28 July 2008
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin
The illuminated manuscripts that recount the epic voyage of the sixth century saint Brendan from Ireland west across the seas to an unknown land were long considered apocryphal. But explorer, author and film maker Tim Severin was fascinated by the story they told, and after pain-staking research managed to build a replica of a sixth century curragh just as the monks of medieval Ireland would have sailed, and set off to cross the Atlantic.
With her small crew, the Brendan - forty nine ox hides stitched over a wooden frame - survived pack ice, storms and inquisitive whales to eventually reach Newfoundland, and prove that it would have been possible for St Brendan to have done so also, thus reaching the New World many centuries before Christopher Columbus.
Tim Severin made his first expedition - by motorcycle along the route of Marco Polo - while still a student at Oxford. In the years since he's recreated many famous journeys from history. His most recent book is Corsair, an historical novel.
Concludes August 8
Author: Tim Severin
Reader: Humphrey Bower
Production
Abridged for radio by:
David Tredinnick
Producer:
Justine Sloane-Lees
Further Information
Publication
Publisher: Gill and Macmillan
URL: www.gillmacmillan.ie
