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Sandship Walkthrough

Skyward Sword 100% Completion Walkthrough18 chapters
Walkthrough overview
CoversThe Sandship in the Lanayru Sand Sea (the fifth dungeon): the Scervo mini-boss, the Timeshift Stone on the mast, both generators, the crew in the brig, the Squid Carving and the Tentalus boss fight
You needThe Goddess Longsword, Clawshots, Whip, Gust Bellows, Bomb Bag, Beetle, Slingshot and the Goddess’s Harp; the Sandship stopped and boarded with Skipper’s boat cannon
RewardsThe Bow, Dungeon Map, Squid Carving, 2 Small Keys (both used up), 1 Piece of Heart, 2 Silver Rupees, three random treasure chests, 1 Heart Container, Nayru’s Flame, the Goddess White Sword and extra dowsing targets; a Goddess Wall on the way

The Sandship is a mechanical galleon that protects Nayru’s Flame, and in this chapter you win it back from the Arachas, Technoblins and Beamos that have overrun it. You open a Small Key chest with a puzzle in the sand, beat the mini-boss Scervo for the Bow, use the Bow to wake the Timeshift Stone on the mast, switch on two generators, free Skipper’s crew for the captain’s key, and fetch the Squid Carving that opens the control room. A tentacle-filled corridor leads out to the deck, where you fight Tentalus, collect the Heart Container and claim Nayru’s Flame.

Skipper's boat approaches the dark hull and masts of the Sandship on the horizon
Link climbs a wooden ladder up the side of the Sandship hull

How to enter the Sandship

Entrance hall and the first Bird Statue

Step off the boat onto the wooden dock and walk through the west door of the deck room. Save at the Bird Statue just inside, because there is another one a few rooms further on and the dungeon is long. Take the stairs down. The south hall has Thunder Keese, and you can strike them between flashes of electricity. A room of sinking sand follows with an Electro Spume above it: drop a bomb on it, then run across the sand without stopping, because walking slowly drags you under. Beyond it you go down a stair and clear a hall of Arachas, then come to the first dungeon Bird Statue, a stool that restores your health, and a huge chained door that you cannot open yet.

Link runs past a winged Bird Statue in a dim Sandship hall, a chained door at the right
A yellow Electro Spume rises out of the swirling sinking sand in a Sandship hall
Link faces a hall of Arachas crawling across the floor between the carved walls

Sand symbols and the first Small Key

Read the symbols under the sand

North of the statue is a room covered in sand. Kill the Arachas that crawl out, then equip the Gust Bellows and blow the sand off the floor with A. Four ship’s-wheel symbols appear, each with a different number of red sticks. Read the lit sections of the wheels to get the order for the lock.

Link blows the sand off the floor with the Gust Bellows, ship's wheel symbols showing through
Several ship's wheel symbols lie uncovered in a sand-cleared room beside a metal grate

Hit the gem lock in order

Go back to the chained door by the Bird Statue. Its lock has a gem on each side; strike them with your sword in the order the wheels showed you: bottom, top, bottom, right. The chains fall away and the door swings open on a chest that holds the Small Key. Keep it for the locked door beside the statue, which leads to the mini-boss.

Link strikes a glowing gem on the chained Sandship door, ship's wheel carvings on the wall
Link holds up the Small Key, the box reading: This key will open a locked door.

Scervo mini-boss and how to get the Bow

LD-002G Scervo

Scervo boss fight

Save at the statue and open the locked door to reach a long plank, where the skeletal pirate captain LD-002G Scervo waits. Wait for each wind-up, then bash him with your shield or backflip, and strike the side where his sword and shield are not raised. Each time you hit him he is knocked back toward the end of the plank, so keep pressing forward. When he reaches the edge he loses a weapon and the spiked wall behind you advances, which gives you less room each round. He swings twice in a row, so stay back after dodging, and in the last phases he adds electrified swings and a spinning hook; shield bashes and backflips beat both. After the third push he falls off the ship into the sand.

