Explorer retraced historical journeys
Voyages replicated ancient methods
Tim Severin, the explorer, who has died aged 80, made his name in a highly specialized niche of travel literature: retracing epic journeys made by historical and mythological figures.
Severin’s “replica journeys” i ncluded riding through Europe along the route of the first Crusade; captaining an Arab sailing ship to China to investigate the legend of Sinbad the Sailor; steering a replica Bronze Age galley to trace the Mediterranean journeys of Jason and Ulysses; crossing Mongolia on horseback after Genghis Khan; and sailing the Pacific on a raft to test the theory that the Chinese could have reached America years before the birth of Christ.
His most famous expedition, the subject of his bestseller The Brendan Voyage ( 1979), involved sailing a 12-metre wooden currach, a traditional Irish boat, across the Atlantic in the wake of St. Brendan the Navigator, an Irish monk reputed to have discovered North America in the 6th century.
The voyage, in 1976, took Severin from Ireland to Newfoundland, via the Hebrides and Iceland, during which the boat dodged killer whales and was punctured by ice.
After several false starts, Severin did complete it.
His reticent approach may have cost him fame, but he won a slew of awards.
Giles Timothy Severin was born Sept. 25, 1940 in India. He won a scholarship to Oxford to study geography.
His adventures began when he and some friends took off on motorbikes across central Asia to trace Marco Polo’s journey to Cathay.
Eventually, Severin became an author of historical novels.
He is survived by his second wife, and by a daughter from his first marriage.