Customer Reviews

The Brendan Voyage

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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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

High adventure with historical relevance.
Tim Sevrin, adventurer extraordinare, leads the reader on a dual voyage across the north Atlantic as well as through time to the medieval days of St. Brendan. Could the Irish have been to North America before the Vikings? The author sets out to prove that yes, it was possible. Using the collected works of the Navigato Sancti Brendani Abbatis, Tim sets out to reconstruct the currach (leather covered boat) used by St. Brendan on his epic voyage. The narrative of this book flows nicely, and is skillfully interwoven with informative historical documentation. THE BRENDAN VOYAGE is easy to start reading and not lay down until you have savored the... very... last... sentence.
I've read this book many times over the years and it's definitely a keeper!!!

A must read for any of Keltic blood, great detail about the materials and construction practices of the recreation of St.Brenden's ocean going leather boat.The courage and terror of sailing a square rigger open boat from Ireland to the New World, is thinly vailed, by the authors enthusiasm for his quest.Caught in the ice flows off New Foundland,in 0 degree water,one man hangs over the side with a stitch awl and thread,repairing the hull while the others man the pumps and tiller.This is a book to read curled up by a fire,you will praise God for home and harth.

I couldn't put this book down. I've been fascinated for years by the legendary stories of the voyage of Saint Brendan - and Severin's brave re-construction of that journey is legendary in and of itself.

It's a thrilling ride - the building of the ship itself was nothing less than a miracle - and the journey - well, you'll just have to read it for yourself. A truly gripping story.

Tim Severin borrowed an account of the voyages of Brendan the Navigator, an Irish Monk from the dark ages. He was taken by the factual nature of some of the sailing directions and descriptions, and got the mad idea into his head that a group of monks sailed across the Atlantic to America hundreds of years before Columbus was born.

Then he got an even madder idea, to replicate the voyage.

The book intersperses an analysis of the original voyage with the trials and tribulations of recreating it. Along the way we learn a great deal of respect for the quality of the technology in the dark age period. Their skills with wood and leather. Their ability to preserve food, and the skills of sailing.

The voyage itself becomes compulsive reading. And how anyone allowed a Faroese Islander to fish for Whales out of a leather boat is beyond me! Sounds incredible? It is. Well worth a read.

Tim Severin has organised several voyages in part to prove that ancient peoples could travel far greater distances than previously thought. In this story he builds a traditional leather boat or 'curragh' to show that monks could have sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland around the seventh century. There is an ancient book called the 'Navagatio' (one old copy is in the British Library) which St Brendan wrote about his voyages around the Atlantic Ocean. It is thought from Brendan's descriptions that he island-hopped via the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland to get to America, and Severin follows this route in a dangerous and interesting adventure taking many weeks. There is much detail on how he built the boat using only traditional methods and materials which was no mean feat in itself despite their still being used in the south-west of Ireland for fishing. The book contains colour photos of the boat's construction and of the diverse and colourful crew who sailed her. The book reminded me of the 'Kon-Tiki' book by Thor Hayerdahl. Also, the pictures are brilliant - and Tim's descriptions of the ports of call such as Iceland and the Faroes are very vivid and realistic. It's a well-written, interesting book and well worth a read.