Posted by Robert Hill on March 20, 2002 at 18:52:13 from 195.92.168.172:
I've just read on the Ceefax (= BBC teletext) news that Lloyd's List
has announced that, in order to "modernise the image of the shipping
industry", it will henceforth refer to ships as "it" rather than "she".
A Royal Navy spokesman is quoted as describing the plan as "a load of
nonsense" and said the Navy would continue to use "she".