It’s that time of year again and with it comes the music. Every year I hear a song called “I Saw Three Ships”. In said song there is a line:
“And what what in those ships a-three …
Our Savior, Christ, and his Lady …”
Can someone help me out here. I don’t recall ever hearing any Christmas stories, tales, myths, whatever, involving Christ taking a boat trip with a Lady. I have, in the past, searched the Internet, asked ministers and friends with no luck. No one seems to know the origin of this lyric. Catchy tune though…
Never having heard the song I have no idea. But can I hazard a guess to the Three wise men and their accompanying three camels (ships of the desert)? Does this fit the context?
Then, Why are Camels called the ships of the desert?
I know several different answers for this one…
FloChi
Camels? Interesting idea, but I don’t think it fits the whole text. Here’s some more of it:
1 I saw three ships come sailing in
2 On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
3 I saw three ships come sailing in
4 On Christmas day in the morning.
5 And what was in those ships all three,
6 On Christmas day, on Christmas day?
7 And what was in those ships all three,
8 On Christmas day in the morning?
9 Our Saviour Christ and his lady,
10 On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
11 Our Saviour Christ and his lady,
12 On Christmas day in the morning.
13 Pray whither sailed those ships all three,
14 On Christmas day, on Christmas day?
15 Pray whither sailed those ships all three,
16 On Christmas day in the morning?
17 O they sailed into Bethlehem,
18 On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
19 O they sailed into Bethlehem,
20 On Christmas day in the morning.
I believe the line about Christ and his lady being “in” the ships eliminates the wise men/camel thing.
It’s an obscure passage in the Bible that is played down by the Church. They’d take these cruises, see? and once you got past the three-mile limit it was “anything goes”. Drinking, gambling, bad shows. And you can get around the fornication laws. The “Lady” is probably someone he picked up at the ship’s bar.
Okay, seriously: Could the Lady be his mother, Mary?
From Google: a theory that it’s either a weird hallucinatory image brought on by ergotism, or something to do with Mary, Mary Magdalen, the other Mary (help me out here) and Joseph of Arimathea sailing to Provence after the Crucifixion.
I think it’s just a nice image — Christ and Mary sailing in three boats (possibly representing the Trinity). Perhaps the boats represent the giver, and their occupants the gift?
I certainly doubt that it is meant to represent a real boat trip.
It’s obviously not meant to be taken literally. If you look at a map, you will find that it would be rather difficult for a ship to sail into Bethlehem.
Tansu’s link is from singer Bruce Cockburn. I can’t tell whether he was the first one to articulate this theory. He seems rather tongue-in-cheek about it, so I don’t think it was ever a serious theory. The lyrics he recorded are different from the OP’s, but that’s to be expected in a traditional medieval carol. His version has Joseph in the ship. There is also an excerpt from an NPR interview in which he repeats the stuff about ergot and camels.
