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The Voyage of Brendan the Navigator
By Daniel Sullivan

"Tim Severin tests the possibility of Brendan and his fellow
monks discovering the New World.  Or: Who Really Discovered
America?"

Maps of Columbuss time often included an island called St. Brendan's
Isle that was placed in the western Atlantic ocean. Map makers of the
time had no idea of its exact position but did believe it existed some
where west of Europe.  It was mentioned in a Latin text dating from the
ninth century titled "Navigatio Santi Brendani Abatis" (Voyage of Saint
Brendan the Abbot).  It described the voyage as having taken place in
the sixth century.  Several copies of this text have survived in
monasteries throughout Europe.  It was an important part of folklore
in medieval Europe and may have influenced Columbus.

Historians relate that Brendan was born about 484 A.D. near Tralee
in County Kerry.  He was ordained by Bishop Erc and sailed about
northwest Europe spreading the Christian faith and founding monasteries,
the largest at Clonfert, County Galway, where he was buried in 577 A.D.
at the age of 93.

The account of Brendan's voyage contained a detailed description
of the construction of his boat which was not unlike the currachs
still made in County Kerry today.  Skeptics could not accept that such
a fragile vessel could possibly sail in the open sea.  Several passages
in the legend also seemed incredible - they were "raised up on the back
of sea monsters," they "passed by crystals that rose up to the sky," and
were "pelted with flaming, foul smelling rocks by the inhabitants of a
large island on their route."  They finally arrived at the beautiful
land they called "Promised Land of the Saints."  They explored until
they came to a great river that divided the land.  The journey of
Brendan and his fellow monks took seven years.  The return trip was
probably the longest part of the odyssey.

In 1976, Tim Severin, a British navigation scholar embarked from
Brandon Creek on the Dingle peninsula in a carrach that he constructed
using the details described by Brendan.  His goal was to determine if
the voyage of Brendan and his fellow monks was possible.  They tanned
ox-hides with oak bark, stretched them across the wood frame, sewed
them with leather thread and smeared the hides with animal fat which
would impart water resistance.  Examination of nautical charts led
Severin to believe that Brendan's route would be governed by the
prevailing winds that would take him across the northernmost part of
the Atlantic.  This would take him close to Iceland and Greenland with
a probable landfall at Newfoundland (St. Brendan's Isle).  This would be
the route that Leif Erickson would have taken in the tenth century.
Many of Brendan's stops on his journey were islands where Irish monks
had set up primitive monasteries.  Norsemen that traveled on these
waters visited these islands and recorded their meeting with "Papers"
(fathers).

Severin and his crew were surprised at how friendly the whales were
that they encountered.  The whales swam around and even under their boat.
It could have been recognized as another whale by the giant mammals.
The whales could have been even friendlier in Brendan's time, before
motorized ships would make them leery of man.  So friendly that they may
have lifted the monk's boat in a playful gesture.

After stopping at the Hebrides islands Severin proceeded to the Danish
Faroe Islands.  At the island of Mykines, they encountered thousands of
seabirds.  Brendan called this island "The Paradise of Birds."  He
referred to the larger island as the "Island of Sheep."  The word Faroe
itself means Island of Sheep.  There is also a Brandon Creek on the main
island of the Faroes, that the local people believe was the embarkation
point for Brendan and his crew.

Severins route carried them to Iceland where they wintered, as did
Brendan.  The volcanoes on the island have been active for many
centuries and might well have been erupting when the monks stayed there.
This could have accounted for the "pelting with flaming, foul smelling
rocks," referred to in the ninth century text.  The monks had never
seen icebergs before, so their description of them as "towering crystals"
would make sense.

Severin's boat was punctured by floating ice off the coast of Canada.
They were able make a repair with a piece of leather sewn over the hole.
They landed on the island of Newfoundland on June 26, 1977.  This might
well have been Brendans "Land promised to the Saints" referred to in
the Navigatio.

Severin's journey did not prove that Brendan and his monks landed
on North America.  However it did prove that a leather currach as
described in the Navigatio could have made such a voyage as mapped out
in the text.  There is also no doubt that the Irish were frequent
seafarers of the North Atlantic sea currents 900 years before the
voyage of Columbus.

More conclusive evidence of Irish exploration of North America has
come to the fore in West Virginia.  There, stone carvings have been
discovered that have been dated between 500 and 1000 A.D.  Analysis by
archaeologist Dr. Robert Pyle and a leading language expert Dr. Barry
Fell indicate that they are written in Old Irish using the Ogham
alphabet.  According to Dr. Fell, the "West Virginia Ogham texts are
the oldest Ogham inscriptions from anywhere in the world.  They exhibit
the grammar and vocabulary of Old Irish in a manner previously unknown
in such early rock-cut inscriptions in any Celtic language."  Dr. Fell
goes on to speculate that, "It seems possible that the scribes that cut
the West Virginia inscriptions may have been Irish missionaries in the
wake of Brendan's voyage, for these inscriptions are Christian.  The
early Christian symbols of piety, such as the various Chi-Rho monograms
(Name of Christ) and the Dextra Dei (Right Hand of God) appear at the
sites together with the Ogham texts."

The lack of any written account of this exploration could be explained
by the explorers not being able to return to their homeland.  If they
indeed did reach what is now West Virginia, it would be extremely
doubtful that they could manage to return to Ireland from a embarkation
point that far south.  The design of their currach required favorable
winds and currents in the right direction in order to navigate.
Severin discovered that it was extremely difficult to tack as other
sailing ships were able to do.  Perhaps that is the reason that it
took Brendan seven years for his journey.

We can conclude that the voyage of St.Brendan was not a mere medieval
fantasy but a highly plausible tale. These were special men.  They
sought the lands beyond the horizon, the wondrous realms to be revealed
by God -- the Promised Lands.

-=-

Barden, Renardo
"The Discovery of America."
San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. $12.95.
112p. index. bibliography. ISBN 0-89908-071-5.

Do we really know who discovered America, or it is a mystery?  Many of
us are aware that the Viking landfalls in North America predate
Columbus's landing in the Caribbean, but were there others who arrived
before 1492?

In six chapters, Barden examines how the existence of the New World
was revealed.  Calling upon evidence from archaeological finds, Barden
begins with a chapter on Columbus and a chapter on the earlier
explorations of Saint Brendan of Ireland and Madoc of Wales.  Two
chapters are devoted to Norse expeditions, and a fifth chapter treats
the possibility of Polynesian explorations raised by Thor Heyerdahl's
Ra expedition.  The conclusion ties loose ends together and states the
significance of the first connection between New and Old Worlds.

Barden's interrogatory prose is lively and generally pulls the reader
along, although he bogs down in the factual material at times.  The
type, running down the center of the book, leaves wide margins for
quotes and sidebars.  Numerous black-and-white illustrations and maps,
a good index, and a short bibliography round out the volume.  This
thought-provoking entry in the Great Mysteries:  Opposing Viewpoints
series can be used to spark debate and engender discussion.


