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In the Book of Invasions Cesair flees Noah's flood to Ireland as a kind of matriarch of her fleet. The sources all agree there was an incredible sexual imbalance between men and women, with a total of three males and at least 36 females. Interestingly the sources also agree at least one of the men died from sexual exhaustion.

I know next to nothing about Celtic mythology, and I was fascinated to learn of a feminine fleet commander seeking out land after a flood, and I'm flummoxed as to what import, again if any, the number of women in the myth holds.

The number of men is three, and that's too riddled with possible meaning for me to delve into without knowing more of the mythos.

So anyone out there with a better or clearer understanding of the Celts, do the quantities of these groups mean anything at all? And if they do, what is it?

Travis Smith of Bexar
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First of all, let me reiterate that this is a wonderful question, and it's a pity that it's been ignored. I would also like to apologize for taking so long to answer your question: research is never easy, and I haven't had much time lately.

In the paper "Origin and Development of the Cesair Legend", Carey notes that several Celtic stories that appear to be precursors to the story of Cesair feature a more important woman accompanied by "a large retinue of maidens". I think this raises the question of whether, instead of ~16 wives for each man as your question implies, the story meant one wife and ~15 handmaidens for each man.

Regarding the division of the women: as Rees and Rees note in Celtic Heritage, a common theme in the five creation stories of the Lebor Gabala Erenn is the division of Ireland into parts. The division of several woman into three groups mimics the division of other resources at later parts in the Lebor Gabala Erenn (Celtic Heritage).

As evidenced by the fact that the number of women changes from version to version (50, 150, etc), I don't think too much can be read into these specific numbers. If you are interested, I believe Carey briefly discusses the possibility of a mistranslation from 50 to 150, but again, I'm not sure how important that is. There isn't a special significance to the number 50; it just means that there were a lot of women.

I hope that answers your question!

Works Cited

Rees, Alwyn D., and B. R. Rees. Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1961. Print.

Carey, John. "Origin and Development of the Cesair Legend." Éigse 22 (1987): 37-48. Print.