Sacred Ships
Ships that may have existed, found within the world’s religions and myths.
Long before anyone drew a hull plan, people told stories about ships. An ark of gopher wood that carried every living kind through the flood. A boat of reeds that floated a child down the Nile. A ship of fifty oars with a speaking timber in its prow. A canoe that became an island.
Some of these vessels may have sailed. While most can never be proven or disproven, all of them were described, sometimes down to the timber and the number of oars, in the sacred texts and myths that people have carried for thousands of years. This collection gathers 102 of them, from the Bible and the Quran to the Rigveda, the Kojiki, the Prose Edda, the Kalevala and the oral traditions of the Pacific. For each ship we give the source, what happens, and only what the text itself says about the vessel. Every source is linked. The illustrations are our own AI interpretations of those descriptions, not reconstructions.
Subject to interpretation, Marea can build any of these ships as a scale model, with the maximum detail the scale permits. We build her as the text describes her: the timber, the oars, the sails. Seventeen of these texts even give her size or her crew.
This database was put together by Ai Refloat™, Marea’s own artificial intelligence, from published translations of the texts and from museum and university sources. Ai Refloat is still young & like any teenager, it can be a little volatile and unpredictable at times, but above all, it is learning fast. So this list may well contain mistakes and we welcome the input of everyone who knows these texts and traditions better than we do.
Have you spotted a mistake? Tell us which ship and which text, and we will amend it accordingly. Tell us here
The ships
The Flood Ships · Hebrew Bible
Noah's Ark Ark
Genesis 6:13 to 8:19
Tradition Hebrew Bible
God tells Noah to build an ark and take his household and pairs of living creatures aboard before a flood covers the earth. The ark floats while the waters rise and fall, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day, it comes to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
The vessel Gopher wood, with rooms, pitched within and without. 300 cubits long, 50 broad and 30 high, a window finished a cubit above, a door in the side, and “lower, second, and third stories” (6:16, KJV).
Sources Bible Gateway
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Deuterocanonical (Ethiopian Orthodox canon)
Noah's Vessel in the Animal Apocalypse Ark
1 Enoch 89:1 to 9
Tradition Deuterocanonical (Ethiopian Orthodox canon)
In Enoch's dream vision a white bull, Noah, is taught a secret, becomes a man and builds a great vessel for himself and three bulls. Torrents flood the enclosure, the other animals perish, and when the waters drain the vessel settles and they come out.
The vessel A great vessel, covered in: he “built for himself a great vessel and dwelt thereon” (89:1, Charles).
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Deuterocanonical
The Weak Vessel Ark
Wisdom of Solomon 14:1 to 7
Tradition Deuterocanonical
The passage contrasts a sailor who prays to a wooden idol with the providence that makes a safe path through the waves. It recalls that when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world escaped in a weak vessel and left a seed of generation to all ages.
The vessel “A weak vessel”, in which people entrust their lives “to a small piece of wood” (14:5, KJV Apocrypha).
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Hindu
Manu's Ship Voyaging ship
Shatapatha Brahmana I.8.1 (Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East vol. 12)
Tradition Hindu
A small fish comes into Manu's hands and promises to save him from a coming flood if he rears it. It grows into a great fish and tells him to build a ship. After the flood Manu makes offerings, a daughter is born to him, and through her he continues the human race.
The vessel A ship built on the fish's instruction and towed to the northern mountain: “to its horn he tied the rope of the ship”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Hindu
The Boat of the Matsya Purana Voyaging ship
Matsya Purana, chapters I to II
Tradition Hindu
King Manu finds a small fish that keeps growing, from a jar to a tank, to the Ganges and to the ocean. The fish warns of a deluge and is revealed as Vishnu. Their dialogue during the flood makes up the rest of the Purana.
The vessel A great boat carrying Manu with all kinds of living creatures and the seeds of plants. The serpent Shesha is the rope that fastens it to the horned fish. The sources disagree on who built it.
Sources Wikipedia: Matsya · Vaivasvata Manu · Matsya Purana
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Sumerian
The Huge Boat of Ziusudra Voyaging ship
The Sumerian flood tablet, one fragmentary Old Babylonian tablet of the 17th century BC, published by Arno Poebel in 1914
Tradition Sumerian
Enki warns Ziusudra to build a large vessel. A storm rages for seven days while “the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters”. When the sun appears Ziusudra opens a window and sacrifices an ox and a sheep, and is given eternal life in Dilmun.
The vessel A huge boat with a window. The passage with the building instructions is lost.
Sources Wikipedia: Ziusudra
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Babylonian
The Boat of Atrahasis Ark
Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian); dimensions from the Ark Tablet (c. 1900 to 1700 BCE) published by Irving Finkel
Tradition Babylonian
Enki warns Atrahasis to leave his house, build a ship and save his life. Atrahasis takes food, birds and animals aboard, and the flood lasts seven days.
The vessel The epic says to roof it like the Apsu. The Ark Tablet describes a round coracle about 230 feet across with walls about 20 feet high, of palm fibre rope sealed with bitumen, with the animals going in two by two.
Sources Wikipedia: Atra-Hasis · Biblical Archaeology Society
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Babylonian
The Boat of Utnapishtim Ark
Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI
Tradition Babylonian
The god Ea warns Utnapishtim to pull down his house, build a vessel and save life. He loads it with the seed of all living things, his family, cattle, wild beasts and craftsmen, and survives the flood.
The vessel A floor of one field (one iku, about an acre), walls of ten gar (about 120 cubits) and each side of the deck ten gar, so a cube. Six decks make seven levels, divided into nine compartments, sealed with bitumen and pitch.
Sources sacred-texts.com · ancienttexts.org · Wikipedia: Gilgamesh flood myth
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Greek
Deucalion's Chest Chest or basket
Apollodorus, Library 1.7.2
Tradition Greek
When Zeus sends the flood to destroy humankind, Deucalion builds a chest on Prometheus's advice and boards it with his wife Pyrrha. They float for nine days and nights and come to rest on Parnassus.
