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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.
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January 6, 2021 12.52pm
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Tim Severin, a British adventurer who for 40 years meticulously replicated the journeys of real and mythic explorers like St. Brendan the Navigator, Sinbad the Sailor and Marco Polo, died aged 80 on December 18 at his home in West Cork, Ireland.
In May 1976, Severin left Ireland on his most audacious voyage: following in the wake of St. Brendan, a sixth-century monk, who, with a party of other monks, is said to have made a spectacular journey from Ireland across the Atlantic to North America, “Promised Land”, in a leather-wrapped boat.
Tim Severin, seafaring recreator of legendary journeys, dies aged 80
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Tim Severin, seafaring recreator of legendary journeys, dies aged 80
By Richard Sandomir
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Tim Severin, a British adventurer who for 40 years meticulously replicated the journeys of real and mythic explorers such as St Brendan the Navigator, Sinbad the Sailor and Marco Polo, died on December 18 at his home in West Cork, Ireland. He was 80.
His daughter, Ida Ashworth, said the cause was cancer.
In May 1976, Severin left Ireland on his most audacious voyage: following in the wake of St Brendan, a sixth-century monk, who, with a party of other monks, is said to have made a spectacular journey from Ireland across the Atlantic to the Promised Land in a leather-wrapped boat.
Tim Severin & Ireland Were Good for Each Other
29th December 2020
The Brendan currach – 36ft of Cow & Gate – made for a challenging east-west crossing of the northern North Atlantic in 1976-77
When the Courtmacsherry Harbour Boat Club was founded ten years ago, the late Tim Severin - the neighbourhood s own legendary sea adventurer and explorer of international renown - found himself in several roles at the inaugural gathering. Naturally, he was listed as a Founding Member. But he was an Honorary Member too. He was also Guest of Honour. And he was the CHBC inaugural speaker as well.
Severin – who died at home near Courtmacsherry on December 18th age 80 – had in his time given very high-powered talks to organisations of the calibre of the Royal Geographical Society in London and the National Geographic Society in the US on such topics as his voyaging archaeology re-enactments of classical mythology such as Jason and the Argonauts, and Sindbad to the Far East.