An Irish Monk Might’ve Beaten Leif To America By A Few Hundred Years
A well-traveled Irish abbot named Saint Brendan the Navigator passed sometime in 577 CE. After his passing, legends about his exploits persisted in society, and in the ninth century, a Latin-language biography titled The Voyage of St. Brendan helped to further his reputation.
The book contains certain parts that appear a little unbelievable. The Voyage of St. Brendan claims that Brendan and a small crew launched a wooden sailboat from the Dingle Peninsula. The sailboat was bound in leather. They traveled west in pursuit of the Garden of Eden, and at least according to the book, they found it. Brendan arrived on a lovely island, spent some time there, and then left when an angel instructed him to return to his home. However, there are many who believe the narrative is based on a genuine transatlantic journey Brendan conducted. It has been hypothesized that the paradise Brendan discovered was either a Bahamian Island or North America's eastern seaboard.
Adventurer Tim Severin made the decision to see if the Irish abbot could have accomplished the voyage in 1976. He constructed a 36-foot replica of the kind of ship Brendan would have used using historical documents, and on May 17 he traveled to the Dingle Peninsula with his four-man crew and set sail. On June 26, 1977, after a protracted pit stop in Iceland, they arrived at Newfoundland. This appears to demonstrate that Irishmen in the sixth century had the means to cross the Atlantic, but it doesn't imply that Brendan or any of his contemporaries really did so.