The vessel A chest (larnax) stocked with provisions, big enough for two. No other construction details.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
The Ark of Bulrushes Chest or basket
Exodus 2:1 to 10
Tradition Hebrew Bible
When she can no longer hide her infant son, his mother lays him in a small ark among the flags by the river. Pharaoh's daughter finds it while bathing, takes pity on the crying child and raises him as her son, Moses.
The vessel “An ark of bulrushes” daubed “with slime and with pitch” (2:3, KJV).
Sources Bible Gateway
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
Jonah's Ship to Tarshish Voyaging ship
Jonah 1:3 to 17
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Jonah flees from the Lord and pays his fare on a ship at Joppa bound for Tarshish. A great tempest threatens to break it; the mariners throw the cargo overboard and try to row to land while Jonah sleeps below. They cast him into the sea, the storm stops, and a great fish swallows him.
The vessel A merchant ship with a shipmaster, mariners, cargo and oars, “like to be broken” (1:4, KJV).
Sources Bible Gateway
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
Solomon's Fleet at Ezion-geber Fleet
1 Kings 9:26 to 28; 10:11 to 12
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Solomon builds a navy at Ezion-geber on the shore of the Red Sea. Hiram of Tyre sends experienced seamen to sail with Solomon's men. They reach Ophir and bring back 420 talents of gold, and later almug trees and precious stones.
The vessel A navy of ships crewed jointly, Hiram's men being “shipmen that had knowledge of the sea” (9:27, KJV).
Sources 1 Kings 9 · 1 Kings 10
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
The Ships of Tarshish Fleet
1 Kings 10:22
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Solomon keeps a navy of Tharshish at sea with the navy of Hiram. Once in three years it returns with exotic cargo for the king.
The vessel No construction given, only the cargo: “gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks” (KJV).
Sources 1 Kings 10
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
Jehoshaphat's Wrecked Ships Fleet
1 Kings 22:48 to 49 (22:49 to 50 in Hebrew numbering)
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, builds ships of Tharshish to fetch gold from Ophir, but they never sail. When Ahaziah offers to send his own servants with them, Jehoshaphat refuses.
The vessel “Ships of Tharshish”; “the ships were broken at Ezion-geber” (22:48, KJV).
Sources 1 Kings 22
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
Tyre, the Merchant Ship Symbolic ship
Ezekiel 27
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Ezekiel laments the city of Tyre as a splendid trading ship of perfect beauty. Her rowers bring her into great waters, the east wind breaks her, and her cargo and crew sink while the mariners of other ships mourn on the shore.
The vessel Planks of fir trees of Senir, masts of cedar from Lebanon, oars of oak from Bashan, benches of ivory, a sail of Egyptian “fine linen with broidered work” (27:7, KJV), awnings of blue and purple from Elishah; mariners from Zidon and Arvad, caulkers from Gebal.
Sources Ezekiel 27
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Hebrew Bible
They That Go Down to the Sea Voyaging ship
Psalm 107:23 to 30
Tradition Hebrew Bible
Merchants who “go down to the sea in ships” are tossed by a stormy wind until they are at their wits' end. They cry to the Lord, who makes the storm a calm and brings them to their desired haven.
The vessel Ships in general, used by those who do business in great waters.
Sources Psalm 107
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · Deuterocanonical
The Boats of Joppa Boat
2 Maccabees 12:3 to 6
Tradition Deuterocanonical
The people of Joppa invite the Jews living among them into boats with their wives and children, then drown at least two hundred of them. Judas attacks by night, burns the haven and sets the boats on fire.
The vessel Only “boats” at Joppa's haven (12:3, KJV Apocrypha).
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
Simon's Boat and the Great Catch Boat
Luke 5:1 to 11
Tradition New Testament
Jesus teaches the crowd from Simon's ship on the lake of Gennesaret, then tells him to let down the nets. After a fruitless night the catch breaks the net and fills both ships, and Simon, James and John leave everything to follow him.
The vessel Two fishing ships worked with nets by partners; laden with the catch they “began to sink” (5:7, KJV).
Sources Luke 5
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
The Storm Stilled Boat
Mark 4:35 to 41
Tradition New Testament
Crossing the sea at evening, with other little ships alongside, the boat fills in a great storm while Jesus sleeps. Woken, he rebukes the wind and says to the sea “Peace, be still”, and there is a great calm.
The vessel A boat with a hinder part, where Jesus lies “asleep on a pillow” (4:38, KJV); the waves beat in “so that it was now full” (4:37).
Sources Mark 4
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
Walking on the Water Boat
Matthew 14:22 to 33
Tradition New Testament
In the fourth watch of the night Jesus comes to the disciples' ship walking on the sea. Peter steps out and walks on the water, begins to sink when he sees the wind, and is caught. When they climb into the ship the wind ceases.
The vessel A ship “in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves” (14:24, KJV).
Sources Matthew 14
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
The Net of 153 Fish Boat
John 21:1 to 11
Tradition New Testament
Seven disciples fish all night on the sea of Tiberias and catch nothing. At dawn a figure on the shore tells them to cast on the right side, and they cannot haul the net for the fish. It is drawn to land holding 153 great fish and does not break.
The vessel A fishing ship, and “a little ship” in which the others come about two hundred cubits to land (21:8, KJV).
Sources John 21
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
Paul's Shipwreck Voyaging ship
Acts 27:1 to 28:1
Tradition New Testament
Paul sails for Italy as a prisoner. The wind Euroclydon drives the ship for many days; the crew cast out the tackling and the wheat. They run aground where two seas meet and all reach land safely on Melita (Malta).
The vessel An Alexandrian grain ship with “two hundred threescore and sixteen souls” (27:37, KJV), a small boat, undergirding helps, four anchors from the stern, rudder bands and a mainsail. The forepart sticks fast and the hinder part breaks up.
Sources Acts 27
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
The Ship of the Twin Brothers Voyaging ship
Acts 28:11 to 13
Tradition New Testament
After three months on Melita, Paul departs in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, by Syracuse and Rhegium to Puteoli.
