The curragh ‘Brendan’ at Gott Bay pier in 1976
Photograph of the curragh ‘Brendan’ at Gott Bay pier in 1976.
Courtesy of Mr Simon Latham
In 1976 Tim Severin and four companions set sail in a wood and leather curragh from the west coast of Ireland in a re-creation of the 6th century voyage of St Brendan the Navigator across the Atlantic via the Hebrides, Faroes and Iceland.
St Brendan is credited as the builder of a church and village ‘in the region of Heth’. ‘Heth regio’ and ‘terra Ethica’ are Latin translations of the Old Irish ‘tir Iath’ from which the modern name of Tiree is most probably derived.
In ‘Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae’ it is recorded that ‘in the sixth century St Breandan [sic] built a church at Kirkapol…’ The saint may have preached from a rock at Vaul named ‘Creag O Briundainn’, which overlooks a small natural amphitheatre called ‘Glac nan Salm’ (Hollow of the Psalms).
Colour photograph of the currach `Brendan` at Tiree pier in 1976.
The currach `Brendan` at Tiree pier photographed by Simon Latham in 1976. (For more information see `The Brendan Voyage`, 2000.185.3)