A modern day Richard Halliburton. Imagine Thor Heyerdahl in the frozen North Atlantic and you'll have the general idea. The Brendan Voyage By Tim Severin Across the Atlantic in a leather boat. But his courage and resourcefulness were truly tested on the open seas, including one heart-pounding episode when he and his crew repaired a dangerous tear in the leather hull by hanging over the side—their heads sometimes submerged under the freezing waves—to restitch the leather. Start by marking “The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints” as Want to Read: The Navigatio was really (when stripped of all the fantasy) a log of the Irish monks travels to North America. I loved reading about all of the meticulous care they took to make sure that the boat was as close to medieval as it could be. This is the result of Severin’s writing. A modern classic in the tradition of Kon-Tiki, The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor SaintsRead as part of my Goodreads Ireland challenge for 2017 Read as part of my Goodreads Ireland challenge for 2017 I recently finished reading Odinn's Child by the same author and wasn't overly impressed, but the fact that the book was well written and was very descriptive led me to believe that Severin's non-fiction books might just be on the mark. The patience in traversing all over Ireland, England, Germany to make this craft down to the wire from Severin's research is more than commendable. But his courage and resourcefulness were truly tested on the open seas, including one heart-pounding episode when he and his crew repaired a dangerous tear in the leather hull by hanging over the side--their heads sometimes submerged under the freezing waves--to restitch the leather. I love amazing nuggets from history. Told with patience, humility, and humor, Tim Severin chronicles the evolution of the voyage from a dinner-table conversation to its ultimate, successful conclusion. Rounded up to three stars. ... A woman disappears on her twenty-first birthday. The patience in traversing all over Ireland, England, Germany to make this craft down to the wire from Severin's research is more than commendable.

This true story is told in the first person by the skipper of an exceptional historical and archaeological sailing adventure. You could not help to root for the Brendan to achieve success. Imagine Thor Heyerdahl in the frozen North Atlantic and you'll have the general idea. Welcome back. April 1st 1982 The manuscripts of the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis were more than just a story. He lives in Ireland. He found a centuries-old, family-run tannery to prepare the ox hides in the medieval way; he undertook an exhaustive search for skilled harness makers (the only people who would know how to stitch the three-quarter-inch-thick hides together); he located one of the last pieces of Irish-grown timber tall enough to make the mainmast. Manly menWhat an absolutely delightful read! And BTW another myth has been exposed- Irish Monks were the first to visit the Promised Land, the new world we’ll before others. Told with patience, humility, and humor, Tim Severin chronicles the evolution of the voyage from a dinner-table conversation to its ultimate, successful conclusion. Best of all, it shows how our ancestors werent just simples living in caves, they had technology just as good as ours, were just as well (if not better) adapted and accustomed to living in their environment and knew more than Bear Grylls about how to survive on more or less nothing. This book is about this new voyage, to see if it was possible for St Brendan to carry out such a voyage, by using a boat built like the ones used at the time. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site.