The vessel A ship of Alexandria “whose sign was Castor and Pollux” (28:11, KJV), a figurehead of the Twin Brothers.
Sources Acts 28
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Bible · New Testament
The Mariners Mourning Babylon Fleet
Revelation 18:17 to 19
Tradition New Testament
As Babylon burns, every shipmaster, sailor and sea trader stands afar off, casts dust on their heads and laments the city through which all who had ships grew rich.
The vessel No single ship, only “all the company in ships” (18:17, KJV).
Sources Revelation 18
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Quran · Quran
Noah's Ship Ark
Surah Hud 11:37 to 44; Al-Mu'minun 23:27; Al-Qamar 54:11 to 15
Tradition Quran
Noah builds the ship under God's eyes while the chiefs of his people mock him. When the oven gushes water he loads two of every kind, his household and the believers, and his son stays behind. The ship sails amid waves like mountains and comes to rest upon al-Judi (11:44).
The vessel “A thing of planks and nails” (54:13, Pickthall), in Yusuf Ali's rendering broad planks caulked with palm fibre.
Sources Quran.com 11:37 to 44 · 23:27 · 54:11 to 15
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Quran · Quran
The Chest of Moses Chest or basket
Ta Ha 20:39; Al-Qasas 28:7
Tradition Quran
God inspires the mother of Moses to nurse him and, when she fears for him, to cast him into the river without fear or grief. The river casts him up on the bank, where an enemy of God and of Moses takes him up, and God promises to restore him to her.
The vessel A chest (tabut) placed in the river: “Throw him into the ark, and throw it into the river” (20:39, Pickthall). Yusuf Ali renders it “chest”.
Sources Quran.com 20:39 · 28:7
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Quran · Quran
The Ship That Was Holed Voyaging ship
Al-Kahf 18:71 and 18:79 (episode 18:65 to 82)
Tradition Quran
Moses travels with a servant of God, whom tradition names al-Khidr though the text does not. Once aboard a ship, the servant makes a hole in it and Moses protests. He later explains that the ship belonged to poor people working on the river, and he marred it because a king was seizing every ship by force.
The vessel A working river vessel owned by poor men: “there was a king behind them who is taking every ship by force” (18:79, Pickthall).
Sources Quran.com 18:71 to 82 · 18:79
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Quran · Quran
Jonah's Laden Ship Voyaging ship
As-Saffat 37:139 to 148
Tradition Quran
Jonah flees to a laden ship. Lots are drawn and he is among the losers, and the fish swallows him. He is later cast on a desert shore, a gourd tree grows over him, and he is sent to a hundred thousand people or more.
The vessel Only “the laden ship” (37:140, Pickthall).
Sources Quran.com 37:139 to 148
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Quran · Quran
Ships Like Mountains Fleet
Ash-Shura 42:32 to 33; Ar-Rahman 55:24
Tradition Quran
Ships on the sea are named among God's signs. If He wills, He calms the wind so that they lie still on the surface, and herein are signs for every steadfast, grateful heart.
The vessel Ships “smooth-running through the ocean, (tall) as mountains” (42:32, Yusuf Ali); Pickthall renders them “like banners” (55:24).
Sources Quran.com 42:32 · 55:24
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Talmud
The Sea Tales of Rabbah bar bar Hana Voyaging ship
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 73a to 74b (Rabbah bar bar Hana's own tales at 73b)
Tradition Talmud
On 73a Rabba relays seafarers' accounts of a wave that sinks ships and waves that lift a vessel toward the stars. On 73b Rabbah bar bar Hana tells how travellers cooked on a fish they took for an island until it turned over and their ship rescued them, and how a ship sailed three days between two fins of one fish. On 74a and 74b other sages add tales, among them a crate of jewels guarded by sharks.
The vessel Ordinary seagoing ships, not described. The tales are about what the crews meet. No quote: the English translations are still in copyright.
Sources Sefaria 73a · 73b · 74a · 74b
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Book of Mormon
Nephi's Ship Voyaging ship
1 Nephi 17:5 to 18:23
Tradition Book of Mormon
In the land of Bountiful, Nephi is commanded to build a ship and smelts ore for tools despite his brothers' mockery. When his brothers bind him at sea, the compass stops working and a tempest rises; once he is released he steers the ship to the promised land.
The vessel “Timbers of curious workmanship” (18:1), built not “after the manner of men” (18:2), its workmanship “exceedingly fine” (18:4), steered with a compass prepared of the Lord.
Sources 1 Nephi 17 · 1 Nephi 18
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Book of Mormon
The Jaredite Barges Fleet
Ether 2:16 to 25; 3:1 to 6; 6:2 to 12
Tradition Book of Mormon
The brother of Jared builds eight barges and asks how they will have light. The Lord touches sixteen clear stones, one set in each end of each vessel. Driven by a furious wind and often buried under the waves, the barges reach the promised land after 344 days.
The vessel Small, “light upon the water” like a fowl, “tight like unto a dish”, peaked at the ends, “the length of a tree” (2:17), with a hole top and bottom for air and no windows or fire.
Sources Ether 2 · Ether 3 · Ether 6
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Book of Mormon
Hagoth's Ship Voyaging ship
Alma 63:5 to 8
Tradition Book of Mormon
Hagoth, “an exceedingly curious man”, builds a very large ship and launches it into the west sea, and many Nephites sail northward in it. He builds more ships. Those aboard are never heard of again.
The vessel “An exceedingly large ship” (63:5). No other detail.
Sources Alma 63
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Bahá'í
The Crimson Ark Symbolic ship
Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 84, note 115
Tradition Bahá'í
Paragraph 84 praises the king who will arise to aid Bahá'u'lláh's Cause and numbers him among the companions of the Crimson Ark, the Ark God has prepared for the people of Bahá.
The vessel Symbolic, not a physical ship: note 115 explains that the Crimson Ark refers to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. No quote: the translation is still in copyright.
