There are two background articles to this, but I decided not to post them here due to lack of suitable categories (c'mon AD - give us a folklore or supernatural label.) It is not essential to read these before Kirwan's story, but useful background to the legend of Hy Brasil. It also helps readers to understand I am not telling a magical fairy tale here, but exploring the development of a lagend. Click HERE for part 1 and HERE for part 2.
1. Kirwan's Dream
A boy named Kirwan liked to lie close to the edge of the steep cliffs of the Island of Innismane--one of the islands of Aran, (where those thick knit sweaters come from) that in the time he lived were called Isles of the Saints. Kirwan was not just slacking or daydreaming, as he lay there he scanned the surface of the Atlantic ocean for a glimpse of Hy-Brasil.
Kirwan's grandfather, a fisherman, told stories of the mysterious island which he swore he had seen The boy's father also told of having seen Hy Brasil; indeed, there was no – one among the old people of the island who had not seen it, the older they were, the more certain was their belief that what they had seen was real and not some illusion, a trick of light maybe.
Kirwan loved stories and so he had no difficulty believing the mysterious islan was real even though he had never seen it with his own eyes. Thus whenever he walked along the top of the highest cliff, where he often went bird-nesting (for eggs to eat, this was the seventeenth century and the islanders were glad of what food they could find), he climbed the huge granite crag called The Gregory, and scanned the horizon in the hope that he would that he would at last see with his own eyes the mysterious island that was sometimes there and sometimes not.
The boys of the island climbed The Gregory in late spring, because it was then that he met the other boys and they would collect sea birds eggs by taking turns to be lowered over the cliff on a rope. They also caught Puffins which were far too numerous and took too many of the herring and sardine fry that the islanders relied on for income. Every year the island caught tons of fishes most of which were salted or smoked, packed in barrels and sent to the mainland.
The agent of the island paid sixpence for every dozen birds, part of this came from the landlord who levied a duty on each barrel of fish and part from the agent himself because he could sell the downy feathers of the birds for making mattresses and pillows. It was not duck down but how many city folk would know?
The boys had a rope three hundred feet long, which could reach the bottom of the cliff. One of them tied this rope around his waist, and then held it fast with both hands, the rope being held above by four or five strong boys, who lowered the cragman, or "clifter," as he was called, over the edge. Being something of a thinker, Kirwan came up with an idea to improve their catch and also their income. One evening, as the sun set and the other boys prepared to leave he had them lower him over the edge and leave him behind on the rocks near the sea, where the puffins bred. Freeing himself from the rope he worked a night shift catching the birds using a pole with a snare on the end to grab the stupid birds. Each Puffin was tied on a string and kept to be hauled up when his friends came back the next morning.
He took in this way twenty or thirty score (between four and six hundred) of the birds, besides many dozens of their large eggs, which were found in deep clefts in the rock and which the mothers on the islands knew how to preserve to they were still good eating six or nine months later, when food was scarce through the winter. All these things he carried to the place where his friends would lower the rope to haul him up. Life was hard on the Islands, as well as collecting eggs and catching birds the boys were expected to h elp their fathers on fishing boats or farms, collect kelp and dig turn, peat as we call it now, for the fires. They worked from dawn to nightfall, but that did not stop Kirwan dreaming of the magical adventures he might have if he could ever set foot on the mystery isle of Hy Brasil.
One day the island's inshore fishing fleet sailed out to catch the herring shoals, Kirwan among them. A fog came down and grew thicker and thicker around the little boats until the boy lost sight of the other fishers. His companion in the dory had gone to cut bait on board another boat, but Kirwan could manage the boat well enough alone. There is no wind in a fog and so he rowed west towards where he reckoned rest of boats would be.
After a considerable time a breeze blew up and began to disperse the fog, Kirwan hoisted his sprit-sail, and stowed one of his oars, using the other as a tiller. The fog soon cleared to reveal that Kirwan in his little boat was alone in the heavy ocean swell. He had lost his bearings and with no compass, they were expensive things in those days, and no landmarks he had nothing to give him a bearing that would guide him home.
Presently as the against the horizon he saw what rose to the top of one of the Atlantic rollers he saw a dark smudge on the horizon. Land; he did not know which island nor if it was the mainland, surely it could not be Cornwall or France, he had not been at sea so long and anyway he was sure he had headed west and not south or east. If it was any of the Aran Islands or even the Irish mainland he would be safe, the fishing communities all knew the hazards of the ocean and helped each other, particularly sailors who were in trouble.
