Tim Severins 'The Brendan Voyage' set out to recreate St Brendans Voyage to North America ,
It proved the craftsmanship ,tools and materials to make the journey was possible ,
The coracle which is very similar in construction to Tim's boat goes back several thousand years and was used extensively in Ireland ,England, Scotland and Wales . The Currach is the natural evolution of the idea , a tradition still very much alive on the west coast of Ireland
The Brendan Voyage (1976–1977)
It is theorized by some scholars that the
Latin texts of
Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of
St Brendan the Abbot) dating back to at least 800 AD tell the story of Brendan's (c. 489–583) seven-year voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to a new land and his return. Convinced that the legend was based on historical truth, in 1976 Severin built a replica of Brendan's
currach. Handcrafted using traditional tools, the 36-foot (11 m), two-masted boat was built of Irish
ash and
oak, hand-lashed together with nearly two miles (3 km) of leather thong, wrapped with 49 traditionally tanned ox hides, and sealed with wool grease.
On May 17, 1976, Severin and his crew (George Maloney, Arthur Magan, Tróndur Patursson) sailed from
Tralee in Ireland's
County Kerry[8] on the
Brendan, and, over more than 13 months, travelled 4,500 miles (7,200 km), arriving at Canada on June 26, 1977, landing on
Peckford Island,
Newfoundland, before being towed to
Musgrave Harbour by the Canadian Coast Guard. Severin told reporters, "We've proved that a leather boat can cross the North Atlantic by a route that few modern yachtsmen would attempt.".
[9] Along the way, they had stopped at the
Hebrides, the
Faroe Islands and
Iceland (where they spent the winter until departing again on May 11) en route. He considered that his recreation of the voyage helped to identify the basis for many of the legendary elements of the story: the "Island of Sheep", the "Paradise of Birds", "Crystal Towers", "mountains that hurled rocks at voyagers", and the "Promised Land". Severin's account of the expedition,
The Brendan Voyage, became an international best-seller, translated into 16 languages.
The boat is now featured at the
Craggaunowen open-air museum in
County Clare, Ireland.
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