Field Visit

Date August 1987

Event ID 553686

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/553686

(Location established as NS 4158 7393). In 1898 a logboat was discovered about 20 yards (18m) NE of the well-known crannog that was then under excavation by Bruce and Donnelly. It was found within a 'dock-like structure' formed of 'walls...of wood and stone' which was supported by piles and linked to the crannog by a causeway. The pointed 'prow' of the boat was towards the river, and there is no indication that it was found at any great depth.

The boat immediately attracted much attention, largely on account of the decorated stone, bone and shell artifacts that were found within it; some of these are held in the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum under accession number GAGM *57-96. The authenticity of these objects was doubted (most notably by Munro) and they are now universally rejected as false, but the antiquity of the logboat (and of the probable ladder that was found with it) have never been called into question. No dateable objects were found in the excavations and the date of both crannog and logboat remain uncertain, although there is no reason to doubt the conventional broad attribution to the Later Prehistoric or the Early Historic period.

On discovery, the logboat measured 35'7" (10.9m) in length over all, but before it was transferred to the museum a 'portion of the prow, which tapered to a point, and which showed two oval hand holes' was removed and lost, reducing the length to 33' (10.1m). The boat measured 4' (1.2m) in beam at the 'square' stern and was 2' (0.6m) 'deep', indicating manufacture from a half-sectioned log. There is no recorded evidence for a transom. Several 'well fitted, soft wood clamps'" (intended to hold together a split in the floor) were noted, as were several 'plugged holes' and 'marks where the seats were fitted'. The timber was identified as 'oak'.

The boat was presented by the Marchesa Chigi of Dumbuck to the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum and is displayed under accession number GAGM *98-217a. It has been reduced by drying to a distorted, shrunken and greatly-split plank which measures 9.4m in length, up to 0.9m in breadth and between 50mm and 60mm in thickness. One end (probably the original bow) is roughly pointed while the other is greatly split but has apparently been squared across to form the stern. The timber has warped noticeably, causing the outboard parts of the floor to take on a very noticeably dished form, while the sides have split away just above the floor, leaving evidence of right-angles at the junctions. The boat was probably damaged during removal; a jagged hole near the pointed end is most probably thus explained while one of the split portions of the sides has been truncated by sawing.

Nothing can be seen of the repair-clamps that were originally noticed, or of any evidence for such internal features as seats, thwarts or fitted ribs, but a slight scrape measuring about 25mm in breadth near the edge of the floor may be the remains of a tool-mark.

The floor is pierced by six vertical thickness-gauge holes disposed in pairs along opposite sides, and also by several knot-holes; the former measure between 40mm and 75mm longitudinally and between 30mm and 60mm transversely. Distributed less regularly along the floor of the boat, but generally close to the sides, there are four uncompleted thickness-gauge holes which measure between 30mm and 45mm longitudinally by between 20mm and 30mm transversely, and penetrate the timber to a depth of between 10mm and 25mm.

A comprehensive analysis of this boat is feasible on the basis of various accounts and the incomplete remains. It was of exceptionally narrow form, having a slenderness coefficient of 8.8 and the relatively high value of 2 for the beam/draught coefficient indicates a high capacity for low-density cargoes. The displacement of 4.76 cubic metres under standard conditions falls within the middle of the normal range, while the McGrail morphology code can best be assessed as 1xx:xx1:3xx, and the form as dissimilar-ended.

D Murray 1898; Glasgow Herald, 1899; R Munro 1899; J Bruce 1900; A Lang 1905; J G Callander 1929; RCAHMS 1978; R J C Mowat 1996, visited August 1987.