Link faces the armored pirate Scervo on a narrow chain bridge, sword drawn, desert behind them.
Link slashes at the armored pirate Scervo on a chain bridge over the sand.
Scervo staggers on the bridge in a burst of sparks and dark smoke as the fight nears its end.
Bow

The Bow

A chest appears on the plank when Scervo is gone and holds the Bow. Select it on the item wheel, point the Wii Remote at your target and press A to fire; hold A to draw it back for a straighter, faster shot, and press the plus button to recentre the cursor if it drifts. Arrows that stick in wood or walls can be picked up again, so go and collect them. You can also buy bigger quivers and a stronger bow later, as the item upgrades page explains.

Link holds up the Bow in its pickup pose; the box reads that it hits targets at a very long range.
The Bow tutorial boxes read Take Aim, Shoot Arrow and Quick Draw as Link aims down the chain bridge.

Timeshift Stone on the mast

Shoot the target on the mast

Go back up and out onto the deck. Fi points out the Timeshift Stone. A blue target sits on the main mast: shoot it and the stone appears at the top; shoot the stone and the ship and everything around it flip into the past, bringing the vessel back to life. The stone works for the whole dungeon, and it swaps the ship between its working past and its ruined present, so many puzzles ask you to flip it, solve something, and flip it back.

Link aims a drawn bow at the target on the Sandship main mast, with the Shoot prompt showing.
The Sandship's sails and main mast, with a glowing lantern set on the central mast.
Bokoblin Archer

Bokoblin Archers and the rope bars

Past Bokoblins now fill the deck, and archers fire down at you. Climb the ladder on the east side of the mast and kill the archers with your sword, or pick off the distant ones with single arrows. Then shoot the blue target at the far end of the rope. A rope bar slides over to you, and when the Grab prompt shows you can hang from it to ride across. Kill any Bokoblins on the next platform, shoot the target at the end of the next rope to bring a second bar, and cross to the other mast.

Link stands on a sail post with a rope stretching overhead above the desert.
Link shoots the target on a striped pole at the end of a rope, with the Shoot prompt on screen.
A blue target on a tripod of ropes above the deck, with the Shoot prompt showing.

Turn the dial

On the second mast, thrust your sword into the dial, turn it clockwise until it points to the top and press it in. This opens the gate that closed over the Timeshift Stone and unlocks the door back into the ship. Skipper arrives and tells you his crew is locked in the brig, and the map marks it.

Link stands before the mast dial with its cyan ring on the Sandship deck.
Skipper's box reads that his crew is being held in the brig inside the ship.

East deck Piece of Heart

Lower the raft first

Before you leave the deck, find the device that holds a small boat and shoot the blue target on it. The boat drops to the water, and you will need it later to travel between the deck and the windows below.

A small orange boat hangs by rope off the rail, with its pulley beside Link on the deck.
Link on the Sandship deck beside the mast crane holding a hanging cage above the rail.

Zip line and Clawshots Piece of Heart

From the top of the main mast, shoot the blue target at the end of the zip line and ride the bar to the east end. Drop to the back deck, smash the barrels for a fairy, then use the Clawshot targets on the mast and behind you to reach a chest. It holds a Piece of Heart.

A rope runs from the top of the main mast to a blue target on the winch at the deck edge.
A zip line rope runs from the Sandship's stern post across the sand to a far platform.
Link holds up a Piece of Heart on the Sandship deck, the box noting it completes a Heart Container.

Goddess Wall on the deck

On the south side of the deck is a Goddess Wall under a group of Blessed Butterflies. Strum the Harp beside it, raise your sword and draw one of the shapes in the harp songs list for a rupee, heart or arrow refill. Use the Clawshots to return afterwards.

Link plays the harp in front of the Goddess Wall crest on the Sandship deck.
A glowing lightning-bolt line is drawn on the Goddess Wall while the Draw prompt shows.
Green and blue gems spill out beside Link after the wall drawing, raising the rupee count.

