The Northern Seas
Norse, Finnish, Russian and European sea legends: a ship that folds like a napkin, a ship made of dead men’s nails, a boat built by song, and the Flying Dutchman.
This chapter of Sacred Ships holds 8 ships. For each one we give the source, what happens, and only what the text itself says about the vessel. See all 102 ships on one page.
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 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.
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