The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin

Author:Tim Severin
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Adventure, Travel, Nature, Special Interest, General
ISBN: 9780307755605
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-06-23T07:00:00+00:00

9

ISLAND OF SMITHS

One day, said the Navigatio, Saint Brendan and his crew found themselves being blown by a southerly wind toward a stony island “very rough, rocky and full of slag, without trees or grass, full of smiths’ forges. The venerable father [Brendan] said to his brothers: ‘This island worries me. I do not want to go on to it nor even get near it. But the wind is driving us straight toward it.’

“As they were sailing alongside it, a stone’s throw away, they heard the sound of bellows blowing like thunder, and the thud of hammers on iron and anvil. When he heard this, the venerable father armed himself by making the sign of the Cross in four directions, saying ‘Lord Jesus Christ deliver us from this island.’

“When he had finished speaking, behold, one of the inhabitants of this island came out of doors as if to do some task. He was very shaggy and full of fire and darkness. When he caught sight of the servants of Christ passing close to the island, he went back into his forge. The man of God blessed himself again and said to his brothers: ‘My sons, haul up the sail even higher, and at the same time row as fast as you can and let us flee this island.’

“Before he had finished speaking, the same savage came down to the shore near where they were, carrying in his hand a tongs with a burning lump of slag of great size and heat. Immediately he hurled the lump at the servants of Christ, but it did not harm them. It flew more than two hundred yards above them. The sea where it fell began to boil as if a volcano was burning, and smoke rose from the sea as from a fiery furnace.

“And when the man of God had got about a mile away from the spot where the lump fell, all the people of the island came running down to the beach, carrying lumps of their own. Some began throwing their lumps after the servants of God, one after another throwing his lump, and always going back into their forges to set the lumps on fire. It looked as if the whole island was on fire like a huge furnace, and the sea boiled as a cauldron of meat boils when it is thoroughly heated up. All day long they heard a great clamor from that island. And when they could no longer see it, the howls of the inhabitants still reached their ears, and a stench came to their nostrils. Then the holy father comforted his monks, saying ‘Oh soldiers of Christ, be strong in true faith and in spiritual weapons because we are in the confines of hell. Be vigilant and be brave.’”

Most scholars agree that the Navigatio was probably describing the eruption of an island volcano, complete with its shattering bombardment of glowing lava, ash bombs hurling from the crater, the sulphurous stench of the eruption spread by

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