Sources Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Notes
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Ships of the Later Scriptures · Bahá'í
The Tablet of the Holy Mariner Symbolic ship
Bahá'u'lláh, Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds, Baghdad, Naw-Rúz 1863
Tradition Bahá'í
Revealed in Bahá'u'lláh's tent outside Baghdad and chanted to the believers gathered outside, the tablet bids a divine Mariner launch the ark of eternity upon the ancient sea. 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote that it foretold future events.
The vessel A spiritual ark of eternity, with no physical description.
Sources Bahá'í Prayers · Bahaipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Egyptian
The Barques of Ra, Mandjet and Mesektet Boat of a god
Book of the Dead, chapter 136; the Amduat (earliest complete copy in KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III)
Tradition Egyptian
Ra crosses the sky by day in the Mandjet and the underworld by night in the Mesektet, through twelve gates or hours. Every night the serpent Apep attacks the boat, and at dawn Ra emerges again. Book of the Dead 136 gives the formula for the dead to join the crew: “I sail in it with Ra”.
The vessel Two sun boats: the Mandjet, the Boat of Millions of Years, by day; the Mesektet, carrying the ram headed Ra, by night. In the Amduat's fourth hour, a desert with no water, the barque becomes a double headed, fire breathing serpent.
Sources UCL Digital Egypt · Wikipedia: Solar barque · Amduat
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Egyptian
The Neshmet Barque of Osiris Boat of a god
Cult of Abydos; Stela of Ikhernofret, Berlin 1204
Tradition Egyptian
At the festival of Osiris at Abydos, the god's journey from his temple to his tomb and his return were acted out before crowds. The Ikhernofret Stela records the funeral procession of Osiris in the Neshmet barque.
The vessel The sacred river barque that carried Osiris in procession. Having one built was recorded as a good deed in tomb inscriptions.
Sources Wikipedia: Neshmet · Ikhernofret Stela
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Egyptian, as told by Plutarch
The Papyrus Boat of Isis Boat
De Iside et Osiride, sections 13, 15 and 18
Tradition Egyptian, as told by Plutarch
Seth shuts Osiris in an ornamented chest and sends it down the Nile to the sea; it comes ashore at Byblos. Later Isis searches for the scattered parts of his body, “sailing through the swamps in a boat of papyrus” (section 18).
The vessel A papyrus boat. Plutarch says this is why crocodiles do not harm people who sail in such boats.
Sources LacusCurtius
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Egyptian
The Ferry of Mahaf Ferry of the dead
Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead (earliest drawing in the Papyrus of Ani)
Tradition Egyptian
Mahaf, “he who sees behind him”, captains the boat of Aken that carries the dead into the underworld. The dead must ask him to wake Aken so the boat will come, and he questions them on their worthiness.
The vessel A ferry boat steered by a ferryman drawn sitting with his head turned backward.
Sources Ancient Egypt Online · Wikipedia: Celestial Ferryman
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Sumerian
The Barge of Suen Boat of a god
Nanna-Suen's journey to Nibru, ETCSL 1.5.1
Tradition Sumerian
The moon god builds a barge and sails to Nibru with offerings for Enlil. At each city goddesses come out to welcome it, and the boat answers “I am going to Nibru!” Enlil grants him the carp flood, barley, fish, wine and long life (lines 340 to 348).
The vessel Built from materials gathered far and wide, reeds from Tummal and pitch from the abzu, with rushes, strakes, ribbing, planking and forest timber (lines 39 to 58).
Sources ETCSL 1.5.1
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Babylonian
Urshanabi's Ferry Ferry of the dead
Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablets X and XI
Tradition Babylonian
Gilgamesh seeks Utnapishtim beyond the sea. The boatman Urshanabi takes him across the Waters of Death, but Gilgamesh has destroyed the boat's gear, so he cuts punting poles and uses each in turn, up to the twelfth. Urshanabi later takes him home.
The vessel A boat pushed across the Waters of Death by punting poles, each five gar long with knobs of bitumen.
Sources sacred-texts.com X · XI
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Greek and Roman
Charon's Ferry Ferry of the dead
Virgil, Aeneid 6.299 and 6.383 ff; Aristophanes, Frogs 180 ff; Apuleius, The Golden Ass 6.18 ff
Tradition Greek and Roman
Charon ferries the souls of the dead across the waters of the underworld for a fare: two obols in Aristophanes, one coin in Apuleius. In Frogs he makes Dionysus row. In the Aeneid the boat sinks low under one living man, Aeneas.
The vessel Virgil's rust coloured wherry, a ramshackle craft that creaks under Aeneas and lets in muddy water at the seams, yet holds whole nations of the dead. Aristophanes calls it a wee boat.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Greek
The Golden Cup of Helios Boat of a god
Stesichorus; Apollodorus, Library 2.5.10; Aeschylus
Tradition Greek
Every night the Sun sails across Ocean in a golden vessel back to the east. Heracles, scorched on his way to take Geryon's cattle, aims his bow at the god, who admires his daring and lends him the cup to cross Ocean. Heracles gives it back.
The vessel A cup of solid gold (Stesichorus), a golden goblet (Apollodorus) or a golden bowl (Aeschylus), made by Hephaestus according to theoi.com.
Sources theoi.com: Helios · Apollodorus 2
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Baltic (Latvian and Lithuanian)
Saulė's Golden Boat Boat of a god
Latvian folk songs (dainas)
Tradition Baltic (Latvian and Lithuanian)
At evening the sun goddess hangs her sparkling crown on a tree and steps into a golden boat to sail through the World Sea by night, when “the Sun swims her horses”.
The vessel A golden or silver boat that takes the place of her chariot at night.
Sources Wikipedia: Saulė
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Dayak (Borneo)
The Ship of the Dead of Tempon Telon Ferry of the dead
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, a dated compilation
Tradition Dayak (Borneo)
At the feast of the dead, provisions are laid out for the souls' journey. The ship carries the departed through the fire sea to the golden shores of the blessed.
The vessel Usually shown as a bird, a hornbill, with Tempon Telon at the helm.
