Words of an old air have been flitting around my head for weeks now. “The sea, oh the sea, is grá geal mo chroí.” This anthem to the briny foam speaks much to the spirit of our island nation, and the maritime link to the danger and daring of life before the mast.
In the tumult of Christmas week, it almost passed unnoticed that one of Ireland’s greatest seafarers, Tim Severin, had trimmed the sails for his final voyage upon uncharted waters. An adventurer like they don’t make any more, he cut his youthful teeth following Marco Polo’s overland route on a motorbike, and saddling up with Mongol horsemen in the footsteps of Genghis Khan.