# Christmas Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331 "2000-12-19T12:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WashU77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@WashU77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WashU77)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/1 "2000-12-19T12:39:20Z")
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… Anyway, can someone illuminate this mystery? Thanks and happy holidays. -bs- ---
**Author:** ![FloChi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@FloChi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloChi)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/2 "2000-12-19T13:21:56Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![WashU77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@WashU77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WashU77)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/3 "2000-12-19T13:39:27Z")
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. I got the above excerpt from: [http://prod.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/anon\_christ3.html](http://prod.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/anon_christ3.html) You can see the rest there if you are so inclined. -bs- ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/4 "2000-12-19T13:45:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t recall _ever_ hearing any Christmas stories, tales… involving Christ taking a boat trip with a Lady. 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? > [@](#): > > Why are Camels called the ships of the desert? It’s an old joke, but _somebody_ had to ask it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/5 "2000-12-19T14:47:18Z")
From Google: [a theory](http://cockburnproject.net/songs&music/ists.html) 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. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/6 "2000-12-19T14:52:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/7 "2000-12-19T15:10:26Z")
**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. Here’s the entire NPR interview. [http://www.kingsfield.com/cockburn/archives/articles/npr2.htm](http://www.kingsfield.com/cockburn/archives/articles/npr2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/8 "2000-12-19T15:37:40Z")
Yes, the excerpt from the interview did seem a bit tongue-in-cheek — I should have mentioned that, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-question/46331/9 "2000-12-21T15:44:31Z")
> [@](#): > > a weird hallucinatory image… from a recent low-budget movie about a ship: “I’m flying, Jesus!”