Sources Encyclopedia.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Classic Maya
The Canoe of the Paddler Gods Canoe
Incised bones, Burial 116, Tikal; David Stuart, Maya Decipherment, 28 July 2016
Tradition Classic Maya
Two gods, the Jaguar Paddler and the Spine Paddler with a stingray spine through his nose, paddle a canoe carrying the Maize God, with a parrot, a monkey, an iguana and another animal, into the waters of the underworld.
The vessel A canoe paddled at bow and stern by the two gods.
Sources Maya Decipherment
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Norse
Hringhorni Voyaging ship
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning, chapter 49 (Brodeur)
Tradition Norse
After Baldr's death the gods mean to launch his ship as his funeral pyre, but it will not move. The giantess Hyrrokkin pushes it out with one shove, so that fire bursts from the rollers and all lands tremble.
The vessel Baldr's own ship: “it was greatest of all ships”, launched on rollers.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead · Arthurian
The Black Boat to Avalon Boat
Vulgate Mort Artu; Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur
Tradition Arthurian
After Camlann, Morgan and other enchantress queens, three, four or many depending on the version, come to carry the dying Arthur to Avalon. In Malory he is last seen in Morgan's lap as the boat leaves.
The vessel Malory's black boat, crewed by grieving queens in black hoods.
Sources Wikipedia: Avalon · Morgan le Fay
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Argo Voyaging ship
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16
Tradition Greek
Argus builds the Argo on Athena's advice to carry Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis for the Golden Fleece. It passes the Clashing Rocks, which stay fixed ever after. Stranded in Libya, the crew carry it on their shoulders for twelve days. It is dedicated to Poseidon at the Isthmus and becomes the constellation Argo Navis.
The vessel Fifty oars, all manned by the Argonauts. Athena fits a speaking timber from the oak of Dodona into the prow.
Sources Wikipedia: Argo · theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Odysseus's Raft Raft or coracle
Homer, Odyssey 5.244 to 312
Tradition Greek
On Calypso's island Odysseus builds a raft in four days and sails on the fifth with a fair wind. Poseidon's storm wrecks it and he drifts to the land of the Phaeacians.
The vessel Twenty trees felled with a double bladed bronze axe, trimmed with an adze, bored and pinned with pegs and joints, with a sail from cloth Calypso gives him.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Odysseus's Black Ship Voyaging ship
Homer, Odyssey 10 and 12
Tradition Greek
Within sight of Ithaca the crew open Aeolus's bag of winds and are blown back. At the Laestrygonian harbour the other eleven ships are smashed and only this one escapes. It carries him past the Sirens, but after the crew eat the cattle of Helios, Zeus destroys it.
The vessel A black, hollow, oared ship, with the mast step where Odysseus stands bound past the Sirens.
Sources Odyssey 10 · Odyssey 12
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Phaeacian Ship Voyaging ship
Homer, Odyssey 8.550 to 571; 13.85 to 89 and 13.162 to 164
Tradition Greek
Phaeacian ships need no pilots because they know the thoughts of men and every city. One carries the sleeping Odysseus home to Ithaca, faster than a hawk. On its way back Poseidon turns it to stone.
The vessel No pilots and no steering oars, hidden in mist and cloud, and at speed it springs forward like four yoked stallions.
Sources Odyssey 8 · Odyssey 13
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Ship of Theseus Voyaging ship
Plutarch, Life of Theseus 23.1
Tradition Greek
Theseus sails home from Crete after killing the Minotaur but forgets to change the black sails for white. His father Aegeus throws himself into the sea, which takes his name. Athens keeps the ship for centuries, replacing its planks as they decay, and it becomes the classic puzzle about identity.
The vessel A ship of thirty oars. Plutarch quotes Simonides that the second sail was scarlet, dyed with the flower of the holm oak.
Sources Wikipedia: Ship of Theseus
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Tyrrhenian Pirates' Ship Voyaging ship
Homeric Hymn 7, To Dionysus
Tradition Greek
Pirates seize the young Dionysus. Wine streams through the ship, a vine and ivy spread over sail and mast, and the god becomes a lion in the bows. The sailors leap overboard and become dolphins; only the helmsman is spared.
The vessel A well decked black ship with sail, mast and forepeak, hung with a fruiting vine and twined with ivy.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Roman
Aeneas's Ships That Became Sea Nymphs Fleet
Virgil, Aeneid 9.77 to 122
Tradition Roman
The Trojan fleet was built from Cybele's sacred pines on Mount Ida. When Turnus tries to burn it, each ship tears loose, dives like a dolphin and rises as a sea nymph.
The vessel Ships of the pines of Cybele's forest on the summit of Ida.
Sources Aeneid IX
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Roman
The Ships of the Boat Race Fleet
Virgil, Aeneid 5.104 to 243 and 5.664 to 699
Tradition Roman
At the funeral games for Anchises four ships race around a rock; Sergestus strikes the reef and Cloanthus wins. Later the Trojan women set the fleet alight, and Jupiter's rain saves every ship except four.
The vessel Gyas's Chimaera, huge like a floating city, with oars in three tiers; the others are the Pristis, the Centaur and the Scylla.
Sources Aeneid V
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Chest of Danaë and Perseus Chest or basket
Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1; Aeschylus, fragment 274
Tradition Greek
Acrisius shuts his daughter Danaë and her baby Perseus in a chest and throws it into the sea. It washes up on Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictys hauls it in with his net and raises the boy.
The vessel A chest, which Dictys finds tremendously heavy.
Sources theoi.com: Danaë · Apollodorus 2
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Ship of Danaus Voyaging ship
Apollodorus, Library 2.1.4
Tradition Greek
In conflict with his brother Aegyptus, Danaus builds a ship on Athena's advice and flees with his daughters aboard. Apollodorus says he was the first to build a ship.
The vessel The first ship ever built. No size or oar count given.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
Paris's Ships Fleet
Homer, Iliad 5.59 ff
Tradition Greek
The craftsman Phereclus built the ships that carried Paris to take Helen. Homer calls them the source of ills for all the Trojans, and for Phereclus, who dies in battle.
The vessel “Shapely ships”, by a craftsman skilled in every kind of intricate work.
