Ebook: The Brendan Voyage

Drawings by Trondur Patursson.

Some laughed, others blessed themselves when they came to Brandon Creek in Dingle, Ireland, to bid farewell to Tim Severin and his crew. Farmers and fishermen alike were awed that these men were going to challenge the North Atlantic in an open boat. But this boat was made of leather!

Now it’s a great day for the Irish. Severin and his hearty band of sailors succeeded in their mission. And their epic voyage has shown that a sixth-century Irish monk, St. Brendan, could have crossed the Atlantic in a curragh made of oxhides, and Irish monks may have been the first Europeans to set foot in America.

The legend of St. Brendan has puzzled scholars for years. Many simply dismissed it as being a fanciful tale about an impossible journey. But Severin believes that historians should practice what they teach, in much the same fashion that Thor Heyerdahl opened up new vistas by his voyages on the rafts "Kon Tiki" and "Ra."

Before Severin could start his own journey, he first had to research the ancient writings about the Irish Atlantic voyages. Then came the problem of determining whether leather could be strong and waterproof enough to use as the skin of an ocean-going boat. After careful testing of various types of leather, the answer was positive — leather made by tanning in a solution of oak bark and then steeped in wool grease might resist the sea. Severin was not surprised: this was how the ancient texts said St. Brendan had made his boat of leather.

Step by step, Severin and his crew built "Brendan" the same way as would have the old seafaring Irish monks. A basket-like frame of wood strips was tied together with leather thongs; then 49 oxhides were hand-sewn over the frame, using up more than 23 miles of waxed flax thread. Finally, the leather hull was greased.

Now "Brendan" was ready for one of the most exciting voyages in modern history. The leather boat was swamped by a gale, gashed open by ice floes (and sewn together again), constantly visited by curious whales (one killer whale seemed ready to eat the boat, apparently interested in its hull of protein), and welcomed by seafaring folk all along her successful odyssey to the New World.

This incredible story is recounted with humor and humility by author Severin. Photographed by "The National Geographic," the book contains 32 pages of color pictures, the majority of which have not been published elsewhere. The book also contains 46 sketches by Trondur Patursson from the Faroe Islands, famous for their artists.