 However.British ethnologist James Hornell, who studied the currach, coracle, and quffa extensively during the early 20th century, believes that the currach was developed independently of the coracle and quffa in a case of multiple invention.The construction and sailing of a seagoing curach of the 17th century – a hybrid of the skin-covered and plank-built boat – was depicted in some detail by an Englishman, Captain Thomas Phillips