Posted by Peter H on March 24, 2002 at 13:12:04 from 213.122.185.121:
In Reply to: Re: Ships as posted by David Bamford on March 23, 2002 at 22:27:44:
Probably if you sail in the vessel, either as crew or passenger, you say 'she'. If you are writing or talking about the vessel on land well away from she/it, then you could say 'it'. An analogy here is to large steam railway locomotives. In the UK these were frequently named after men, e.g. 'King George V'. To the drivers and firemen, an engine is always 'she' because they couldn't care less what it is named after, and they have an individual relationship with it. To the railway management, and to rail enthusiasts, a locomotive is 'it'.
By the way, how big does a boat have to be to take 'The'? In AR's text it is just 'Swallow', but in contrast, 'The Goblin'.