It has been proposed that he corresponds to the so-called "boat god" motif known from cylinder seals, but this theory is not universally accepted.

"[1] In the text Marduk's Address to the Demons he appears alongside Laguda, also argued to be a god associated with the sea.

[9] Sirsir appears in the myth Enki and the World Order, in which he is designated as the captain (ensi) of the eponymous god's boat.

[13] Most attestations of this motif are known from the Diyala area and the Hamrin Mountains, fewer come from Kish and Mari, and only three or four are known from southern Mesopotamia.

[14] According to Helene J. Kantor, an argument against the identification of the boat god with Sirsir is the apparent relatively high status of the latter in the Early Dynastic sources.