The Brendan voyage

Description

"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 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. 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. A modern classic in the tradition of Kon-Tiki, The Brendan Voyage seamlessly blends high adventure and historical relevance. It has been translated into twenty-seven languages since its original publication in 1978."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

The seventh wave is said to be the worst, the one that does the damage in the turmoil of an ocean gale.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Brendan voyage: across the Atlantic in a leather boatM.H. Gill & Co. U. C.2005-01-01
• The Brendan voyageMcGraw-Hill1978-01-01
• The Brendan voyageHutchinson1978-01-01
• The Brendan voyageMcGraw-Hill1978-01-01
• The Brendan voyageAvon1979-01-01
• The Brendan VoyageHardcoverMcgraw-Hill1982-04-01