How to get the Dungeon Map

The sunlit room and the ceiling vent

Take the west door into the ship, save at the Bird Statue, go down the stairs and take the door on the right in the hall. Kill the Technoblins in the next room, then enter the small northwest room where sunlight pours in through a hole in the roof. Aim up through the gap in the ceiling at the Timeshift Stone outside and shoot it; the ship returns to the present. In the large room below, open the chest for the Dungeon Map, then pull the nearby lever to open a gate.

Sunlight pours into a ship room with a wooden floor, and Link stands in the corner.
Link holds up the Dungeon Map in a sunlit ship room, with its full description box on screen.
Link draws his bow and shoots up through the slats of a ceiling vent toward the sky.
Thunder Keese

Quicksand, fans and the Thunder Keese room

Cross the sinking sand beyond the gate and shoot the blue switch that sits behind the idle propeller, aiming through the gaps between its blades; the door opens. In the next room, defeat the Thunder Keese and push the metal block off its ledge, which uncovers a second inactive fan. Stand on the floor switch at the east end of the room and shoot the second blue switch through the fan. You must stay on the floor switch, because the blue switch disappears when you step off. The way ahead opens, and these two rooms are the shortcuts you need for the generators.

A spirit's message says an arrow can shoot through the grate, and Link looks up at the blades.
Link aims through the slats of a grate toward a target beyond the blades.

How to activate both generators

Generator 1

Return to the map room and go into the adjoining room to shoot the Timeshift Stone through its ceiling hole, which sends the ship to the past. Walk down the long hall and take the first door on the right. Defeat the Technoblin inside, then push your sword into the key slot of the generator, turn it and press it in. The first generator hums into life.

Link shoots a horned Technoblin in a room lined with round dials.
Link pushes his sword into a round dial with a cyan glow and turns it.

Generator 2 and the raft

Back in the hall, take the second door on the left and defeat the two Technoblins. Push the steel block onto the floor switch to open the windows in the wall. If you lowered the raft earlier, it is floating by the window: jump onto it, shoot the blue switch to lift it to the deck, flip the Timeshift Stone back to the present, and stay on the raft and shoot the switch again to lower it. Return inside through the window, enter the room beside the Technoblin room and pull the lever to unlock the door. Stand in the sunbeam that falls through the roof, shoot the stone through the hole, and work the second generator exactly as you did the first.

Link draws his bow on a charging Technoblin in a dim Sandship corridor
Link pushes a steel block across a patterned floor inside the Sandship
Link runs across a wooden raft that hangs by ropes beside the Sandship hull
Link aims his bow from the raft at a switch on the ship's wall

Engine room, Silver Rupees and the brig

Whip

The Whip bars and five chests

Go out through the hall and enter the other door. Use the window that does not have the raft, climb down the stairs and run through the door at the end of the hall once the moving blocks pull back. Face west, Whip the bar above the gap and swing across, then climb the ladder to a nook with five chests. Two of them hold a Silver Rupee, worth 100 each, and the other three hold random treasure such as an Evil Crystal or a Monster Horn. Drop back down, climb the next stairs and Whip across to the next area.

Link holds up a Silver Rupee beside a teal chest, the box saying it is worth 100 Rupees.
Link runs past a row of teal-trimmed chests in a wooden room inside the Sandship.

Pistons and box paths

Dash to the ladder when the blocks clear, Whip the next ceiling bar, and swing onto the boxes. Jump from box to box as they line up and reach the platform. Run past the five pistons as soon as the first one has risen high enough, then climb the ladder and Whip onto the first piston, ride it up, and jump from piston to piston to the ledge above. Pull the lever there to open a gate that skips the box path on the way back.

Link climbs a tall wooden ladder between dark stone walls inside the Sandship.
Link whips a rising pillar on a Sandship platform, with the Jump prompt on screen.
Skipper

Free Skipper’s crew

Crawl through the small hole, climb the stairs and pull the next lever. The cell opens and the robots of Skipper’s crew are free. One of them gives you the captain’s cabin Small Key and marks the cabin on your map. Crawl back through the hole and return to the deck, using the raft again if you need it, and shoot the Timeshift Stone at the top of the mast to bring the present back.

