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I saw three ships come sailing by,
Come sailing by, come sailing by;
I saw three ships come sailing by,
On New Year’s Day in the morning.

And what do you think was in them then,
Was in them then, was in them then?
And what do you think was in them then,
On New Year’s Day in the morning?

Three pretty girls were in them then,
Were in them then, were in them then.
Three pretty girls were in them then,
On New Year’s Day in the morning.

One could whistle, and one could sing,
The other could play on the violin.
Such joy there was at my wedding,
On New Year’s Day in the morning.

Origins

This rhyme belongs to the family of songs better known as “I Saw Three Ships.” Its roots go back to at least the 17th century, when chapbook versions began circulating in England. By the early 19th century, it appeared in William Sandys’ Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern (1833), which cemented its place in the holiday songbook.

Where the image of the “three ships” came from is debated. Some suggest it refers to the relics of the Three Wise Men, said to have been brought by ship to Cologne Cathedral during the Middle Ages. Others think of the “ships of the desert” — camels — described poetically as sailing through sand. In any case, the verse was never meant to be geographical. Bethlehem has no port, after all. The song is more about imagination and symbolism than fact.

Meaning

The New Year’s Day version of the song takes a more secular turn. Instead of Magi or Mary, the ships carry “three pretty girls” who can whistle, sing, and play the violin. The final stanza ties the whole vision to a wedding celebration. In this form, the rhyme works as a lively folk ballad, filled with music, dancing, and festivity rather than religious imagery.

The meaning is simple: it’s about joy arriving from afar, carried in on ships that bring music and companionship. It reflects the old belief that the New Year should be welcomed with merriment and signs of good fortune.

Variants

This is a rhyme with many faces.

• The most famous is the Christmas carol version: “I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas Day in the morning.” That’s the one sung in churches and choirs today.

• Folk collectors like Cecil Sharp found regional forms, especially in Cornwall, with unique verses. In some, the ships carried the “crowns” or even the skulls of the Magi, connecting back to Cologne Cathedral.

• In the Humber region of England, ballad versions were sung with extra verses tying the ships to local legends.

• American singers also kept it alive — the Appalachian singer Jean Ritchie recorded it in 1959, proof that it had crossed the Atlantic with settlers.

Your version — with the three girls and the wedding — fits into this web of folk variations, showing how the same song could shift from religious carol to playful party piece depending on who sang it.

Cultural Background

Songs like this often doubled as wassailing carols — verses sung door to door at Christmastime and New Year’s in exchange for food, drink, or coins. The repeated lines (“come sailing by, come sailing by”) make it easy for groups to chant together, while the subject matter could be bent to the occasion. In a church setting it might be about the Magi; in a village party it could be about girls with fiddles.

By the Victorian era, the polished Christmas carol version dominated printed hymnals, but the New Year’s and wedding variations survived in oral tradition. That mix of sacred and secular, solemn and playful, is typical of English folk song culture.