浙、閩、粵沿海舟人崇祀水仙伍子胥的由來久遠，而後「水仙」家族不斷的擴大，由有一定地位、死於水而成有能力拯難之水仙，變成平民因落水沉淵而游蕩於水澤之際的水仙。臺灣崇祀水仙尊王的廟，稱為水仙宮，其祀神為五尊神明：大禹、伍子胥、屈原、項羽、魯班並祀，其神誕日分別為：6月6日、11月14日、5月5日、10月10日、5月7日。水仙五王的崇祀，可能胎源自水仙伍王（伍子胥），臺灣水仙尊王的崇祀及神明組合，追溯其源為來自廈門，且在鄭氏時已由廈門傳入臺灣。水仙尊王的神能主要是海上遇難時，求助天妃外，危急時尚可「划水仙」脫難。「划水仙」脫難時，需眾口發出鉦鼓聲、並眾人奮棹擊水的競渡儀式，原本來自吳、越節慶日的迎神、娛神習俗。祀水仙伍子胥的習俗，在南北朝至隋唐時已變為祀船神，船神之名又在各地語音轉變或訛稱下，由馮夷變成馮耳、孟公孟佬、孟婆。舟神兼具河神、風神的功能。五代後江南風神孟婆之祀，明代又演變成崇祀可以噓風鼓浪或平浪的晏公。在明代的民間傳說中，天妃收伏了晏公（風神）成為其部將，眾水仙也成了媽祖的部下。民間信仰中，舟人船上崇祀之神的數量增加，神明更專業化。明代東南沿海商舶上之祀神主要是：天妃、關帝、船神。其中，廈門和臺灣等地的船神之祀，改為水仙尊王之崇祀。臺灣清代及清代以前的主要港口，通常建有媽祖廟、關帝廟、水仙宮，合祀後亦常見水仙尊王與媽祖或關帝合祀，這種現象實是海舶祀神遍有天妃、關帝、水仙尊王所致。

Water immortal Wu Zixu was worshiped by crewmen in province of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong for a long time. The members of water immortals were enlarged from notables to the commoners that died in the water. Water Immortal Temples in Taiwan hosted five water related deities, they are the Great Yu (大禹), Wu Zi-xu (伍子胥),Qu Yuan (屈原), King Xian Yu (項羽), and Lu Ban (魯班), and their deities birthday are June 6, November 14, May 5, October 10, May 7 in order. The deities worship type in Taiwan was tracing from water immortal King Wu (Wu Zi-xu) which misleading to five water immortal kings. The five water immortal kings were derived from Amoy and were introduced to Taiwan under the rule of the Zheng Family. On the shipwreck, the crewmen summoned goddess Tian-fei (天妃) and water immortals, and acted as paddling the ship that called "the water immortal paddling", the crewmen would be saved by water immortals. This ceremonial action was tracing to amuse the deities in south China.The worship of Wu Zixu was changed to worship ship deity in 5-10 century. The name of ship deity was Meng-gong and Meng-lao (孟公孟佬), also had been the river deity and wind deity, were supposed to be derived from Feng-yi (馮夷). They became to worship wind deity Yan-gong (晏公) in Ming Dynasty. The Tian-fei subdued Yan-gong and water immortals in Folk legends of Ming Dynasty. Tian-fe, Kuan-di, and ship deity (or the Honorable Water Immortal Kings in Amoy and Taiwan) became the tree worship deities on board in Ming Dynasty. They always had the Tian-fe Temple, Kuan-di Temple, and Water Immortal Palace (or these deities in one temple) on the main harbors of Taiwan in Qing Dynasty.