The sight of land gave Kirwan new strength, and deciding he would do better rowing towards landfall than tacking across a wind that was almost directly against him, he dropped the sail, put both oars in the water and began to row. It was hard work reaching the shore and a long time since the boy had eaten and because he felt dizzy and sick the lost mariner lay down on the thwart to rest. It did not occur to him to haul his boat above the high water mark and anyway he would not have had the strength.
Lost In A Sea Mist
Kirwan was awakened, it may have been hours later or only a few moments for all he knew, by a jolly voice shouting from somewhere above him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he saw the stern of a seagoing ship, it's sailors lined up on the rail to help him aboard.
He found himself on the deck of a sloop of about seventy tons, with a crew of seven men under Captain Henry Sinclair. They were heading for their home port of Killebegs (County Donegal), in Ireland, returning from France with cargo of French wines, and were befogged as Kirwan had been. The boy was at once taken on board and worked as a seaman; and the later adventures of the trip are here given as he reported them on his return with the ship some months later.
The mist came down again and grew thicker and thicker for a time, and when it suddenly furled itself away, they found themselves off an unknown coast, with a strong wind driving them towards the shore. The sailors, led by Captain Sinclair of Orkney were familiar with every inch of the rish coast as well as the Hebridean Islands, Scotland, England and the west of France but none of them remembered the coastline the looked at now. What was more, Captain Sinclair did possess a magnetic compass which showed the land mass was in a place where there should have been nothing but water for more than two thousand miles.
Finding less than three fathoms of water under his hull, the captain decided to drop anchor and send some men ashore to find where they were. The landing party consisted of James Ross the ship's carpenter and two sailors, with the boy Kirwan. They took swords and pistols for protection and rowed ashore. Beaching the skiff at the edge of a stretch of woodland, they ventured inshore for a mile walking through a pleasant valley where cattle, horses, and sheep were grazing on rich pasture, then saw ahead of them a small castle. There did not seem to be anybody at home or even guarding the place and so the landing party retuned to the ship to report to Captain Sinclair on what they had found.
The next morning, after securing the ship against possible intruders the whole ship's company went ashore, except one left in as a guard. Captain Sinclair and his men wandered about for hours, yet could not locate the valley or the castle that the first landing party had found. As night came on they made a fire at the base of a fallen oak, near the shore, and lay around it, talking, and smoking the lately tobacco, the narcotic leaf that merchant mariners were bringing from the Virginian colonies. Suddenly they heard loud noises from the area where the castle had been. The din spread and grew louder, it seemed to be coming from all over the island. Sailors are a brave and tough breed but superstitious and not being able to see what was making the noise frightened them so that they ran back to the sloop and stayed on board until morning.
The next morning as they made ready to sail away towards Ireland they saw a dignified, elderly gentleman coming down towards the shore accompanied by a group of unarmed men. Speaking in Gaelic, the ancient language of Ireland and western Britain the old man hailed the ship's crew, asking who they and how they had come to the island
Captain Sinclair introduced himself and his men, the old gentleman decided they were honest and meant no harm and invited them ashore as his guests. The whole crew went on shore, well armed and rather wary to be told they were the happiest sight that island had seen for hundreds of years on the island that was called Hy-Brasail or O-Brazile. He said that that his ancestors had been princes of the land. Many years ago, he said, enchanters had taken possession of the land, their enchantments kept it invisible so that no ships came there and the people could not trade with or get news of the outside world. For the same reason he and his friends were rendered unable to answer the sailors, even when they knocked at the door. The old gentleman thought Captain Sinclair might be an emissary from The Emperor of Rome, which was a clue to how long the magic had kept the island hidden. It was explained that the enchantment had been cast s o that it would remain in place until a fire was kindled on the island by good Christians. This had been done the night before, and the terrible noises which they had heard were from the powers of darkness, which had now left the island forever.
When the sailors were led to the castle, they saw that some of the towers had been demolished by spirits as they retreated. The visitors were greeted within the great hall of the castle keep by men and women of dignified appearance, but dressed strangely, who thanked them for the great service service they had rendered in driving the spirits from the island. Then they were taken on a tour of the land, which was about sixty miles long and half as wide, with rich pastures and free – flowing streams of pure water, and fields well stocked with horses, cattle, sheep, deer, rabbits, and birds, but without any swine. There were also mines where rich seams of copper, tin, silver and gold could be mined.
