Arthur Beale wasn’t always a Yacht Chandler! 05

We supplied many prestigious explorers and mountaineers. Our next few posts will cover just a few of our surprising clients.

Tim Severin
Timothy Severin, born in India in 1940, is a British Explorer, Historian and Author. He is perhaps best known for his Brendan Voyage. Arthur Beale under the management of Mr Coleman were proud to have helped supply his adventures. We have a picture hanging on our staircase which Tim sent to the shop's Manager.

Tim writes about the photo:
“The photo shows the leatherboat Brendan on the slipway at the head of Brandon (ie Brendan) Creek in County Kerry, south west Ireland on 15 May 1976. From here, tradition has it, the 6th century monk St. Brendan and his companions set out on the great sea journey described in the medieval text., the Navigatio, or Voyage of Saint Brendan. They visited many islands and eventually - some claim - reached what is now North America. Our Brendan was built as a 'replica' of what St Brendan's boat may have been like - a hull of 49 oxhides stretched on an open frame of ash.
The picture shows from left to right: George Molony and Arthur Magan (main crew) Rolf Hansen and Petter Mullett (sector 1), Tim Severin (skipper). Two days after this photo was taken, we set sail to test if such a long distance voyage was possible in a boat of leather, and investigate how landfalls along the stepping stone route around the North Atlantic - Scotland, Faeroes, Iceland - might explain St.Brendan's story.
On 26 June 1977, after over-wintering in Iceland, the leather boat successfully reached land in Newfoundland after weathering storms and a puncture in the ice.
From Arthur Beale and Co came vital items for Brendan's fit-out, from sail needles to safety flares. Thanks to its manager, Mr Coleman, whose family hailed from Kinsale, Co Cork, Arthur Beale and Co became the go-to chandlery not just for the Brendan Voyage but for all my subsequent maritime expeditions. He was able to source and supply whatever unusual item was needed, from ropemaker's hand tools to a 4 metre long pennant that flew from the tip of the tallest spar of an Arab dhow sailing from Muscat to China. Remarkable.”
Thank you Tim, and thank you also to Mr Coleman, the long standing Manager of Arthur Beale who sadly died in 2016
Mr Coleman with a client's parrot!

The Brendan Voyage was just one of Tim Severin's amazing adventures, more of which can be found on his website http://www.timseverin.net/index.html
His book "The Brendan Voyage" can be purchased on our website.
Tim Severin was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. His book “The Sindbad Voyage” received the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.