Craggaunowen project

[rapidboy]

Just found these pic's and thought they may be of interest.

This is the Craggaunowen Project in Co. Clare.
More info....http://www.shannonheritage.com/Craggaunowen_Day.htm
It's well worth a visit.

The leather boat "Brendan" is also housed here.
Built by Tim Severn and sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland via the Faroes ,Iceland and Greenland to prove that Irish monks could have sailed to America almost a thousand years before Columbus.
This is the boat that made that journey and after reading the book it was amazing to see it up close.

BTW the book "The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin" is highly recommended reading.

Cheers
RB

 

[RovingArcher]

Oh yeah, it is very possible that they visited America well before Columbus did. There is proof possitive that the Norsemen had a settlement on our North Eastern coast long before Columbus arrived.

 

[bushwacker bob]

We have a similar Iron age settlement at Butser (nr Petersfield hants)
:shock: I wouldn't want to cross the channel in that boat,let alone the North Atlantic. I don't think we have much grasp of the sheer suicidal courage that our ancient forbearers possesed.

 

[mercury]

I'd assume its the sort of trip they only did once in a lifetime, I wonder how long it would take

 

[rapidboy]

These guys built the boat themselves and it took a lot of time to research the design ,what materials would be authentic and how to prepare them even before they started construction.
The biggest problem was the leather as it had to be tanned to withstand seawater ,(which usually destroys leather).
They made the journey over a two year period.
They wintered the boat in Reykjavik before the second stage.

One thing they discovered was that modern technology is often no match for primitive skills.
On the first stage of the journey they had modern waterproofs and long life food rations sealed in plastic bags.
They got wet ,cold and their supplies became contaminated with sea water.
For the second stage they had woolen clothing and supplemented their basic rations with fresh fish ,seagulls and whale blubber.
In the Craggaunowen boat house they play a little video made up from some footage from the trip and it shows them reeling in a rather distressed seagull that had just taken the whale blubber bait!
The book makes great reading.

RB