Across Three Oceans: A Voyage in the Yacht Saoirse

The Pioneering Circumnavigation of the World in a Small Yacht, South of the Great Capes, 1923-1925

"Mr. 0 Brien's plain seamanlike account is so modestly written that a casual reader might miss its full significance. But anyone who knows anything of the sea, following the course of the vessel day by day on the chart, will realize the good seamanship, vigilance and endurance required to drive this little bluff-bowed vessel, with her foul uncoppered bottom, at speeds of 150 to 170 miles a day, as well as the weight of wind and sea which must sometimes have been encountered.

... however common long ocean voyages in small yachts may become, Mr O'Brien will always be remembered for his voyage across the South Pacific and round the Horn."

Claud Worth

This edition of Conor O'Brien's recounting of his epic journey includes the twelfth chapter from the first edition, later omitted. It also includes his log book extracts that only appeared in the first edition.About the Author

EDWARD CONOR MARSHALL O'BRIEN (1880-1952) was an architect, author, boat builder and yachtsman. He was best known for his sailing exploits

O'Brien, born on 3 November 1880, was the second son of Edward William O'Brien of Cahirmoyle, Co. Limerick, by his second wife, Julia Mary (née Marshall) and a grandson of William Smith O'Brien, an Irish nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) and a leader of the Young Ireland movement. After receiving his education at Winchester College, Trinity College, and Oxford, he became an architect in Dublin. Although only one work by him - the People's Hall at Kilmallock, Co. Limerick (1914) - is recorded in the Irish Builder, he also designed buildings for other rural co-operatives, including the Cope Hall at Dungloe, Co. Limerick.

O'Brien was also a ship designer and builder, and his notable boats include the Kelpie, the Saoirse and the A. K. Ilen (a Falkland Islands service ship) built in Baltimore, Ireland. In 1914 he used his yacht Kelpie to collect a cargo of arms for the Irish Volunteers from a German tug in the same gun running operation in which Erskine Childers' yacht, Asgard, took part.

In 1923-1925, O'Brien, with crew, sailed round the world in Saoirse, a 20-ton 42-ft ketch. He recorded the journey in this book, his first, Across Three Oceans (1926) under the name Conor O'Brien. It was the first small private craft to circumnavigate west to east and south of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Leeuwin SW Australia - the Clipper route.

O'Brien was a keen mountaineer as well as a sailor. He was known for climbing in bare feet. He climbed Mount Brandon in Ireland and Mount Snowdon in Wales. He had planned to join an expedition to climb Mount Cook / Aoraki in the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island, which instigated the circumnavigation; however, because of delays during his voyage, he arrived in New Zealand too late.

O'Brien married the artist Kathleen Frances Clausen (1886-1936) in 1928, but she sadly died only 8 years later. Based in Ibiza and Cornwall, he lived on the Saoirse until 1940. During the Second World War he served in the Small Vessels Pool as a skipper delivering support vessels across the Atlantic from America to Britain.

O'Brien authored a number of books which document his experiences of sailing. He also wrote novels on the nautical theme. He died at his sister's house in Foynes, Co. Limerick, on 18 April 1952.