Johnny McCann

Johnny McCann is a retired boat builder from Milk Harbour, Co. Sligo, and his father and grandfather were also in the boat building business. Johnny began to follow in their footsteps at the age of fourteen. He remembers people coming into the workshop, where they also built horse carts when he was young. He recalls building boats to order, and he describes how he put a boat together from start to finish. His father was also a wheelwright and Johnny talks about how the wheel was made and its different parts; naves, fellows, spokes and metal box. They made the horse carts, shaping the shafts and side rails. Johnny also remembers the meadows being cut with the scythes during his youth.