Why don't Wildlings sail south?

[Falcon2909]

Surely in these 6000-8000 years they must've learned to build a decent ship that can carry them south? They can sail from the western coast as its more safer as there is no east-watch-by-the-sea there

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

They are able of building some small ships, hence how some of them attacked Bear Island, but their shipwrighting knowledge is still too limited for them to be able of building large and sophisticated ships and large fleets, not counting their lack of unity and often infighting that prevented the clans from working together to build ships in large quantity or share knowledge of ship making.

[BlackLightning]

4 minutes ago, Terrorthatflapsinthenight9 said:

They are able of building some small ships, hence how some of them attacked Bear Island, but their shipwrighting knowledge is still too limited for them to be able of building large and sophisticated ships and large fleets, not counting their lack of unity and often infighting that prevented the clans from working together to build ships in large quantity or share knowledge of ship making.

Plus, navigating is a science all on its own

 

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

Also you need a real port to build and use a fleet, and the Wildlings don't have that, the only one they had was Hardhome and they're too afraid of the place to try rebuilding it. 

And a fleet needs organisation and many people able of sailing them properly, not counting to be able of facing the dangers of the sea.

[Falcon2909]

36 minutes ago, Terrorthatflapsinthenight9 said:

Also you need a real port to build and use a fleet, and the Wildlings don't have that, the only one they had was Hardhome and they're too afraid of the place to try rebuilding it. 

And a fleet needs organisation and many people able of sailing them properly, not counting to be able of facing the dangers of the sea.

 

37 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

Plus, navigating is a science all on its own

 

Just sail close to the coast

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

17 minutes ago, Falcon2909 said:

 

Just sail close to the coast

Even sailing close to the coast is hardly without danger, especially if you don't have many genuine sailors, that most of your ships aren't of good quality, and if the weather is not in a good mood. Strong winds going in the opposite or huge waves alone could threaten the plan.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

A giant naval operation is absolutely not something to take lightly when it comes to both the organisation and the execution. 

You need at least one huge port, lots of ressources to build the port and the ships, many skilled sailors who know how to navigate and face the dangers of the sea and the weather, many ships of at least acceptable quality, good logistics with lots drinkeable water and food to transport, and capable people and communications to command the ships and make the fleet stay together instead of dispersing at sea, and to have favorable sea and winds conditions. 

Right now the Wildlings don't have the port, the organisation and discipline, the logistics, the sailors and ships of sufficient quality for organising and going through a giant naval operation like this.

[Loose Bolt]

Besides Eastwatch has some galleys whose job is to patrol Shivering Sea and if possible either sunk or capture any ship, boat or raft wildlings would try to use bypass the Wall and I assume that Mormonts almost certainly have at least some longships patrolling Sunset Sea. 

[John Suburbs]

Why would they want to go anywhere? They're free where they are. They know the land and how to survive, and thrive, there. Sea travel is risky and dangerous, and anywhere they land they would have to bend the knee or maybe even become enslaved.

[AlaskanSandman]

11 hours ago, Falcon2909 said:

Surely in these 6000-8000 years they must've learned to build a decent ship that can carry them south? They can sail from the western coast as its more safer as there is no east-watch-by-the-sea there

I think this is a legit question, and as you were not asking about them building a large fleet for war. Ill skip anything to do with that. 

You make a good point. They have ample wood and clearly want south of the Wall as they keep attacking the Wall to get south. 

Keeping to the coast they should be able to make it. Its not as hard as people are saying. They would simply wait for the right season like ancient people used to do and keep to the coast as to not get lost. 

They could easily sneak in spots south of the wall and make the rest of the journey by foot. Maybe even link up with Mountain clans to swell their numbers and mount an attack from there once they had gathered their numbers.

Only thing I could think is that they don't cut down trees north of the Wall per the Children of the Forest.

Hard home may likely have been a breaking of the pact and why it was destroyed. It also happened to be destroyed at the same time Valyria was making Dragonstone. 

Plenty of people sail to the U.S. from Mexico and Cuba on rafts and unsafe sea vessels. Im pretty sure the Wildlings could manage it too.

[Corvo the Crow]

9 hours ago, Terrorthatflapsinthenight9 said:

A giant naval operation is absolutely not something to take lightly when it comes to both the organisation and the execution. 

You need at least one huge port, lots of ressources to build the port and the ships, many skilled sailors who know how to navigate and face the dangers of the sea and the weather, many ships of at least acceptable quality, good logistics with lots drinkeable water and food to transport, and capable people and communications to command the ships and make the fleet stay together instead of dispersing at sea, and to have favorable sea and winds conditions. 

