Legend of San Borondon
Is there an eighth Canary Island?
While living or holidaying in the Canaries have you heard the stories about the lost city of Atlantis being somewhere around here?

When the Canaries were conquered throughout the 15th century, stories were insistently told about an eighth island, which sometimes was seen to the West of La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera. When sailors tried to reach it and approached its shores, mountains and valleys, the island was covered by mist and vanished. Whether or not this is true, there was talk hundreds of years ago about San Borondón. It was named after an Irish monk called San Brandán (Saint Brendan 480-576 AD), who it is said found the island in one of his voyages. The story of the mysterious island unfolds like this. A hermit called Barinthus told San Brandán that there was a wonderful land where God allowed his saints to live after death.  The story goes that this island was northwest of the Delight Islands and had an abundance of vegetation, fruit and products such as gems.  Apparently they wandered around this area until an angel appeared and told them to leave. Filled with intrigue, San Brandán proposed to Saint Maclonio and fourteen disciples that they take a voyage to search for this lost paradise.  They sailed across the Atlantic for seven years until they found the land mentioned by Barinthus.  They were allowed to stay on this paradise island until another angel came and told them to leave – but they were however allowed to take fruit and gemstones with them. For the next seven years they looked for the lost paradise.  It was while looking for somewhere to celebrate mass that San Brandán had prayed to God, and on hearing him God had made the island appear.  After celebrating mass they prepared to eat but the ground began to tremble. They quickly boarded their ship and watched as the whole island disappeared. Other accounts tell of an attack on Brendan’s boat by monsters or island inhabitants: “pelted with flaming, foul smelling rocks”.  The voyagers’ account reaching the very edge of Hell itself, with great fiery furnaces, with rivers of gold fire – an erupting volcano to an uninformed eye could look very similar. Different versions add or subtract to the legend, and many would now have it that Brendan was also on the shores of North America long before Columbus.  What is believed is that maps and accounts of the Brendan Voyage (as it has become known as) would have certainly been around at the time of Columbus, and could have had some bearing or influence on routes taken. For centuries sceptics scoffed at the story, pointing to the virtual impossibility of using crude materials to build a boat that could withstand such a crossing.  But many continued to research the legend, and Irishman Tim Severin went one step further.  Not unlike the incredible journey of Thor Heyerdahl, Severin studied the maps and charts relating to St Brendan, and studying charts of prevailing winds and currents, claimed such a voyage was possible.  He built a boat of a framework of ash, covered with ox hides, such as St Brendan would have used. With a like-minded crew, he set sail from Galway, on the West coast of Ireland, and eventually did reach the coast of Newfoundland, where many believe Brendan eventually docked before returning to Ireland. The story goes that San Borondón comes and goes and even today there are those who claim to have seen it. So did this mysterious island exist?  There are old maps that chart it and the Saint Brendan story does offer some clues to its existence.  Could it have disappeared due to major volcanic activity and would the same force again make it reappear? We will all just have to wait and see.

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