Book Reviews
Monastic Skelligs
Sun Dancing: A MedievalVision - by Geoffrey Moorhouse (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London); hardback, 241 pages; £18.99 in UK.
THE Great Skellig fascinates all who visit it. Lightkeepers stationed there must often have wondered about the life of the monks who lived on the rock centuries earlier.
The first part of Geoffrey Moorhouse's book comprises seven scenes in the story of the religious community that lived on Skellig Michael between the sixth and thirteenth centuries. In the opening scene the first band of brothers set out in a curragh, withdrawing from the world to be closer to Christ. Inspired by the Desert Fathers, they are guided to the Skelligs where they find a different kind of wilderness at the edge of the western world.
Subsequent scenes depict the life of prayer and fasting, the hardships and dangers of the rock, difficulties in relationships between brothers, aspects of Celtic spiritualitymuch influenced by nature and pre-Christian tradition, a Viking raid, and disaster caused by spiritual pride. Finally, the community withdraws to the mainland following a severe storm which heralded a change of climate.
The political and social climate in Ireland was changing too, with the arrival of the Normans, the growing primacy of Rome over the Celtic church, and the influence of new religious orders such as the Cistercians and the Augustinian Canons.
The writing is vivid and imaginative, coloured by phrases in Irish and Latin, and quotations from the Psalms. Fiction, to be sure, but fiction constructed from a wealth of historical evidence and tradition. Moorhouse seems to get right inside the minds of the brothers and their world.
THE second part of the book sets out the evidence for the detail in the earlier narrative. Geoffrey Moorhouse has a comprehensive knowledge of early Irish history and culture, and writes of them with understanding and respect. These chapters, which are like extended footnotes, cover aspects such as the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Celtic monasticism and religious practice, the influence of the early Fathers and of Irish pre-Christian tradition, lives of early saints and scholars; and, to complete the story, the more recent history of the Skelligs.
An extensive bibliography lists primary and secondary sources. There are maps of the rock and a plan of the monastery, but perhaps some more illustrations might have been helpful for those not fortunate to have visited Skelligs.
The title Sun Dancing describes a vision of the sun dancing for joy in the risen Christ as it rises at dawn on Easter Day. Perhaps it also refers to the hope and courage which enabled a community of early medieval Irish monks to live on an inhospitable rock off the south-west coast of Ireland for over 600 years.
Irish Lighthouses
Lighthouses of Ireland - by Kevin McCarthy; illustrations by William L. Turner (Pineapple Press, Inc., Sarasota, Florida): hardback, 160 pages, 30 colour paintings, $21.95 in USA.
EACH of the 30 chapters of this book is accompanied by a reproduction of a painting of a lighthouse or, in one case, of a lightship. These appear to have been painted from photographs and, in general, have been well done. Some of the paintings represent the lighthouse at an earlier time.
The book is aimed at an American, perhaps an Irish-American, readership and this is reflected by the style of writing. Each chapter covers the lighthouse illustrated and briefly mentions other lighthouses in the vicinity. This scheme leads to quite an amount of repetition which soon becomes monotonous. A bibliography is provided at the end of each chapter.
Unfortunately the text is marred by numerous errors. Dr McCarthy seems to have misunderstood his sources in some cases, and in others to have relied on out of date material.
The book is nicely printed and designed and it is regrettable that it cannot be recommended as an accurate account of Ireland's lighthouses.
John Harrison and the marine chronometer
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius who solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate, London); hardback, 184 pages; £12.00 in UK.
THE quest for a method of determining longitude at sea preoccupied scientists and navigators for centuries. Mariners relied on 'dead reckoning' to estimate their distance east or west of their home port. Hundreds of shipwrecks occurred for want of a reliable method of establishing a ship's position. As the number of vessels engaged in trade or exploration increased, the toll of lives lost at sea mounted.
It was well known that longitude could be calculated by comparing astronomical time at a ship's position with the time at the home port (or the time at any known longitude). But Sir Iaasc Newton reported to a Parliamentary committee that an accurate timekeeper for use at sea could not be made because of the effect on the pendulum of the motion of the ship, and variations in temperature and humidity. Scientists sought a solution by astronomical methods. The first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, had been cataloguing his observations at Greenwich for 40 years.