A robot of Skipper's crew stands in front of a barred cell, its box saying the key opens the captain's cabin.
Link holds up the Small Key, the box reading that it opens a locked door in this area.

Captain’s cabin and the Squid Carving

Unlock the captain’s cabin

Use the Small Key on the locked door on the east side of the deck, go down the stairs and take the far left passage. Save at the Bird Statue in the corridor, then enter the propeller room. Stand under the big propeller and aim straight up to hit the Timeshift Stone; the past brings out a Technoblin and a Beamos together, so deal with the Technoblin first. Stand on the floor switch at the north end of the room and shoot the blue switch through the small hole that has opened. The door unlocks.

Link stands in a Sandship room under a large propeller, light falling through the ceiling.
Link faces a Technoblin and a Beamos on the purple-floored Sandship room.
Link aims his bow at a target beside a barred gate, with the Shoot prompt on screen.
Beamos

Three Beamos and the chest

The next room holds three Beamos. Slip close and shoot each one in its glass eye with an arrow. Two gates then open, and the chest behind them holds the Squid Carving, the key to the control room. Fi marks the control room door on your map.

A Beamos robot with a glowing eye stands behind the bars of an alcove in the Sandship
Link opens a chest in the Sandship, and bright light pours out from inside it
The Squid Carving box reads: a squid-shaped statue studded with intriguing suction cups

Control room door and the tentacle corridor

Turn the Squid Carving to fit the lock

Rest on the stool, save at the Bird Statue, then walk down to the control room door at the end of the long corridor. The door has a round golden lock with a pattern of white blocks. Hold the carving in front of it, press A to grab it, turn it with the Wii Remote until its shape matches the lock, and press A to release it. The lock glows when the shape is right and the golden doors swing open.

Link holds the Squid Carving up to the round golden lock on the control room door
The Squid Carving lights up against the golden lock once its shape matches the pattern
The golden control room doors swing open onto a dim corridor with a large machine beyond
Tentacle

Cut through the tentacles

Fi warns that a monster of colossal size is attacking the ship and advises that you drive it back with sacred power. Walk down the hall and tentacles burst up through the floor. Raise your sword for a Skyward Strike and swing it sideways to cut every tentacle that blocks the way, because normal sword swings do nothing. If one grabs you, shake the Wii Remote to break free. Dodge the rolling barrels, move slowly up the stairs as the water rises, and step out the door at the top onto the deck.

Purple tentacles burst up through the floor of the Sandship hall as Link advances with his sword
Fi warns that the tentacles belong to a monster of considerable size
Link raises his sword for a Skyward Strike against a tentacle in the hall
Link draws the bow toward Tentalus, with the aiming ring on its body and the Shoot prompt showing

Tentalus boss fight

Phase 1: tentacles and the eye

Tentalus attacks the ship with tentacles that rise from the water. Run around the deck and cut each one with a sideways Skyward Strike, which reaches them at a distance. When water splashes hard on one side, its head is about to surface. Draw the Bow and shoot the glowing eye as quickly as you can, without waiting for the aiming ring to settle. The head crashes onto the deck, so run in and slash the eye until it recovers, then back away from the slam. Each round the tentacles come faster and in greater numbers.

Link slashes at Tentalus tentacles rising around the wrecked deck of the Sandship
Link slashes the glowing red eye of Tentalus after its head crashes down onto the deck
Tentalus

Phase 2: the upper deck

The deck breaks apart under you and a huge crate drops. Climb it, dodge the barrels that roll toward you, and reach the upper level. The eye rises again and you repeat the routine: arrow first, then sword. Now it lashes out with toothed snake-like tentacles. Repel the toothed tentacles with quick sword slashes, shoot the eye again and finish it with the sword. Repeat until Tentalus is beaten.

Link draws the bow at the glowing eye of Tentalus while toothed tentacles ring its open mouth.
Link's sword strikes the glowing eye of Tentalus while the boss's open jaws loom beside him.

