Shops The Galway Hooker

A Dan McCole watercolor print of the “Galway Hooker” on canvas. 16 x 20 inch signed and ready to hang.

In the sometimes treacherous coastal tide waters of Galway Bay along the Connemara coast you can find ‘Galway Hookers' brightening up the scenery with their beauty and work ethic.
OK shops … Before you get taken away by a misunderstanding … the Galway Hooker (Húicéir in the Irish … hence the name ‘Hooker') is a class of boat built years back and its primary use was for ‘line fishing' and to transport commercial cargo … carrying coal, turf, limestone, livestock and seaweed throughout the bay and harbors of Ireland. Her hull was originally made from canvas hot-tarred and fitted over the frame. The color combo … rust red sails and the tar-black hull … is respected today and the is standard for today's new ‘Hookers'.
The vessel shown here was sliding in to the docking at Roundstone, County Galway. Roundstone is located out from Galway City quite near where the waters of Galway Bay clashed with the Atlantic. The deep red sails, broad beam and black hull gave the craft a look of strength and dependability and ‘Hookers' are still operated a bit as cargo vessels. The ‘Galway Hooker' is now mostly a leisure craft used also for sailing courses, in competitive regattas and for pleasure trips along the Connemara coast.