Mr.Walter has hit on the only place where there was a chance.

Under the shelter of the Nose it might be done, but nowhere else." The Nose was a formidable reef of rocks, running off from a point and trending to the south.

Many a ship had gone ashore on its jagged edge, but, with the wind from the northeast, it formed somewhat of a shelter, and it was under its lee that Walter and Larry had launched the curragh.
The curragh is still found on the Irish coast.

It is a boat whose greatest width is at the stern, so much so that it looks like a boat cut in two.

The floor is almost flat, and rises so much to the bow that three or four feet are entirely out of water.