Heart Container and Nayru’s Flame

Collect the Heart Container

Walk onto the golden platform and take the Heart Container for one more heart. A stone shrine stands in the middle with the Goddess emblem inside it. Raise the Goddess Longsword and strike the emblem with a Skyward Strike, and Nayru’s Flame blazes up from the brazier beside you.

Link holds up a Heart Container in a burst of light, and its message box says his life is now full.
A stone shrine on the golden platform holds a silver Goddess emblem of two wings and a central gem.
A tall blue flame rises from a stone brazier on the golden platform as Nayru's Flame ignites.
Goddess White Sword

Goddess White Sword and dowsing

The flame turns your blade into the Goddess White Sword, and Fi can now dowse for more than story objects. You can add targets such as treasure, Gratitude Crystals, Goddess Cubes and Rupees to the dowsing list, and each one switches on after you speak to a particular person in Skyloft. The new Goddess Cube targets make the Goddess Cubes list far easier to finish.

Close-up of Link's sword with a blue glow along the blade, as it turns into the Goddess White Sword.
Link raises the blade, and a message box says Nayru's flames let Fi help him dowse for more objects.

Leave the ship

Fi tells you to return to the Isle of Songs, where the sword’s new power lets you learn Din’s Power. Skipper thanks you for getting his ship back. When you are ready, dowse or step to the sand and answer yes when the game asks whether to return to the sky.

Fi floats beside Link at the Sky shrine and says he can learn a new melody at the Isle of Songs.
A pirate-hatted robot captain on a wooden deck tells Link thank you for getting him his ship back.

Optional: what the Bow opens

Fledge

Pumpkin Pull and the Rickety Coaster

The Bow lets you play Pumpkin Pull in the Sparring Hall with Fledge, who is also the Gratitude Crystal giver for the I Want to Be Strong quest and opens the game once that quest is finished; a score of 600 or more wins a Piece of Heart, and the details are on the mini-games page. At the Lanayru Shipyard, Gortram runs the Rickety Coaster for 20 Rupees: finish the Heart Stopping course in under 1:05 for another Piece of Heart. Neither is needed to finish the dungeon.

Gratitude Crystal
Link aims the Sacred Bow at pumpkins in a Skyloft plaza, the scorecard reading 340 points
Piece of Heart box after a 640-point Pumpkin Pull round, the Skyloft host standing beside Link
Piece of Heart box after the Rickety Coaster heart-stopping run above Link

Chapter checklist

CollectibleTypeWhere
Small Key Small Key (first)KeyChest behind the chained door by the first Bird Statue, opened by the gem lock sequence bottom, top, bottom, right
Bow BowItemChest after the Scervo mini-boss
Piece of Heart Piece of HeartPiece of HeartChest on the back deck, reached by zip line and Clawshot targets
Dungeon Map Dungeon MapMapChest in the large room below the sunlit northwest room, after you shoot the Timeshift Stone through the ceiling
Silver Rupee 2 Silver Rupees and 3 random treasuresRupees, treasureFive chests in the nook reached with the Whip, in the engine area
Small Key Small Key (captain’s cabin)KeyGiven by a robot in the brig after you free the crew
Squid Carving Squid CarvingKey itemChest in the Beamos room beyond the captain’s cabin corridor
Heart Container Heart ContainerHeart ContainerGolden platform after Tentalus
Goddess White Sword Nayru’s Flame, Goddess White SwordSacred Flame, swordEmblem shrine on the platform after Tentalus
Goddess WallRupees, hearts, arrowsSouth side of the deck, under Blessed Butterflies
Goddess Cube Goddess CubesCubeNone inside the Sandship; the cubes of the Sand Sea are listed on the Goddess Cubes page
Bird StatuesSave pointEntrance, the stairs room beyond the entrance, and the corridor before the control room

With the second Sacred Flame in hand, head back to the sky and the Isle of Songs for Din’s Power, then carry on with the Din’s Silent Realm and Volcano Summit walkthrough.

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