(c.484–578), Irish saint, the hero of a legendary voyage in the Atlantic. He is held by some to have been the first discoverer of America, on the basis of the text of Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, of which many manuscript copies exist, at least three dating from the 11th century. Between 519 and 527, he is supposed to have made several voyages, the early ones in a currach, and on one of them was accompanied by seventeen monks. However, the many remarkable adventures recounted almost certainly place some of the voyages within the realm of legend, particularly as they also appear in the pagan Irish saga of Maelduin and in Scandinavian mythology.
For many years St Brendan's Island was marked on charts of the Atlantic. In his journal Columbus records that the inhabitants of Madeira had seen it to the west, and on his Nuremberg globe the German navigator Martin Behaim (c. 1436–1507), shows it west of the Canaries. A great many voyages were undertaken to locate the island, so persistent was the belief in its existence, but it was never found. In 1859 it was accepted that, like Atlantis, it did not exist.
It is virtually impossible that St Brendan could have reached America. If the voyage actually took place at all it is possible that it was to Iceland, and just possible that the monks then sailed southwards to the Canaries.
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. © 2006
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