>>150204463
Well, in my AU, Klabauterman, is also the name of a ship's figurehead. Legends say that figureheads are alive and protect the ships where they are placed. They are also said to materialize in the form of a small Nordic child dressed in various ways, but always wearing a large coat over their clothes and a hood over their heads. In reality, the origins of the Klabautermänn are varied. Some are mylingar children or teens/young adults who were lost at sea and found a home among the timbers of ships, becoming a Klabautermann, or mylingar who were buried beneath a tree used in the construction of a ship, or children saved by the tides (giantesses daughters of Ægir) and transformed into children spirits, or children who were killed at sea and their souls found a ship to inhabit. They appear to help the ship in critical situations, repairing it or navigating it in dire times. It is a terrible sign for the ship when a Skipsrá appears, as it is a sign of a ship in its final moments. Protector of ships, he also bears the name Skipsrá (ship guardian spirit). They resemble mylingar but differ in their colors and in clothes, wearing their famous Klabautermann coat.

Basically saying, a Klabautermann is mostly a mylingar who went to sea, like how a draugr is a sea ghost.