Could an Irish monk in the sixth century really have sailed all the way across the Atlantic in a small open boat, thus beating Columbus to the New World by almost a thousand years? Relying on the medieval text of St. Brendan, award-winning adventure writer Tim Severin painstakingly researched and built a boat identical to the leather curragh that carried Brendan on his epic voyage. He found a centuries-old, family-run tannery to prepare the ox hides in the medieval way; he undertook an exhaustive search for skilled harness makers (the only people who would know how to stitch the three-quarter-inch-thick hides together); he located one of the last pieces of Irish-grown timber tall enough to make the mainmast. But his courage and resourcefulness were truly tested on the open seas, including one heart-pounding episode when he and his crew repaired a dangerous tear in the leather hull by hanging over the side--their heads sometimes submerged under the freezing waves--to restitch the leather. A modern classic in the tradition of Kon-Tiki, The Brendan Voyage seamlessly blends high adventure and historical relevance. It has been translated into twenty-seven languages since its original publication in 1978. With a new Introduction by Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming

No detailed description available for "Massachusetts Shipping, 1697-1714".

In 1852, the British H.M. troopship Birkenhead foundered. More than 400 men chose to drown or be eaten alive by sharks rather than allow one woman or child to suffer. This is the story of the bravery and heroism that has come to be known as the Birkenhead drill. - Cover. The British H.M. Troopship Birkenhead was the crowning glory of her generation. The first iron-hulled vessel of war, she was believed to be unusually resilient and seaworthy. On the night of February 26, 1852, she was sailing for the coast of South Africa with about 638 men, women, and children aboard, including a large contingent of military reinforcements for the troops engaged in the Kaffir Wars. At about 2:00 a.m., the vessel struck a ledge off Cape Danger. Twenty minutes later, she was submerged. Before she sank, an important decision was made. The men would sacrifice their lives for the women and children. They would willingly die rather than even possibly capsize the overloaded boats on which the women and children sought refuge. Over the next few hours, wives and children watched as their loved ones drowned or were consumed by man-eating sharks engaged in a wild feeding frenzy. The heroism of these men not only established the maritime principle of "women and children first," but served to inspire generations of men and women to stand by the ancient Christian principles of heroic manhood