Tim Severin found John O'Connell, and they started piecing the oxhides together. It was tiring work, and if it wasn't right, they had to start the whole line of stitches over again. Strength didn't matter here, but having a knack for it did. More people came to help them, and the best was a mere slip of a girl with less arm strength than anyone else, but with a knack for it. She made a neat line of stitches that left the oxhides as though welded together. They learned the backstitch first, then moved on to the two-handed stitch. The stitchers had to work in pairs, one below and one on top. This was difficult work, and even with all the helpers, they were not going to finish in time. So he asked the leather instructor for a college in London to send some students over to Ireland. The instructor was not sure about that until he heard that John O'Connell was helping. So the students came, and stayed two days longer than expected because they were having so much fun helping. Brendan was finished in plenty of time, and there were spare oxhides left over for repairs, if needed. They had doubled the leather on places that were likely to be stretched, and there were four thicknesses in places that might be scraped against rocks.
Brendan was ready to be launched, but they needed to test it first.
More soon!
Bell
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