Sources Iliad 5
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Achaean Fleet at Aulis Fleet
Homer, Iliad 2.494 to 759
Tradition Greek
The Greek fleet gathers at Aulis before sailing for Troy. In later tradition it sails only after Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia. The Catalogue lists 29 contingents under 46 captains.
The vessel 1,186 ships: 100 under Agamemnon, 90 under Nestor, 80 under Diomedes; 120 men in each Boeotian ship; 50 archer oarsmen in each of Philoctetes' seven.
Sources Wikipedia: Catalogue of Ships
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea · Greek
The Wrecked Fleet of Ajax the Lesser Fleet
The primary text is not named on the page checked
Tradition Greek
At the fall of Troy, Ajax son of Oileus seizes Cassandra inside Athena's sanctuary. Because the Greeks do not punish him, Athena wrecks their fleet on the way home and Ajax drowns.
The vessel The homeward Greek fleet; no description.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Irish
Scuab Tuinne, the Wave Sweeper Raft or coracle
Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann (The Fate of the Children of Tuireann)
Tradition Irish
The boat of the sea god Manannán mac Lir, on loan to Lugh. Lugh lends it to the sons of Tuireann for their quest, and they direct it to the Garden of the Hesperides and sail swiftly away with the spoil.
The vessel A boat that sails wherever its passengers direct it, though even the Wave Sweeper could not reach the Island of Fianchuivé beneath the sea.
Sources Wikipedia: Manannán · sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Irish
The Coracles of Bran Raft or coracle
Immram Brain (The Voyage of Bran), late 7th or early 8th century
Tradition Irish
A woman with a silver branch sends Bran to sea. Manannán tells them the water they row over is for him a flowery plain. At the Land of Women a year passes for them and many years in Ireland; on return Nechtán leaps ashore and turns to ashes.
The vessel Coracles rowed by three companies of nine men, 27 in all. The queen draws their boat ashore with a magic ball of yarn.
Sources Wikipedia: Voyage of Bran
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Irish
The Curragh of Máel Dúin Raft or coracle
Immram Curaig Maíle Dúin (Lebor na hUidre; Yellow Book of Lecan)
Tradition Irish
Máel Dúin sails to avenge his father. A druid limits the crew, but three foster brothers join anyway and upset the voyage. After more than thirty wondrous islands they reach the murderers' island and all make peace.
The vessel A curragh, the Irish hide boat. The pages checked do not describe how it was built.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Irish
The Currach of the Uí Chorra Raft or coracle
Immram Curaig Ua Corra
Tradition Irish
Three brothers set out into the Atlantic in penance, travel from island to island, and settle on the coast of Iberia, where they build a church.
The vessel A small currach carrying nine: the three brothers, a bishop, a priest, a deacon, a musician and the craftsman who built it.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Irish Christian legend
The Currach of Saint Brendan Raft or coracle
Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, c. AD 900
Tradition Irish Christian legend
Brendan sails with sixteen monks to seek the Promised Land of the Saints. The best known episode is a landing on an island that turns out to be a sea monster, Jasconius. Tim Severin later sailed a leather boat built to this description from Ireland to the New World.
The vessel Wattle covered with hides tanned in oak bark and softened with butter, with tar on the seams.
Sources Wikipedia: Saint Brendan · Currach
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Welsh, Arthurian
Prydwen Voyaging ship
Preiddeu Annwfn (Book of Taliesin); Culhwch and Olwen
Tradition Welsh, Arthurian
Arthur sails in Prydwen to Annwn, the otherworld, to rescue a prisoner and take the pearl rimmed cauldron. Three boatloads set out and only seven men return. In Culhwch and Olwen Arthur's men sail it to Ireland.
The vessel Arthur's ship, the name taken to mean “fair face”. Geoffrey of Monmouth later gave the name to Arthur's shield.
Sources Wikipedia: Prydwen · Preiddeu Annwfn
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Arthurian
The Ship to the Isle of Apples Voyaging ship
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini, 1150 or 1151
Tradition Arthurian
Taliesin tells Merlin of the island of apples where Morgen tends the wounded Arthur, reached by sea.
The vessel A ship steered by Barinthus, who has been identified with the Barrintus who told Saint Brendan of a wonderful island.
Sources Wikipedia: Vita Merlini
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Arthurian
The Ship of Solomon Voyaging ship
The Grail quest (Queste del Saint Graal tradition)
Tradition Arthurian
Perceval's sister leads Galahad, Bors and Perceval aboard the magical Ship of Solomon, which carries them to the holy city of Sarras.
The vessel A magical ship; Edwin Austin Abbey's mural shows three spindles on the stern for the Tree of Life.
Sources Wikipedia: Perceval's sister · Digital Commonwealth
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Celtic Voyages and the Round Table · Arthurian, Cornish and Breton
Tristan's Ship of White and Black Sails Voyaging ship
Tristan, version of Thomas of Britain
Tradition Arthurian, Cornish and Breton
Dying, Tristan asks for white sails if Iseult is aboard and black if not. His jealous wife lies about the colour, and he dies of grief.
The vessel A ship whose sails signal from afar whether Iseult is aboard, an echo of the Theseus story.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Norse
Skíðblaðnir Voyaging ship
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning, chapter 43
Tradition Norse
The sons of Ívaldi, dwarves, make the ship and give it to the god Freyr. It is called the best of ships and the one made with most skill.
The vessel Big enough for all the Æsir with their weapons, with a fair wind as soon as the sail is up; when not needed it “may be folded together like a napkin”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Norse
Naglfar Voyaging ship
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning, chapters 43 and 51
Tradition Norse
The largest ship, belonging to Múspell. At Ragnarök it breaks loose, with the giant Hrym as captain.
The vessel Made from the untrimmed nails of the dead, which is why no one should die with uncut nails.
Sources Wikipedia: Naglfar
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Finnish
Väinämöinen's Boat Built by Song Boat
Kalevala, Runes XVI and XVII (Crawford)
Tradition Finnish
An oak agrees to give its wood, and Väinämöinen builds the boat by song but lacks three words. He seeks them in Tuonela, then from the giant singer Antero Vipunen, who has swallowed him, and finishes the boat.
