Tim Severin
Tim Severin | |
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Historical fiction, non-fiction | |
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timseverin |
Timothy Severin (25 September 1940 – 18 December 2020
Personal life and career
He was born Giles Timothy Watkins in 1940 to Maurice and Inge Watkins in Jorhat, Assam, India, where his father managed a tea plantation.[4] Educated in England from age 7, he attended Tonbridge School and studied geography and history at Keble College, Oxford. He adopted the name Severin to honour his maternal grandmother, who cared for him in his youth.[4]
Severin married twice. His first wife was Dorothy Sherman, a specialist in medieval Spanish literature; that marriage ended in divorce. He later married Dee Pieters.[5]
Severin died on 18 December 2020, aged 80, at home in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland. He is survived by his daughter from his first marriage, Ida Ashworth, and two grandsons.[6][7]
Recreating ancient voyages
Tracking Marco Polo (1961)
While he was an
Explorers of the Mississippi (1967)
From
The Brendan Voyage (1976–1977)
It is theorized by some scholars that the
On May 17, 1976, Severin and his crew (George Maloney, Arthur Magan, Tróndur Patursson) sailed from Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry[8] on the Brendan, and, over more than 13 months, travelled 4,500 miles (7,200 km), arriving at Canada on June 26, 1977, landing on Peckford Island, Newfoundland, before being towed to Musgrave Harbour by the Canadian Coast Guard. Severin told reporters, "We've proved that a leather boat can cross the North Atlantic by a route that few modern yachtsmen would attempt.".[9] Along the way, they had stopped at the Hebrides, the Faroe Islands and Iceland (where they spent the winter until departing again on May 11) en route. He considered that his recreation of the voyage helped to identify the basis for many of the legendary elements of the story: the "Island of Sheep", the "Paradise of Birds", "Crystal Towers", "mountains that hurled rocks at voyagers", and the "Promised Land". Severin's account of the expedition, The Brendan Voyage, became an international best-seller, translated into 16 languages.
The boat is now featured at the Craggaunowen open-air museum in County Clare, Ireland.
The Sindbad Voyage (1980–1981)
The adventures of the medieval sailor
Sohar left
The Jason Voyage (1984)
The epic poem
The Ulysses Voyage (1985)
Once again making use of the Argo from The Jason Voyage, in 1985 Severin followed the route of
, and also the sirens. The Ulysses Voyage, published in 1987, tells the story of the expedition, the historical research that went into it, and the discoveries Severin and his crew made along the way.By Horse to Jerusalem (1987/88)
Nine hundred years after the First Crusade, Tim Severin and Sarah Dormon set out on horseback to follow the 2500 mile route of Duke Godfrey of Boullion and other Crusaders from Belgium to Jerusalem, travelling through the modern lands of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia (itself today consigned to history), Bulgaria, Turkey and Syria. The horses chosen were a riding school palfrey (Mystery) and a Heavy Ardennes (Carty), the latter a descendant of the war horses of Crusader cavalry – what Severin called ‘the Main Battle Tank’ of its day. This journey, after many years of marine expeditions, was a return to long-distance land exploration by Severin. The Journey would take place over 2 years with the horses and riders resting over the winter of 1987/8. Severin was unable to follow exactly the route of Duke Godfrey due to the civil war in the Lebanon, instead routing through Syria and Jordan to reach Jerusalem.
In Search of Genghis Khan (1990)
While still a student at the
The China Voyage (May–November 1993)
Ancient Chinese texts tell the story of Hsu Fu, a navigator and explorer sent by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, in 218 BC into the "Eastern Ocean" in search of life-prolonging drugs. Hsu Fu completed the voyage on a bamboo raft, which some believe took him to America and back.
Severin set out to prove that such a voyage could have been made. On the beach at
Although the Hsu Fu, as the craft was named, did not complete the trip, Severin believed the voyage had accomplished its purpose. In The China Voyage, published in 1994, he wrote that the expedition had proved that a bamboo raft of the second century BC could have made a voyage across the Pacific, just as Hsu Fu's account recorded.
In Search of Moby Dick: Quest for the White Whale (1999)
Following the path of the 's account with the reality he discovers, and to show that much of Melville's material was either borrowed or fabricated.
Fiction
Severin also wrote historical fiction. The Viking Series, first published in 2005, concerns a young Viking adventurer who travels the world. In 2007 he published The Adventures of Hector Lynch series, set in the late 17th century, about a 17-year-old Corsair.
Works
Non fiction
- Tracking Marco Polo (1964) – Motorcycle ride from Oxford to Venice to Central Asia along the Silk Road
- Explorers of the Mississippi (1968)
- The Golden Antilles (1970)
- The African Adventure (1973)
- Vanishing Primitive Man (1973)
- Adventurers and Explorers (1973) - Severin wrote the text for all fifty tea cards in the Brooke Bond collection on the theme of Adventurers and Explorers
- The Oriental Adventure: Explorers of the East (1976) – A history of European explorers in Asia
- The Brendan Voyage (1978) – Sailing a leather currach from Ireland to Newfoundland
- Muscat, Omanto China
- The Jason Voyage: The Quest for the Golden Fleece (1986) – Sailing from Greece to Georgia
- The Ulysses Voyage (1987) – Sailing from Troy to Ithaca
- Crusader (1989) – Riding a heavy horse from Belgium to the Middle East
- In Search of Genghis Khan (1991) – See Genghis Khan
- The China Voyage (1994) – Across the Pacific Ocean (almost) on a bamboo raft named Hsu-Fu
- The Spice Islands Voyage (1997) – See Alfred Russel Wallace, a voyage through the Indonesian archipelago
- In Search of Moby-Dick (1999) – See Herman Melville
- Seeking Robinson Crusoe (aka In Search of Robinson Crusoe[10]) (2002) – See Robinson Crusoe
- The Man Who Won Siberia (2014)
Fiction
Viking Series
- Odinn's Child (2005)
- Sworn Brother (2005)
- King's Man (2005)
Saxon
- The Book of Dreams (2012)
- The Emperor's Elephant (2013)
- The Pope's Assassin (2015)
The Adventures of Hector Lynch
- Corsair (2007)
- Buccaneer (2008)
- Sea Robber (2009)
- Privateer (2014)
- Freebooter (2017)
Awards and honours
- 1986 Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
- Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
- Honorary Doctor of Letters, Trinity College Dublin
- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University College, Cork[11]
- Gold Medal of the Maritime Institute of Ireland
References
- ^ English, Eoin (18 December 2020). "Explorer and filmmaker Tim Severin dies aged 80". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "Birthdays". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media. 25 September 2014. p. 43.
- ^ "Tim Severin Notice". RTE NSO.
- ^ a b Sandomir, Richard (4 January 2021). "Tim Severin, Seafarer Who Replicated Explorers' Journeys, Dies at 80". New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
- ^ Macleod, Maxwell. "Obiturary: Adventurer who rebuilt ancient craft to retrace epic, historic routes". The Herald. No. 23 February 2021. Glasgow. p. 20. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022.
- ^ "Death Notice of Tim Severin". rip.ie.
- Raidió Teilifís Éireann(RTÉ). Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "5 Set Out From Tralee For U.S. in Open Boat". The New York Times. 18 May 1976. p. 3.
- ^ "Leather Boat Sailors Reach Canada", Victoria (BC) Times Colonist, June 27, 1977, p. 1
- ^ "In Search of Robinson Crusoe by Tim Severin". FantasticFiction. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- ^ "Tim Severin – explorer, author, film-maker". timseverin.net. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2008.