Right now the Wildlings don't have the port, the organisation and discipline, the logistics, the sailors and ships of sufficient quality for organising and going through a giant naval operation like this.

Wildlings have decent sailors among them and proper boats as well I think, since some go whaling.  The problem is, going close to the coast you'll be noticed even if you avoid the coast for a while, when getting close a large fleet would be noticed, not to mention that Wulls and other houses go fishing as well. I'm sure there have been wildlings that stole in to the North using water craft, but just not in great numbers.

[Lord Lannister]

Who says they haven't been sailing around the wall in dribs and drabs for years and integrating themselves into the North? There's a lot of empty land there and they're not THAT culturally different. But you can't just expect an entire population to hop in boats and move.

[Falcon2909]

14 hours ago, AlaskanSandman said:

Only thing I could think is that they don't cut down trees north of the Wall per the Children of the Forest.

 

They have wooden houses and huts north of the wall, its fine for them to cut normal trees. idk about weirwoods

yeah they could travel south on a small ship. ez pz

13 hours ago, Lord Lannister said:

Who says they haven't been sailing around the wall in dribs and drabs for years and integrating themselves into the North? There's a lot of empty land there and they're not THAT culturally different. But you can't just expect an entire population to hop in boats and move.

is there any textual evidence that they travelled around the wall in boats and ships?

[Corvo the Crow]

Why did the ranger cross the wall?

To get to the Other side.

[Jaenara Belarys]

On 2/2/2022 at 11:35 PM, Corvo the Crow said:

Why did the ranger cross the wall?

To get to the Other side.

"My disappointment in your performance cannot be overstated, General Hux   Corvo."

Cheesy dad jokes. Shoot me. 

[BalerionTheCat]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:14 PM, John Suburbs said:

Why would they want to go anywhere? They're free where they are. They know the land and how to survive, and thrive, there. Sea travel is risky and dangerous, and anywhere they land they would have to bend the knee or maybe even become enslaved.

Agreed. They can't carve a kingdom, south. They don't want kings and bend the knee anyway. Beyond the Wall is the freedom they want. Life is hard but there is space for all of them.

[Falcon2909]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:14 AM, John Suburbs said:

Why would they want to go anywhere? They're free where they are. They know the land and how to survive, and thrive, there. Sea travel is risky and dangerous, and anywhere they land they would have to bend the knee or maybe even become enslaved.

Because their country is a frozen wasteland plagued with Others and their thralls. Why wouldn't you want to go south where it's warmer , safer , fertile land and more food available ?

Surely during the peak of winter some refugees mightve sailed south ?

[John Suburbs]

11 hours ago, Falcon2909 said:

Because their country is a frozen wasteland plagued with Others and their thralls. Why wouldn't you want to go south where it's warmer , safer , fertile land and more food available ?

Surely during the peak of winter some refugees mightve sailed south ?

The country has been a frozen wasteland since before the First Men arrived. So if it is so unbearable, then the question shouldn't be, why didn't they leave? but, why did they settle there in the first place? But just like Inuits and Aleuts and Sammis and hundreds of other indigenous groups, the wildlings forged a way of life there. It's what people do.

And once you get acclimated to a certain clime, it is very difficult to change. Even one summer in Winterfell might be unbearable to the wildlings. We grew up in New England and my brother eventually moved to Florida. He says it took him the better part of a decade to get used to the summer down there, and he had air conditioning.

But sure, if a handful did sail south from time to time, they left with their ships and the skills to make them, leaving the rest behind. And remember, the north is vast, so many wildlings, like Gilly, have lived and died without ever seeing the sea.

Also, the Others and the undead are recent developments north of the Wall, and the wildings decided to move south en masse in response. It would literally take years to first acquire ship-building skills, not to mention sailing skills, and then build enough ships to sail away somewhere without getting scattered to the four corners of the earth. And of course, once the NW got wind of this ship-building operation they would alert the 7K to put a stop to it. And even then, no matter where they sail, they'd be met with fierce resistance so that they will either have to bend the knee or fight to the death.

So all in all, they did what they had to do -- escape south, preferably without destroying the Wall, and settle in the unpopulated Gift. That way, they can stay together as a people and defend themselves from any blowback.

[Trigger Warning]

Then what? Start a farm on some patch of land and get ridden down by the local lord's men at arms?

[Loose Bolt]

19 hours ago, Trigger Warning said:

Then what? Start a farm on some patch of land and get ridden down by the local lord's men at arms?

North is huge and sparsely populated so there should be a lot of available lands that are not under control of any lordlings. So as long those theoretical settlers stay away from existing population centers and do not cause any problems to their neighbours they might survive long enough to become natives. Or there might be many Northmen whose ancestors came beyond the wall generations ago.