So far people have found out about Aileach
The galley (Gaelic: birlinn) Aileach is a forty foot open clinker built wooden boat, the only replica of a Scottish Highland galley ever built. She is owned by the Lord of the Isles Trust, a charitable trust set up to promote knowledge of the maritime history of the Celtic revival period in Scotland. This dates from 1188 when Somerled won a great sea battle off the coast of Islay with his fleet of birlinns, marking the beginning of the decline of Viking power in the Hebrides. Somerled's descendants and other clans built hundreds of birlinns and, with them, ruled the island kingdom by sea. The coast is mountainous and indented with long sea lochs, making any transport by land very difficult. Moving people and cargo by sea was easy and those with the best galley technology could control transport and wield military power. This period lasted until until 1495 when the dominance of the Lords of the Isles was broken by the Scottish crown. The birlinn as a symbol of power survived much longer and is still used in the arms of many clans and many towns in the Highlands (Oban for instance).
The Aileach is a beautiful ship with a dramatic squaresail and 16 graceful oars and she is actively used as a sailing and training vessel. She is based in Loch Leven near Glencoe at the Isles of Glencoe Hotel, from where she makes voyages around the Hebridean Islands. In the seven years since she was built she has had an active life. The trust is run by experienced sailors and oarsmen -mainly from the MacDonald clan- who have taken her far and wide in the Hebrides and even to the Faroe Islands. Her maiden voyage was from West Port, Co Mayo to Stornoway, capital of the Outer Isles. She has sailed on fresh water as well, rowing up Loch Shiel to Glenfinnan in 1995. Last year two expeditions were made: around Scarba, Jura as far north as Oban and as far south as Scarsaig on the Mull of Kintyre. On a very calm August day Aileach sailed through Corrievhrechan, the notorious tidechannel between Jura and Scarba.
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Aileach pages provided by Mallaig Heritage Centre