The Navigatio of Saint Brendan, dating probably from the late ninth or early 10th century, described the adventures of an Irish monk who sailed far to the west and allegedly discovered new lands.
The historic Saint Brendan was an abbot who founded a number of monasteries in western Ireland and possibly also in Scotland and Wales. It is not known if he made a long sea voyage, as his legend claimed, but some Irish monks may have sailed as far as Iceland. According to the
Navigatio, Brendan and his companions went to sea in a coracle of ox hide carrying enough supplies to last for 40 days. They sought to discover the Island of the Blessed, an earthly paradise. The author of the Navigatio was probably a monk himself who embroidered the tale with miracles.
According to the legend, every year the monks found themselves at the same places for the major holy days of the Christian calendar. They spent the Thursday before Easter on an island of birds, where they stayed until Pentecost. They spent Christmas each year with the monks of Saint Ailbe, who never spoke except to sing hymns and psalms and whose food was given to them by God.
During their voyage the monks saw many strange things, including sea monsters, a massive, inexplicable column of crystal in the sea, and the entrance to hell. After seven years of traveling the monks found the Isle of the Saints, an earthly paradise. Delicious food and drink were always near to hand, and there was never darkness or night. They explored the island for 40 days and did not discover an end to it. When the monks came to a river they could not cross, a young man appeared and told them that it was time for them to return home. He promised that other Christians, in a time of persecution, would find a haven on the island and told the monks to fill their boat with precious stones and return home.
Scholars disagree about whether the Navigatio had its basis in a real journey. Cartographers in later centuries placed Brendan’s island in various places to the west of Ireland, and explorers searched for it until the 18th century. The legend of Saint Brendan was widespread. About 120 copies of the story dating from the 10th to 15th centuries and written in various European languages have survived. Some writers have claimed that Brendan and his monks landed in America. If they did, they left no evidence of their accomplishment except in legend.
Further reading: Lisa M. Bitel, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990); David Hugh Farmer, ed., The Age of Bede (London: Penguin, 1983); -, Butler’s Lives of the Saints (Minneapolis: Liturgical Press, 1995); Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Columbus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991); Valerie I. J. Flint, The Imaginary Landscape of Christopher Columbus (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1992); William D. Phillips, Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
—Martha K. Robinson
The brigantine became popular as a pirate ship due to its speed, small size, and shallow draft. Its foremast carried square sails, and the main mast carried both square and fore-and-aft sails. After becoming popular in the Mediterranean, it became popular as a type of pirate ship throughout the Atlantic basin.
The origin and evolution of the brigantine as a ship type is obscure. The original brigantine, or bergantin in Spanish, was an extremely large boat (generally towed by a ship, as it was too large to be carried) powered by oars or sweeps but also featuring one or two masts. The design was advantageous for “brigandage” (piracy) because, with its combination of oars and sail, it could be used in very light or calm winds when larger cargo vessels would be unable to maneuver. As piracy spread through the Mediterranean in the 14th century the boats increased in size and began to feature an enclosed main deck and sturdier masts with lateen rigging, but they still more resembled a galley powered primarily by oars than a sailing ship.
With the European discovery of America, ship-bound trade rapidly increased throughout the Atlantic, and brigands of various nationalities brought their ships out to take advantage. To operate on the open ocean ship designers abandoned the lateen rig in favor of square sails on the foremast and square and fore-and-aft sails on the mainmast. They increased the size of the vessels as well, but the ships retained their single main deck and did not feature a fore or stern castle but sometimes had a slightly raised “quarter deck” over the stern.
The same handy qualities that recommended the brigantine design to pirates also impressed itself on those who had to defend against them. Various types of small scout, escort, and dispatch vessels of brigantine design and rig were incorporated into the navies of all the European powers. The exact dimensions, number and type of sails, and intended missions varied widely, and no true standardization ever took place. A variation of the brigantine, called simply a brig, featured the same two-masted, single-deck design but an all fore-and-aft rig on the mainmast.
Further reading: Romola Anderson and R. C. Anderson, The Sailing-Ship: Six Thousand Years of History (New York: Bonanza Books, 1963); Peter Kemp, ed., The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976); Roger C. Smith, Vanguard of Empire: Ships of Exploration in the Age of Columbus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
—Paul Dunscomb
World History
