The story
Photograph: University of Applied Sciences, Augsburg, Germany (image) · Public domain
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Wikimedia Commons
Sailed west from Kerry in a hide-covered boat looking for the Isle of the Blessed. The medieval account of the journey, the Navigatio Sancti Brendani, was one of the bestsellers of Europe and describes islands of fire, pillars of crystal and a whale mistaken for land. In 1976–77 Tim Severin sailed a leather curragh built to the old specification from Kerry to Newfoundland, proving the voyage was at least possible.
Worth knowing
Mount Brandon in Kerry, the pilgrim path to its summit, is named for him.