The vessel “Built the boat with magic only, / And with magic launched his vessel”.
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Finnish
The War Boat and the Great Pike Boat
Kalevala, Rune XL
Tradition Finnish
Sailing for Pohjola, the boat stops dead on the back of a giant pike. Väinämöinen kills it with his fire sword and makes the first kantele from its jawbones.
The vessel Väinämöinen's boat, stranded “upon the back and shoulders / Of the mighty pike of Northland”.
Sources Rune XL
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Finnish
Väinämöinen's Copper Boat Boat
Kalevala, closing poem
Tradition Finnish
At the end of the Kalevala Väinämöinen sings himself a boat and sails away from the mortal world, promising to return.
The vessel A boat of copper, made by song.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Russian
The Ships of Sadko Fleet
Russian bylina (oral epic poem)
Tradition Russian
The merchant and gusli player Sadko fails to honour the Sea Tsar, who stops his ships and demands a man. Sadko draws the lot, plays for the Tsar under the sea, and wakes at home on Saint Nicholas's advice.
The vessel A merchant fleet held still in open sea.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · Norse
Ellida Voyaging ship
Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar (c. 1300); Tegnér, Frithiof's Saga (1825)
Tradition Norse
The sea god Ægir gives the ship to Viking, and it passes to Frithiof. In a sorcerous storm it cleaves a troll whale and comes through unharmed.
The vessel In Tegnér, a dragon ship big as a fortress and faster than an eagle, its planks grown together rather than nailed, with red jaws gleaming with gold, a body speckled blue and gold, a tail of silver scales and black sails edged with gold.
Sources Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Northern Seas · European maritime legend
The Flying Dutchman Voyaging ship
Barrington, A Voyage to Botany Bay (1795); Blackwood's Magazine (1821)
Tradition European maritime legend
A Dutch ship lost off the Cape of Good Hope is seen again in storms. Blackwood's names the captain Hendrick van der Decken, who swore to beat about the Cape “till the day of judgment”. On 11 July 1881 the log of the ship carrying the future George V recorded “a strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow”.
The vessel A phantom ship that glows in storms and vanishes when approached.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Hindu
The Ship of Bhujyu Voyaging ship
Rigveda 1.116.3 to 5 (Griffith)
Tradition Hindu
Tugra abandons his son Bhujyu in the ocean “as a dead man leaves his riches”. The twin gods, the Ashvins, rescue him and carry him home across a sea that offers no support or hold.
The vessel Living vessels that travel through the air without being wetted by the waves; Bhujyu is finally “borne in a ship with hundred oars”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Hindu
Vidura's Boat Boat
Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Section CLI (Ganguli)
Tradition Hindu
The Pandavas escape the burning house of lac through a secret tunnel with their mother Kunti. At the Ganges a man sent by Vidura has a boat ready and carries them across.
The vessel “A boat with engines and flags”, built by trusted craftsmen, able to withstand wind and wave, as fast as the tempest or thought.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Hindu
Guha's Boat on the Ganges Boat
Ramayana, Book II, Canto LII (Griffith)
Tradition Hindu
Guha, king of the boatmen, has a boat made ready for the exiled Rama. Lakshmana helps Sita aboard; midstream Sita prays to the goddess of the river, and they land on the far shore.
The vessel A boat with rudder, oars and crew: “A boat,” he cried, “swift, strong, and fair”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Buddhist
The Raft of the Dhamma Symbolic ship
Majjhima Nikaya 22, Alagaddupama Sutta (Sujato)
Tradition Buddhist
A traveller reaches a great flood with no boat or bridge, binds a raft and crosses. On the far shore he leaves the raft behind instead of carrying it, and the Buddha likens his teaching to this raft.
The vessel Grass, sticks, branches and leaves, paddled with hands and feet: a teaching “for crossing over, not for holding on”.
Sources SuttaCentral
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Buddhist
The Ship of Suppāraka Voyaging ship
Jataka 463 (Cowell, vol. IV)
Tradition Buddhist
The blind master mariner Suppāraka pilots merchants through a series of marvellous seas to the perilous Vaḷabhāmukha. He makes a solemn act of truth and the ship returns to Bharukaccha in a single day.
The vessel A merchant ship with seven hundred aboard, which comes back laden with treasure and glides over dry land to the mariner's door.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Buddhist
The Wreck of Mahājanaka Voyaging ship
Jataka 539 (Cowell, vol. VI)
Tradition Buddhist
Prince Mahājanaka sails to win back his father's kingdom and the ship sinks in mid ocean. He oils his clothes, leaps clear from the mast and swims for seven days until the sea goddess Maṇimekhalā carries him to a mango grove near Mithilā.
The vessel A trading ship with seven caravans and their beasts aboard; as it sinks, “the mast stood upright”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Jain
The Boat of the Body Symbolic ship
Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 23.70 to 73 (Jacobi)
Tradition Jain
Kesi asks Gautama how he will reach the far shore in a boat drifting on an ocean of currents. Gautama answers that a leaking boat will not arrive but a sound one will.
The vessel “The body is the boat, life is the sailor”; the ocean is the Circle of Births.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Sikh
The Bohith of the Guru Symbolic ship
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 17 (Guru Nanak)
Tradition Sikh
Gurbani describes the Guru as the ship that carries the seeker across the world ocean of birth and death.
The vessel The bohith, the ship, is the Guru: “Gur sar saagar bohitho” (Ang 17). Image rule: ship only, no human figures.
Sources SriGranth Ang 17
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Taoist
The Empty Boat Symbolic ship
Zhuangzi, chapter 20, The Mountain Tree (paraphrased; no public domain translation reached)
Tradition Taoist
A man crossing a river is struck by an empty drifting boat and is not angry; had someone been aboard, he would have shouted. The ruler of Lu is urged to empty himself in the same way.
The vessel Two boats: the traveller's craft of two hulls lashed together, and the empty boat with no one aboard.
Sources 26reads
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Shinto
The Reed Boat of Hiruko Boat
Kojiki, Section IV (Chamberlain)
Tradition Shinto
The leech child, first born of Izanagi and Izanami, is not counted among their children and is set adrift.
