Shipwrights

On the Great Journey of the Eldar into the West, the Teleri were always the hindmost clan, and when Ulmo carried the Vanyar and the Noldor across the Great Sea, the Teleri were left behind in Beleriand. While they awaited Ulmo's return, they encountered the Maiar of the Sea, Ossë and Uinen, and from those Maiar they gained a greater knowledge of the Sea than any others of Elves or Men. At last Ulmo returned and prepared to carry the Teleri across the Great Sea, but Ossë did not wish them to depart, and persuaded some to remain.

These Teleri who remained on the coasts of Middle-earth built themselves two great Havens, Brithombar and Eglarest. The shoreland region where they dwelt became known as the Falas (which is simply the Elvish word for 'shore'), and their lord was Círdan. These people became known as the Shipwrights for their marvellous skill in the making and sailing of ships (and indeed the name of their lord Círdan translates directly as 'the Shipwright').

The Shipwrights sailed the oceans around Beleriand through the long years of starlight before the rising of the Sun and Moon, and for centuries into the Years of the Sun that followed. After the terrible defeat of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Morgoth sent his forces against the Havens of the Falas, and the Shipwrights were forced to flee. Though the Havens fell to Morgoth's Orcs, the vessels of the Elves carried them far away to the Isle of Balar and the Mouths of Sirion (where indeed they already maintained lesser havens).

At the request of Turgon of Gondolin, Círdan and his Shipwrights built ships to sail across the Great Sea into the West, to plead for the aid of the Valar. Seven ships departed for Aman, but none succeeded in passing the dangers that filled the Great Sea. After Gondolin fell, its survivors made their way to the Havens of Sirion, and Eärendil, who was among them, became a great friend of Círdan. With the aid of the Shipwrights, he built a vessel for himself, named Vingilot, and aboard it he succeeded where Turgon's messengers had failed. Aided by the power of a Silmaril, he made the perilous journey across the Sea and spoke with the Valar in their own land.

The Valar answered his call for aid. In the War of Wrath that followed, the Dark Lord in the North was utterly defeated, but the warring of the Powers wrought devastation across the lands of Beleriand. Much of the land was swallowed by the ocean, and the Shipwrights were forced to find a new home. The battles of the Valar and Morgoth had created a wide new inlet of the Sea, the Gulf of Lhûn, and the Shipwrights created new havens for themselves on the shores of this gulf. This was the beginning of Mithlond, the Grey Havens.

From their new havens the Shipwrights watched two Ages of the world pass. Especially in the Third Age, their work became the building of ships to allow the Eldar of Middle-earth to make the passage into the West. The close of the Third Age saw the Keepers of the Three Rings travel to the Grey Havens, and with them were the Ring-bearers Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and all of these boarded a White Ship and set sail from Middle-earth forever.

Even after the departure of the White Ship, Círdan and at least some of his Shipwrights remained at Mithlond. They continued to work there at least into the early Fourth Age, but it was their fate to one day build the Last Ship, and on that vessel themselves sail into the Uttermost West, the last of the Eldar to depart from Middle-earth.