The Brendan Voyage: Sailing to America in a Leather Boat to Prove the Legend of the Irish Sailor Saints

by Tim Severin

Book Overview

Could an Irish monk in the sixth century really have sailed all the way across the Atlantic in a small open boat, thus beating Columbus to the New World by almost a thousand years? Relying on the medieval text of St. Brendan, award-winning adventure writer Tim Severin painstakingly researched and built a boat identical to the leather curragh that carried Brendan on his epic voyage. He found a centuries-old, family-run tannery to prepare the ox hides...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375755241
• ISBN13: 9780375755248
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Modern Library
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Brendan Voyage-review

So glad that I read this book.

In the spirit of Kon Tiki

This is a delightful, fast read about a remarkable adventure -and a remarkable set of adventurers. I had this book sitting on my "to be read" pile for months, then I picked it up, and, well, there went the next 3 hours....Severin has written a real page turner about his attempt to re-create the hypothetical voyage to the New World by an early Irish monk in an ox-hide boat. While Severin's success does not prove the legend, the modern story alone is worth the price of admission, and his discussion of boat-building techniques & the trials and pitfalls that his team overcame make for a great book.

Great read

Did Irish monks cross the Atlantic and reach North America long before the Vikings and Columbus? After reading this book you will cetainly believe that it is plausible. According to the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot), an ancient Latin manuscript, indeed the Irish set foot on the Promise Land long before Columbus. To prove this point Severin takes us on a voyage. But not just your weekend trip to the state park. With meticulous detail, Severin- and many others- reconstruct the same sailing craft described in the ancient text, a leather boat, and sail it to Newfoundland. The Brendan Voyage describes how this idea came to be, how the boat was ultimately constructed, and the ordeals the team faced sailing across the Atlantic ocean. Imagine yourself and three others hunkered down in a leather sail boat in between Iceland and Greenland. You have a 1/4" of protection between you and the frigid water beneath. Eight foot waves and 50 mph winds are crashing around you. Your tired, cold, wet, hungry, and you desperately want to make some forward progress, but instead your losing ground. I can't do Severin's writing justice but he made me feel like I was there. I'll stop my babbling now. In a nut shell, if your looking for a great adventure story that is calculated and honest, then give this book a whirl. I am a fan of Severin's writing and adventures now and will certainly purschase his further works. Nice job Mr. Severin. By the way, where is Brendan now? Is she on display anywhere?

whoa...what an achievement!

Tim Severin, joined by a small crew of hardy men, set out to test the plausibility of the legend of St. Brendan's voyage from Ireland to Newfoundland. They built and sailed their own leather curragh (a type of Irish boat design), and this is the story of both the construction and the voyage.The unique value of this book is in its equal appeal to a wide variety of readers. If you enjoy the intricacies of craftsmanship using leather, wood and grease; if you like great adventure travel; if you tire of hearing ancient legends cavalierly dismissed and would like to see one defended; if you love seafaring tales; if you love and/or trace lineage to Ireland; this book is for you. Severin is a self-effacingly enjoyable storyteller one can't help but like--and, apparently, one heck of a captain.Based upon this book I now plan to read my way through Severin's complete works. This is that rare book in which tremendous accomplishment and great storytelling have the wind on their quarter.

Cold, wet and wonderful

Tim Severin had meticulously worked to make sure that the leather skinned boat was made for all intents and purposes identical to the 'mythological' boat in which St. Brendan and the Irish monks crossed the North Atlantic centuries before the Vikings. He proved it could be done. This book however is not about what was accomplished but how and why. As Homer so aptly proved in his Iliad "...it's not the destination but rather the story of the journey." Adventure readers will not be disappointed by this book. A very rewarding reading experience.

Crossing the Atlantic on a Ox?

Here is a book about a group of adventurers who recreate an infamous journey, just to see if it is possible. St. Brendan is, in legend and myth, thought to have crossed the atlantic ocean centuries before the Vikings and Columbus. He did this in a boat made of oxen hide or LEATHER. A leather boat crossing the atlantic ocean, most researchers (and sailors) would say it is impossible and could not be done. These men recreate the voyage using technology that was available at the time. The builders of the modern-day-ship Brendan, are true to their craft. They build their craft using medival techniques and materials. In the Traditon of "Kon-tiki" and "Dove", this book tells the story of how they built it and sailed it across the atlantic. If you like History and those who re-enact it this is the book for you.