats resembling coracles (or what were known as ‘bull boats’) instead of canoes
The Infamous English Channel (Teifi) Coracle
The ‘coracle king’, Bernard Thomas of Llechryd, in Ceridigion in mid-west Wales, reportedly sailed across the English Channel from St Margaret’s Bay in Kent to somewhere on the French coast in 13 ½ hours in a coracle in 1974. It was his third attempt. Thomas, well into his 80s, sailed and fished the River Teifi in a Teifi coracle specially designed for the river and only gave up fishing in 2008. His father had fished the river using a coracle and instructed his son in its construction as well as in fishing technique. The traditional method, as pictured on the cover of this book, is to paddle with one hand or arm while fishing with a net with the other.
Building a Coracle
The laths (or rods), made of willow, ash, or other flexible material, are interwoven in much the same way a basket would be. In fact, one method of building a coracle depends upon constructing a bottom that resembles lattice work. Whatever the material, to achieve this kind of flexibility, it has to be treated, either by drying or soaking in liquid or some combination of both.
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