The Longitude Act, passed in 1714, established a prize of £20,000 for a practicable and useful method to determine longitude to an accuracy of half a degree; £15,000 for accuracy of two-thirds of a degree, and £10,000 for accuracy of one degree. The Board of Longitude would be the judges and could give grants to assist those with promising ideas.
The Board did not meet for the first 23 years of its existence - because none of the numerous ideas submitted were of sufficient merit. When it met in 1737 it was to consider a clock made by John Harrison, a self taught clockmaker.
Harrison was a skilled carpenter with no formal education. Before he was 20 he had taken up clockmaking. His early clocks were made mainly of wood, having oak wheels and boxwood axles. He developed friction-free movements which required no lubrication, invented a new escapement mechanism which minimised wear on the cogs, and designed pendulums of two metals which compensated for each other as the temperature varied, to ensure the clocks kept perfect time. A tower clock he built in 1722 is still running.
Harrison and his younger brother made their own astronomical observations to test the accuracy of their clocks, which were accurate to within a second in a month. The finest watches produced elsewhere at the time varied by about one minute a day. He began to think of the longitude prize.
OVER the next 30 years Harrison designed, built, and tested a series of four marine timekeepers. After eleven years' work he presented the first of these to the Longitude Commissioners. This clock had performed well in tests and the Board was well disposed towards it. However it was big and heavy, and looked like no other clock before or since. Harrison told the Board he felt he could make some improvements. He requested, and received, an advance to assist with his project.
His second model, completed four years later, was smaller but heavier. It passed a series of stringent tests but Harrison was still dissatisfied with his efforts. He spent 19 years on his next clock, supported by further advances from the Board of Longitude. In this clock Harrison incorporated several developments still in use today.
These inventions, together with contact with other clockmakers, led Harrison to re-think his approach. His fourth timekeeper, finished two years later, was like a large pocket watch. On a test voyage to Jamaica lasting 81 days it lost only five seconds.
Meanwhile, work on the astro-nomical approach was continuing. Using the data accumulated over years of observation scientists were working on a solution to the longitude problem based on the position of the moon.
The Board of Longitude was top heavy with astronomers who were determined that a mere mechanic would not win the longitude prize. They put Harrison's watch through a series of nearly impossible tests; they demanded he make a duplicate watch; they changed the rules by which the prize could be won; they procrastinated and intrigued. A further 17 years passed.
Harrison was now an old man. He appealed for justice to the Prime Minister, and then to the King. Further trials were conducted. Eventually, in 1773 when Harrison was 80 years old, Parliament awarded him £8,750 which, taking account of the advances already paid, amounted to the value of the longitude prize. No one was ever awarded the longitude prize itself.
DAVA Sobel's book became a best seller when originally published in the USA. This edition is beautifully printed and bound, and at £12.00 in the UK is very good value. Surprisingly, though, there are no illustrations other than on the dust cover and on a small bookmarker which comes with the book.
Sobel is a science writer who explains the longitude problem simply, avoiding technical language. She describes some of the more far fetched proposals made by contestants for the prize, as well as the scientific methods based on observation of the moon and planets. She writes most sympathetically of Harrison and his long struggle with Nevil Maskelyne, the fifth Astronomer Royal, and the other Longitude Commissioners for justice and recognition.
John Harrison's achievements were always recognised by a narrow circle of clock-makers and navigators. Dava Sobel brings the longitude story to life in a highly readable manner which will be appreciated by many others.
Inishtrahull
The Book of Inishtrahull - by Sean Beattie (Lighthouse Publications, Culaduff, Co Donegal); paperback, 68 pages; no price stated.
THIS book was prepared with the help of a post Leaving Certificate group of students in Carndonagh Community School, Co Donegal. It was first published in 1992 and is now reprinted with additional information. The book is composed of extracts from earlier publications, together with original material and old photographs. The organisation of the material is somewhat haphazard.
Chapters dealing with the lives, folklore and customs of the islanders are most interesting, as are the photographs from the early years of this century.
A chapter is devoted to the lighthouses, and there is a list of the Keepers who served at Inishtrahull since 1919.
