Pibroch
The rusty hulk is of an abandoned ship in Ireland. The photographer wrote, “This enormous fishing vessel has been abandoned to the elements at a jetty in Letterfrack, Connemara. The hull is rusted through in places and full of water; it will never sail again. The story is repeated at piers up and down the region, but few of the boats which have been abandoned are quite so large (or so dramatically colored).
Named Pibroch after a genre of melodic Gaelic music that has enjoyed a revival in recent times, this abandoned boat left the ocean behind many years ago. Moored alongside a jetty near the village of Letterfrack in Connemara, the rusting hulk may not be the only forgotten fishing vessel to be found along Ireland’s west coast, but it’s certainly one of the largest.
Pibroch’s bow and gears, which once aided in the deployment and retrieval of fishing nets, show the extent of corrosion that inevitably befalls unused vessels in this harsh north Atlantic environment.
Fishing continues in Connemara
While it’s tempting – and somewhat clichéd - to say that Pibroch, now a local landmark, might be seen as a monument to the decline of fishing in Ireland and Britain, the fact is that many traditional Connemara boats (or carrachs) continue to fish these waters.
