A Sgoth or Sgoth Niseach is a traditional type of clinker built

Clinker (boat building)

Clinker building is a method of constructing hulls of boats and ships by fixing wooden planks and, in the early nineteenth century, iron plates to each other so that the planks overlap along their edges. The overlapping joint is called a land. In any but a very small boat, the individual planks...

 skiff with a dipping lug

Lugger

A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...

 rig and a Lateen

Lateen

A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....

 style sail built mainly in Ness. The boats were used as traditional fishing boats, particularly for line fishing, during the 19th century and up until the early half of the twentieth century. There are several still in active use owned by community trusts which maintain them.

The rig of a Sgoth is unusual in that the yard is longer than the mast, all of the rig fits comfortably within the boat as the mast was lowered when working with the lines. The boats were beach launched, when they were afloat they were loaded with ballast in the form of stones from the shore, during fishing the stone ballast would be replaced by the catch.

In 1994, the last full size ( 33 feet ) Sgoth to be built, An Sulaire (The Gannet) was launched in Stornoway

Stornoway

Stornoway is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William...

, a documentary called An Sgoth recorded the construction of the boat by John Murdo Macleod. Jubilee a 1935 built three quarters size Sgoth was also restored in 2005 and a similarly sized and recently restored Sgoth Oigh Niseach is based in Raasay

Raasay

Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is most famous for being the birthplace of the poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish literary renaissance...

. Jubilee and An Sulaire are moored in Stornoway

Stornoway

Stornoway is a burgh on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.The town's population is around 9,000, making it the largest settlement in the Western Isles and the third largest town in the Scottish Highlands after Inverness and Fort William...

for most of the year. Bluebird a half sized ( 16ft ) Sgoth is based in Ness.

External links

• An Sulaire Trust
• Falmadair
• Photos of the boats
• Model of a Sgoth at the National Maritime Museum