Brioc
Technical Data Sheet
► Type: Hypothetical seafaring curragh
► Date of construction: 1999
► Period: Early Middle Ages
► Width: 11.7 meters, Length: 2.7 meters
► Special feature: Can accommodate "..." people for crossing the English Channel
A Construction Challenge
« It is a challenge, an experience, a creation and a lot of passion, all at once. We needed to make an 11m long coracle in four months and bring people who didn't know each other together to work. Each brought a history with them. »
Those words by Louis Bocquenet in 1999, a year after building Brioc, reminds us both of the risks taken by the sailing monks and of the integration building site where Brioc comes from. Built in the same vein as the Saint Brendan by Tim Severin, Brioc is one of the rare, if not the last Ocean Curragh to be sailing.
The construction technique is inspired straight from texts of the 10th century describing wooden-structured boats covered in hides.
What is a curragh ?
A curragh is a lightweight boat from the west coast of Ireland.
The Irish researcher Tim Severin, a specialist in reconstructive naval archaeology, had a large curragh made, covered with sewn skins and rigged with two square sails, to embark on a transatlantic journey from Ireland to America, via Iceland, a voyage which was successfully completed.
The shipyard
A Faithful Replica
Brioc is thus a replica of an early Middle Ages' boat which requires crafts very different from the traditional ones. It is our duty to let this Breton maritime know-how from the very beginning be known. Made of wood and hides, she is outfitted with hemp ropes and linen sails. The whole must bring out the good seamanship that we hold dear. To improve and preserve this historical coherence we must produce, reproduce and adapt typically medieval techniques.
