A Rankin is a traditional wooden dinghy which was built in Cobh, of which it’s believed there were 80 and of which The Rankin Dinghy Group has traced nearly half.
The name of the Rankin dinghies is revered in Cork Harbour and particularly in the harbourside town of Cobh.
And the name of one of those boats is linked to the gunboat which fought against the Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Easter Rising and later for the emergent Irish Free State Government against anti-Treaty Forces during the Irish Civil War.
It also links the renowned boat-building Rankin family in Cobh, one of whose members crewed on the gunboat.
Maurice Kidney and Conor English are driving the restoration of the Rankin dinghies in Cork Harbour. They have discovered that Rankins were bought and sailed in several parts of the country.
Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
