Cloena (Clonmacnoise) — 1250
A ship with occupants, captured anchor
Some forty years later, the story was repeated by the anonymous author of an influential book written in Old Norse. The Kongs Skuggsjo, better known by its Latin name, the Speculum Regale [“the king’s mirror”], was written around 1250 AD. The event took place in Clonmacnoise. “There happened something once in the borough called Cloena, which will also seem marvellous. In this town there is a church dedicated to the memory of a saint named Kiranus. One Sunday while the populace was at church hearing mass, it befell that an anchor was dropped from the sky as if thrown from a ship; for a rope was attached to it, and one of the flukes of the anchor got caught in the arch above the church door. The people all rushed out of the church and marvelled much as their eyes followed the ropeupward. “They saw a ship with men on board floating before the anchor cable; and soon they saw a man leap overboard and dive down to the anchor as if to release it. The movements of his hands and feet and all his actions appeared like those of a man swimming in the water. When he came down to the anchor, he tried to loosen it, but the people immediately rushed up and attempted to seize him. In this church where the anchor was caught, there is a bishop’s throne. “The bishop was present when this occurred and forbade his people to hold the man; for, said he, it might prove fatal as when one is held under water. As soon as the man was released, he hurried back up to the ship; and when he was up the crew cut the rope and the ship sailed away out of sight. But the anchor has remained in the church since then as a testimony to this event. ” The strong Christian overtones are noticeable in this version. Here it is not a king but a bishop who is present during the event, and the action occurs in the air above a church? The fact that the diver is allowed to return to his ship unharmed is another moralistic touch. According to folklorist John Carey, the move from spears to anchors was due in part to the popularity of another legend of the same period, in which the crew are aboard a ship actually sailing in the sea, not in the sky. In this version, the anchor gets stuck in an underwater monastery, to be freed by a blind boy who swims down and finds himself in a subaquatic world. Return of the celestial diver seven centuries later…in a Texas hoax! In April 1897, in the middle of a wave of mysterious airship sightings, some American newspapers published two British folktales from Gervase of Tilbury. One of these was none other than the legend of the anchor and the church that we have cited above. This article, entitled “A Sea Above the Clouds: Extraordinary Superstition Once Prevalent in England,” published first in the Boston Post, must have impressed one reader at least, for a couple of weeks later an anonymous writer wove yet another airship yarn from it. Anchor of the Airship. Said to Be on Exhibition at Merkel, Attracting Much Attention. Merkel, Texas, April 26 - Some parties returning from church last night noticed a heavy object dragging along with a rope attached. They followed it until in crossing the railroad, it caught on a rail. On looking up they saw what they supposed was the airship. It was not near enough to get an idea of the dimensions. A light could be seen protruding from several windows; one bright light in front like the headlight of a locomotive. After some 10 minutes a man was seen descending the rope; he came near enough to be plainly seen. He wore a light-blue sailor suit, was small in size. He stopped when he discovered parties at the anchor and cut the ropes below him and sailed off in a northeast direction. The anchor is now on exhibition at the blacksmith shop of Elliott and Miller and is attracting the attention of hundreds of people. In this updated American version, railroad tracks replace the tombstone where the anchor gets caught, and the pilot - dressed, naturally enough, in a sailor’s suit - returns to his craft safe and sound, but there can be no mistaking the origin of the tale.
Source: Case: W493