Few people inhabited the island, although there were ruins of old towns and cities, the remains of a great civilisation that had once existed in this and other islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
The sailors were rewarded with gold and silver, fresh supplies were loaded on the ship and the captain was furnished with sailing directions to their home port.
Farewell To Hy Brasil
On reaching home, the seamen showed to the minister of their town the pieces of gold and silver that were given them at the island, these being of an ancient stamp and of the highest quality. The townspeople demanded that the sailors return to the island and establish a trading partnership between it's people and the merchants of Killebegs. Captain Sinclair refused to go, he was a gentleman mariner and felt it would be an abuse of his hosts' hospitality, instead he undertook to deliver Kirwan to his home village. The crew were loyal to their captain and agreed it would be folly to search for the island again. Greed had the better of some townspeople however and within a week an expedition was prepared, with three ships and a complement containing several priests who wished to visit and discover the inhabitants of the island. With flags flying, a band playing and a crown on the shore waving and calling out blessings and good wishes the ships sailed out of the harbour and were never heard of again.
Partly because of this and partly because none of Captain Sinclair's crew wished to return to the island, a distrust of this story about the rediscovery of Hy-Brasail or O-Brazile. Some people claimed that the ancient gold pieces brought home by Sinclair and his men might have been gained by piracy, a business that was becoming well established on upon the Spanish main, wherever that is, at the time.
Kirwan was delivered safely to his parents and told his wonderful story; some of his playmates did not hesitate to express the opinion that he had always been, as they phrased it, the greatest liar that ever spoke , but then those who are only able to have small dreams have ever been inclined to call dreamers of great dreams liars. What is certain is that the island of Brazil or Hy-Brasail had been shown on maps ever since St. Brendan made his great voyage and discoved a new world to the west of the great ocean in the days before the Vikings first landed in Ireland, as being west and slightly south of the Irish coast and that many voyages were made from Bristol to find it during the perios when the Plantagenet Kings ruled England ; that it was mentioned about 1636 as often seen from the shore; and that it appeared as Brazil Rock on the London Admiralty Charts until after 1850. If many learned people and experienced sailors from the world's greatest navy considered it worth looking for find it and failed to find it, why should not Kirwan have tried and succeeded? And as to his stretching his story a little by throwing in a few enchanters and magic castles, haven't sailors and explorers always been inclined to do that.
END
NOTES:
As with all folk tales there are many versions, the one I used as a source is from an eighteenth century privately published book, only 500 copies of which were printed. The copy I used is in the private library of a family I know who own an estate on the Kintyre peninsula (Mull of Kintyre) which is the closest point on the British mainland to Ireland. In some versions the captain of the ship that rescues Kirwan is named John Nisbet. It is interesting that the version I found uses a Captain Sinclair because in the fourteenth century Henry Sinclair, Earl Of Orkney is said to have discovered the Americas (probably Nova Scotia) a hundred years before Columbus.
If you research this you will find many mainstream academics queueing to denounce the claim. The person who has written most knowledgably on the subject however is Andrew Sinclair, a direct descendent and current Baron of Rosslyn and thus owner of Rosslyn Chapel that features in the Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code. Andrew Sinclair would be the present Earl Of Orkney but that title is now defunct. He is also the keeper of the family archives. The Templar and masonic connections of the Sinclair (St. Clair) clan are well documented.
Did Henry Sinclair visit the Americas? Fourteenth century records are notoriously unreliable so there is no proof that he did. Beware the slipperiness of academics and scientists however, they will go to great lengths to protect their careers and reputations. Just because there is no absolute he that Henry Sinclair did visit the Americas, it is entirely wrong to claim that as proof he did not. The answer is if you are interested view the evidence, particularly that offered by Andrew Sinclair (The Sword And The Grail and The True Discovery Of America and Sinclair clan archives in Canada, for yourself and decide who you would rather believe. Or, like me, remain open minded.
The story of Kirwan contains elements of several Irish legends and references to historical events spanning several centuries but that is often the case with folk takes. Captain Sinclair is a fourteenth century character, the presence of a land agent indicates seventeenth century or later. In my retelling I have tried to minimise these contradictions and produce a story modern readers will find entertaining but which should be read as fiction while the previous parts of the series are whimsical explorations of a little known legend.
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