Did
he, or didn't he?
Probably
Saint Brendan of Ireland didn't actually sail to North America
early in the sixth century. But he might have—and if he did lead
such an expedition, he and his crew would have been the first
Europeans to see North America!
It's
just a tall tale...
There
is a kind of Irish folktale called an immram. It is a series of
adventures that the hero of the story has on a boat. The story of the
voyage of St. Brendan has a lot of similarities to other immrams. For
example, at one point in the journey the boat lands on an island—but
the island turns out to be a giant sea monster! Later they light a
fire on another island, and the island sinks into the sea; it turns
out that this island is a whale! In addition to visiting islands full
of people and animals and plants, Saint Brendan and his crew see a
gryphon, a devil, magic loaves, and a silver pillar in the sea.
Sounds
like a folktale to me!
It
could be based on a real voyage...
Many
legends do have something real at the very center of story. For
example, the tales about Robin Hood probably got their start with a
real bandit or rebel—but surely most of the details of all the
variations of the Robin Hood legend are additions the real man and
his exploits.
A
British explorer and writer named Tim Severin was convinced that the
Brendan voyage was based on some truth. In 1976 he used traditional
tools to build a currach, a two-masted boat based on the
description in Brendan legends. The boat was made of Irish ash and
oak wood, and it was hand-lashed together with leather thong
(actually, almost two miles of leather thong!!!). Severin wrapped the
boat with tanned ox hides and water sealed it using wool grease, just
as described.
Severin
and his small crew sailed the currach 4,500 miles (7,200 km) from
Ireland to an island in Newfoundland, Canada. They made some stops
along the way, just as the Brendan voyage did. Severin made the point
in his book that their stops at the Hebrides Islands and Iceland
could account for some of the adventures recorded in the tale of St.
Brendan.
By
the way, the voyage took a bit more than a year to complete! I
imagine that they stopped for a while at each island, perhaps
overwintering in Iceland.
So...what
do you think...?
Did
St. Brendan travel from Ireland to North America...or didn't he?
Find
out more...
Watch
some or all five parts of the video about Severin's voyage that was
supposed to copy St. Brendan's voyage.
Also
on this date:
