Source-groundedThe Odyssey
All entities

Character · Individual

helmsman of Ulysses’s surviving ship

Published entity metadata

Read-only identity and editorial metadata.

Canonical name
helmsman of Ulysses’s surviving ship
Disambiguator
None
Kind
Character
Scope
Individual
Editorial note
No editorial note published.

Aliases

1

coxswain

Title · Reported

Location presence

Phase 6 currently covers 24 processed books.

1
stream of Oceanus1 observation
·Remembered

The helmsman headed the voyage over Oceanus.

See evidence text
“Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind. Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft and staid steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled; so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship’s gear and let her go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters of the river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circe had told us. {88} ”

Claims

3
·Remembered

The helmsman heads Ulysses’ ship with Circe’s fair wind.

See evidence text
“let her go as wind and helmsman headed her”
·Reported

Ulysses orders the coxswain to turn from the steaming rapids and hug the rock, warning that a mistake will kill them all.

See evidence text
“coxswain, these are your orders; attend to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her head away from these steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you the slip and be over yonder before you know where you are, and you will be the death of us”
·Remembered

The falling mast crushes the helmsman’s skull; he falls overboard lifeless as though diving.

See evidence text
“The mast fell upon the head of the helmsman in the ship’s stern, so that the bones of his head were crushed to pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving, with no more life left in him”

Additional evidence

Evidence records not already represented by a claim.

3
·Remembered
“as the wind and helmsman headed her”
·Reported
“As for you, coxswain, these are your orders”
·Remembered
“the helmsman in the ship’s stern”

Passage preview

Book 11 · Passage 1

Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind. Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew dead aft and staid steadily with us keeping our sails all the time well filled; so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship’s gear and let her go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters of the river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circe had told us. {88}