- Cheekpoint Prong
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The Cheekpoint Prong
The Cheekpoint Prong (also known at the River Barrow Prong) is a fishing cot[1] from the village of Cheekpoint which is situate on the River Suir and where it has a confluence with the River Barrow. It is a timber boat which is similar in shape to a Currach which is still used on the west coast or Ireland.
The origin of the Prong is not known. It very definitely has a similarity to the Irish currach which developed in early historical times. This could easily have found its way to the south east of Ireland. Another consideration is that the origin is Norse or Scandanavian.
The boat may be Norse and developed when the invaders settled and became "more Irish than the Irish themselves". The Vikings had developed a small boat for crossing the fjords which has certain similarities with pine planking on an oak keel. It does not bear much resemblance to the British coracle which is much smaller.
The possibility of it deriving from a currach is also very real. It has similarities which are unmistakeable and could easily be the basis for the design. The currach has many variances and the design could have come from the west coast of Ireland in that form but with allowing for the particular geography of the area. The boat needed to be able to take the ground and be strong enough to withstand the odd scrape with a rock. The geography of the area around Cheekpoint the lower reaches of the Barrow is tidal and when the river ebbs this area is predominantly mudflats. These mudflats can extend from anywhere between 20 to 200 yards from shore to river at low tide. This of course ruled out a skin or canvas covering but since timber is plentiful in the area it was easily replaced with larch planking. Oak was also available nearby so that took care of the keel and frames. Indeed an industrious fisherman could have a new boat for little money and a bit of effort. Evidence indicates that the boats were often built by the fishermen for themselves.
An integral part of the design was the boat's ability to lie on mud while a fisherman waited for his catch in his net. This they did perfectly and were easily relaunched if the tide was ebbing. They would come off a mudbank with a gentle push.
Most prongs were about 17 feet in length overall with a 4 foot beam and about 2 feet high. This made them considerably shorter than the seagoing currach of the west coast which would often measure 22 feet overall or more. The prong however was not a sea going craft and would not usually venture very far beyond Passage East because there Waterford Harbour starts to join the open sea and a prong would not be capable of remaining dry in a big swell.
Mooring the prong was simplified by using an anchor. Working off the mudflats required a boat to be “tripped off”. This process was simple in design but complicated in practice. When a fisherman returned from his trip, the end of the anchor rope was tied onto the boat and the rope was coiled into the bottom of the boat. The anchor was balanced on the bow of the boat. A tripper line was made fast to the anchor and the rest of the line was coiled out onto the shore carefully.
Next the fisherman gently pushed off the boat, careful not to knock the anchor or foul the line. As the boat went off into the river the tripper line snaked out after the boat. Once the fisherman was happy with the position of the boat, he pulled the tripper line and the anchor fell off the bow and into the river. The boat was thereby anchored, and when the fisherman wanted to bring the boat in, he simply pulled on the tripper line to retrieve her.
This means that fisherman could get out of his boat, tie it up and not need to worry about tidal conditions. If he came back and the boat was high and dry on the mud, he simply untied it from its moorings, placed his possessions into the craft, turned it towards the water and gave a push off. The prong simply slid off into the river.
The traditional method of powering a prong was with the use of oars. Normally oars were used when two men were using the boat with the port side oar was pulled by the man on the forward thwart or seat. The starboard side oar was handled from the midships thwart. This position allowed the man midships to set nets.
Oars were typically 15 feet in length and made of oak. The cleats were shaped in oak and positioned on the gunwales. Two holes were drilled into them and into the gunwales which allowed for thole pins to be inserted. These were two short sticks cut from any straight stick such as ash, hazel or sycamore. When only one man was aboard paddles were used. These would be about 7 feet in length and the man would pull both from the midships thwart.
Sails could also be rigged to a prong, but they were the exception rather than the rule. A square lug sail was hung from a pole through the midships thwart and tied on both sides through the risings. The prong could be steered using one of the oars held over the stern. Because the prong had no keel the sail could only be used when sailing offwind or before the wind.
In modern times the outboard engine was introduced and the prong would move quite fast with one but they then became slightly unstable. This didn't help the boat's future and the outboard engine would seem to have caused the decline in the prong. The outboard engine made it easier to power a punt or tender style of wooden boat around a river which had the advantage of handling better when hauling nets.
At present the small boat fishermen of the area are increasingly using fibreglass punts and the prong is not to be seen at all on the river. Now the timber punt is becoming rarer by the season. The skills in wooden boat repair are less common and fibreglass boats are easier to maintain. Fibreglass doesn't absorb the water as a timber boat does, it doesn't rot and doesn't need to be hauled out to be dried, recaulked and retarred.
Sources
External links
River Cots of the South East * [1]
Categories:- Boat types
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