'It must strike the humblest comprehension with astonishment,' says Marmion, 'that the Irish, although possessed of an island abounding with forests of the finest oak, and other suitable materials for ship-building--enjoying also the most splendid rivers, loughs, and harbours, so admirably adapted to the accommodation of extensive fleets, should, notwithstanding, for so many centuries, allow the piratical ravages of the Danes, and subsequently the more dangerous subversion of their independence by the Anglo-Normans, without an effort to build a navy that could cope with those invaders on that element from which they could alone expect invasion from a foreign foe.' This neglect has also been noticed by the distinguished Irish writer--Wilde--who, in his admirably executed _Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy_, observes:--'Little attention has been paid to the subject of the early naval architecture of this country.

So far as we yet know, two kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the British Isles--the canoe and the corragh; the one formed of a single piece of wood, the other composed of wickerwork, covered with hides.' Larger vessels there must have been; though, from the length of time which has since elapsed, we have no traces of them now.

Kennedy not only collected a formidable army by land, but 'he fitted out a fleet of ships, and manned it with able seamen, that he might make sure of his revenge, and attack the enemy by sea and land.' The command of the fleet was conferred on an admiral perfectly skilled in maritime affairs, Failbhe Fion, King of Desmond.
"When the army of Munster arrived near Armagh, they learnt the prisoners had been removed thence by Sitric, and placed on board ship.

Enraged at this disappointment, they gave no quarter to the Danes, and advanced rapidly to Dundalk, where the fleet lay, with the king and young prince on board.

Sitric, unable to withstand the opposing army on shore, ordered his troops to embark, and resolved to avoid the encounter through means of his ships.