The Votive Ship
The votive ship (votivskepp), a model ship hung from the vault of a Swedish church, given in thanks for rescue at sea. Sailors and fishermen commissioned the models after storms, and hundreds still hang in Swedish churches and chapels, some with their rigging and little flags intact, carrying painted names and dates of the storm or the voyage. The ship joins the church's prayers to the sea's dangers, a documented custom from the late Middle Ages onward, and the models were made with such care that they are prized as records of old shipbuilding. The gift placed the ship, her crew, and their fam