These were
made of light and pliant wood, their ribs seem to have been formed of
hurdles, and they were lined as well as covered (so far as they were at all
decked) with leather. They had, indeed, masts and sails; the latter and the
ropes were also made of leather; the sails could not be furled, but, when
necessary, were bound to the mast. They were generally, however, worked
with oars, the rowers singing to the stroke of their oars, sometimes
accompanied by musical instruments. These rude vessels seem not to have
been the only ones the Britons possessed, but were employed solely for the
purpose of sailing to the opposite coasts of Gaul and of Ireland. They
were, indeed, better able to withstand the violence of the winds and waves
than might be supposed from the materials of which they were built. Pliny
expressly states that they made voyages of six days in them; and in the
life of St Columba, (in whose time they were still used, the sixth
century,) we are informed of a vessel lined with leather, which went with
oars and sails, sailing for fourteen days in a violent storm in safety, and
gaining her port. The passage therefore in these boats across the Irish
Channel, could not be so very dangerous as it is represented by Solinus.
But notwithstanding the authority of Caesar, Pliny, Solinus, and Lucan, who
mention only these leathern vessels, and that the poet Avienus, who lived
in the fourth century, expressly states, that even in his time the Britons
had no ships made of timber, but only boats covered with leather or hides;
there are circumstances which must convince us that they did possess
larger, stronger, and more powerful ships.
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