-Books reviewed by the Editor
Sun Dancing: A MedievalVision - by Geoffrey Moorhouse (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London); hardback, 241 pages; £18.99 in UK.
THE Great Skellig fascinates all who visit it. Lightkeepers stationed there must often have wondered about the life of the monks who lived on the rock centuries earlier.
The first part of Geoffrey Moorhouse's book comprises seven scenes in the story of the religious community that lived on Skellig Michael between the sixth and thirteenth centuries. In the opening scene the first band of brothers set out in a curragh, withdrawing from the world to be closer to Christ. Inspired by the Desert Fathers, they are guided to the Skelligs where they find a different kind of wilderness at the edge of the western world.
Subsequent scenes depict the life of prayer and fasting, the hardships and dangers of the rock, difficulties in relationships between brothers, aspects of Celtic spiritualitymuch influenced by nature and pre-Christian tradition, a Viking raid, and disaster caused by spiritual pride. Finally, the community withdraws to the mainland following a severe storm which heralded a change of climate.
The political and social climate in Ireland was changing too, with the arrival of the Normans, the growing primacy of Rome over the Celtic church, and the influence of new religious orders such as the Cistercians and the Augustinian Canons.
The writing is vivid and imaginative, coloured by phrases in Irish and Latin, and quotations from the Psalms. Fiction, to be sure, but fiction constructed from a wealth of historical evidence and tradition. Moorhouse seems to get right inside the minds of the brothers and their world.
THE second part of the book sets out the evidence for the detail in the earlier narrative. Geoffrey Moorhouse has a comprehensive knowledge of early Irish history and culture, and writes of them with understanding and respect. These chapters, which are like extended footnotes, cover aspects such as the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Celtic monasticism and religious practice, the influence of the early Fathers and of Irish pre-Christian tradition, lives of early saints and scholars; and, to complete the story, the more recent history of the Skelligs.
An extensive bibliography lists primary and secondary sources. There are maps of the rock and a plan of the monastery, but perhaps some more illustrations might have been helpful for those not fortunate to have visited Skelligs.
The title Sun Dancing describes a vision of the sun dancing for joy in the risen Christ as it rises at dawn on Easter Day. Perhaps it also refers to the hope and courage which enabled a community of early medieval Irish monks to live on an inhospitable rock off the south-west coast of Ireland for over 600 years.
Irish Lighthouses
Lighthouses of Ireland - by Kevin McCarthy; illustrations by William L. Turner (Pineapple Press, Inc., Sarasota, Florida): hardback, 160 pages, 30 colour paintings, $21.95 in USA.
EACH of the 30 chapters of this book is accompanied by a reproduction of a painting of a lighthouse or, in one case, of a lightship. These appear to have been painted from photographs and, in general, have been well done. Some of the paintings represent the lighthouse at an earlier time.
The book is aimed at an American, perhaps an Irish-American, readership and this is reflected by the style of writing. Each chapter covers the lighthouse illustrated and briefly mentions other lighthouses in the vicinity. This scheme leads to quite an amount of repetition which soon becomes monotonous. A bibliography is provided at the end of each chapter.
Unfortunately the text is marred by numerous errors. Dr McCarthy seems to have misunderstood his sources in some cases, and in others to have relied on out of date material.
The book is nicely printed and designed and it is regrettable that it cannot be recommended as an accurate account of Ireland's lighthouses.
John Harrison and the marine chronometer
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius who solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate, London); hardback, 184 pages; £12.00 in UK.
THE quest for a method of determining longitude at sea preoccupied scientists and navigators for centuries. Mariners relied on 'dead reckoning' to estimate their distance east or west of their home port. Hundreds of shipwrecks occurred for want of a reliable method of establishing a ship's position. As the number of vessels engaged in trade or exploration increased, the toll of lives lost at sea mounted.
It was well known that longitude could be calculated by comparing astronomical time at a ship's position with the time at the home port (or the time at any known longitude). But Sir Iaasc Newton reported to a Parliamentary committee that an accurate timekeeper for use at sea could not be made because of the effect on the pendulum of the motion of the ship, and variations in temperature and humidity. Scientists sought a solution by astronomical methods. The first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, had been cataloguing his observations at Greenwich for 40 years.
