I had never heard or heard of "Uns kommt ein Schiff gefahren" until coming across it in
Lieder, Songs und Gospels 2. This is a really ancient song; its lyrics being penned by Johannes Tauler (1294-1361) and the tune comes from the Andernacher songbook (1608). This appears to be a secular telling of the birth of Jesus Christ in extremely simple language. It is very similar to other German and English Christmas carols.