Abstract

The paper is a descriptive account of work undertaken to re-create medieval leathers for use in an exercise in experimental archaeology—namely the Brendan voyage 1976-77. Leather for the boat’s hull was made from oak-tanned ox hide impregnated with wool grease; it contained 35% dichloromethane extractables (IUC/4), had a water absorption (IUP/7) of 14% after 72 h, and resisted penetration by 3.5% saline for more than 2000 h (IUP/11). The wooden frame was lashed together with alum tanned laces, which had a wet-breaking load of 45 kg. The transatlantic voyage of 4500 miles was completed in two stages and took 111 days (85 days at open sea), the hull leather retained its structural stability and initial water resistance.