Cicorc Conwy: Lucky Cork Sea-Dogs
These little cork companions were seen as good luck charms and making them gave Victorian sailors something else to think about whilst preparing for long voyages.
Before setting off on longer than usual voyages, sailors would have ‘one’ last drink in their local pub before embarkation onto their ships and boats. They would enjoy a favourite tipple, smoke a pipe and sometimes they would make a small model dog with corks and match-sticks. These tiny cork companions would travel with them to distant ports in exotic far-off lands and upon their safe return would be gifted to their children.
These little fellows were seen as good luck charms and also gave the sailors something else to think about whilst preparing for long, arduous, and often perilous voyages. Also, making a cicorc in a bar served another more practical purpose — it was a signal to other sailors and locals that you were about to set off on an unusually long trip and was an unspoken invitation for them to wish you well and buy you a farewell drink, or three…
The making of such a cork and match-stick dog before the journey was a superstitious statement of trust in providence that the traveller was going to return safely and so be able to give the cicorc to their…