The Longitude Act, passed in 1714, established a prize of £20,000 for a practicable and useful method to determine longitude to an accuracy of half a degree; £15,000 for accuracy of two-thirds of a degree, and £10,000 for accuracy of one degree. The Board of Longitude would be the judges and could give grants to assist those with promising ideas.
The Board did not meet for the first 23 years of its existence - because none of the numerous ideas submitted were of sufficient merit. When it met in 1737 it was to consider a clock made by John Harrison, a self taught clockmaker.
Harrison was a skilled carpenter with no formal education. Before he was 20 he had taken up clockmaking. His early clocks were made mainly of wood, having oak wheels and boxwood axles. He developed friction-free movements which required no lubrication, invented a new escapement mechanism which minimised wear on the cogs, and designed pendulums of two metals which compensated for each other as the temperature varied, to ensure the clocks kept perfect time. A tower clock he built in 1722 is still running.
Harrison and his younger brother made their own astronomical observations to test the accuracy of their clocks, which were accurate to within a second in a month. The finest watches produced elsewhere at the time varied by about one minute a day. He began to think of the longitude prize.
OVER the next 30 years Harrison designed, built, and tested a series of four marine timekeepers. After eleven years' work he presented the first of these to the Longitude Commissioners. This clock had performed well in tests and the Board was well disposed towards it. However it was big and heavy, and looked like no other clock before or since. Harrison told the Board he felt he could make some improvements. He requested, and received, an advance to assist with his project.
His second model, completed four years later, was smaller but heavier. It passed a series of stringent tests but Harrison was still dissatisfied with his efforts. He spent 19 years on his next clock, supported by further advances from the Board of Longitude. In this clock Harrison incorporated several developments still in use today.
These inventions, together with contact with other clockmakers, led Harrison to re-think his approach. His fourth timekeeper, finished two years later, was like a large pocket watch. On a test voyage to Jamaica lasting 81 days it lost only five seconds.
Meanwhile, work on the astro-nomical approach was continuing. Using the data accumulated over years of observation scientists were working on a solution to the longitude problem based on the position of the moon.
The Board of Longitude was top heavy with astronomers who were determined that a mere mechanic would not win the longitude prize. They put Harrison's watch through a series of nearly impossible tests; they demanded he make a duplicate watch; they changed the rules by which the prize could be won; they procrastinated and intrigued. A further 17 years passed.
Harrison was now an old man. He appealed for justice to the Prime Minister, and then to the King. Further trials were conducted. Eventually, in 1773 when Harrison was 80 years old, Parliament awarded him £8,750 which, taking account of the advances already paid, amounted to the value of the longitude prize. No one was ever awarded the longitude prize itself.
DAVA Sobel's book became a best seller when originally published in the USA. This edition is beautifully printed and bound, and at £12.00 in the UK is very good value. Surprisingly, though, there are no illustrations other than on the dust cover and on a small bookmarker which comes with the book.
Sobel is a science writer who explains the longitude problem simply, avoiding technical language. She describes some of the more far fetched proposals made by contestants for the prize, as well as the scientific methods based on observation of the moon and planets. She writes most sympathetically of Harrison and his long struggle with Nevil Maskelyne, the fifth Astronomer Royal, and the other Longitude Commissioners for justice and recognition.
John Harrison's achievements were always recognised by a narrow circle of clock-makers and navigators. Dava Sobel brings the longitude story to life in a highly readable manner which will be appreciated by many others.
Inishtrahull
The Book of Inishtrahull - by Sean Beattie (Lighthouse Publications, Culaduff, Co Donegal); paperback, 68 pages; no price stated.
THIS book was prepared with the help of a post Leaving Certificate group of students in Carndonagh Community School, Co Donegal. It was first published in 1992 and is now reprinted with additional information. The book is composed of extracts from earlier publications, together with original material and old photographs. The organisation of the material is somewhat haphazard.
Chapters dealing with the lives, folklore and customs of the islanders are most interesting, as are the photographs from the early years of this century.
A chapter is devoted to the lighthouses, and there is a list of the Keepers who served at Inishtrahull since 1919.
-Books reviewed by the Editor