The vessel “This child they placed in a boat of reeds, and let it float away.”
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Shinto
Bird's Rock Camphor Tree Boat Boat of a god
Kojiki, Section VI (Chamberlain)
Tradition Shinto
Among the deities born to Izanagi and Izanami after the islands is one who is itself a boat.
The vessel A divine vessel named for the swiftness of a bird and a hull hard as rock of camphor wood, also called the Heavenly Bird Boat, Ame no tori fune.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Japanese folk belief
Takarabune, the Treasure Ship Voyaging ship
Folk belief and woodblock prints, from the Muromachi period
Tradition Japanese folk belief
The Seven Lucky Gods sail the Takarabune into port in the first three days of the New Year. A print of it under the pillow on the night of 2 January brings a lucky first dream.
The vessel Laden with the hat of invisibility, rolls of brocade, an inexhaustible purse, a magic mallet and a fortune bag; prints often add a crane and a turtle.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
India, China and Japan · Shinto
The Seed Pod Boat of Sukunabikona Boat
Kojiki and Nihon Shoki
Tradition Shinto
Ōkuninushi sees a tiny boat on the waves at Miho Bay carrying a god no bigger than a thumb, who bites his cheek and will not give his name until the scarecrow god names him.
The vessel A boat made from the seed pod of a Metaplexis plant.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
Te Waka a Māui, the Canoe of Māui Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori
Māui hides in his brothers' canoe with an enchanted hook and fishes up the North Island. The South Island has since been known as his canoe, and Stewart Island as his anchor.
The vessel “His waka became the South Island, Te Waka-ā-Māui” (Te Ara).
Sources Te Ara: Waka · Te Ara 1966
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
The Canoe of Aoraki Canoe
South Island oral tradition
Tradition Māori
Aoraki and his three brothers, sons of Rakinui the Sky Father, run aground on a reef. They climb to the upper side, where the south wind turns them to stone: Aoraki the highest peak, his brothers the Southern Alps.
The vessel The stranded canoe became the South Island, its prows the Marlborough Sounds.
Sources Wikipedia: Aoraki
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (Tainui iwi)
Tainui Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara, Canoe traditions
Tradition Māori (Tainui iwi)
Under the chief Hoturoa, Tainui leaves Hawaiki about 800 years ago, is carried overland into Manukau Harbour, and comes to rest at Kāwhia.
The vessel Built by Rakātaura from a great tree with three sacred adzes, about thirty cubits (13.5 metres), with a small outrigger and three sails; buried at Maketū marae, Kāwhia.)
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (Te Arawa iwi)
Te Arawa Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori (Te Arawa iwi)
Captain Tamatekapua takes Ngātoroirangi from the Tainui canoe as his navigator, and the canoe reaches Maketū in the Bay of Plenty.
The vessel A voyaging canoe saved at sea by a shark (arawa), after which it is named.
Sources Te Ara
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori (several tribes)
Tākitimu Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori (several tribes)
Tamatea Arikinui brings Tākitimu from Hawaiki to Tauranga. In one account Tahu Pōkai takes it on to the Arahura River, where it turns to stone.
The vessel A tapu canoe: no cooked food aboard, and all chips and sawdust from its building ritually burnt.
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Māori
Matahourua, the Canoe of Kupe Canoe
Oral tradition; Te Ara
Tradition Māori
Kupe finds Aotearoa in this canoe, in some accounts chasing the great octopus Te Wheke a Muturangi. It is later re adzed in the Hokianga and renamed Ngātokimatawhaorua.
The vessel Owned by Kupe's wife Kuramārōtini; Wikipedia describes an open ocean catamaran for about 25 people.
Sources Te Ara · Wikipedia: Kupe
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Hawaiian
The Canoe of Māui and the Hook Mānaiakalani Canoe
Westervelt, Legends of Maui (1910)
Tradition Hawaiian
Māui baits his magic hook with his mother Hina's sacred bird and hooks land from the sea floor. A brother looks back, the line breaks, and the land rises as separate islands.
The vessel A fishing canoe paddled by the brothers.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Hawaiian
Honuaiakea, the Canoe of Pele Canoe
Beckwith, Hawaiian Mythology, ch. XI; US National Park Service
Tradition Hawaiian
Pele sails from Kahiki to Hawaiʻi with her siblings, carrying her sister Hiʻiaka as an egg, chased by the waves of her sister Nāmakaokahaʻi, and settles at Halemaʻumaʻu.
The vessel A canoe named “the great expansive earth”, with Kamohoaliʻi as steersman and Tide and Current as paddlers.
Sources NPS · sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Mexica
The Boat from Aztlán Boat
Codex Boturini, first page
Tradition Mexica
At Huitzilopochtli's command, a priest leads the ancestor Chimalma away from Aztlán by boat, and the migration begins.
The vessel A boat drawn in the painted manuscript, crossing water.
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Aztec
The Raft of Serpents Raft or coracle
Florentine Codex (Anderson and Dibble)
Tradition Aztec
Leaving Tula, Quetzalcoatl reaches the sea and sets off towards Tlapallan; the text says his arrival is unknown.
The vessel “Then he made a raft of serpents ... as if it were his boat.”
Sources Purdue · Mexicolore
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Pacific and the Americas · Inuit
The Boat of Sedna's Father Boat
Oral tradition (Boas and others)
Tradition Inuit
A girl is thrown overboard and, as she clings to the gunwale, her fingers are cut off. They become seals and other sea animals, and she sinks to become a great spirit of the sea.
The vessel Her father's boat in Boas's version; no further description.)
Sources Wikipedia
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Explore Sacred Ships by chapter
- The Flood Ships9 ships
- Ships of the Bible15 ships
- Ships of the Quran5 ships
- Ships of the Later Scriptures6 ships
- Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead13 ships
- Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea13 ships
- Celtic Voyages and the Round Table9 ships
- The Northern Seas8 ships
- India, China and Japan13 ships
- The Pacific and the Americas11 ships