July 01, 2006

Gratuitous Naval Posting

I was reading Brendan Miniter's column about a visit to the U.S.S. Intrepid this morning when something struck me. Throughout the piece, Miniter consistently refers to the ship as "it" instead of "she" or "her".

Perhaps this is just a matter of editorial protocol and modern p.c. sensibilities, but it struck me as rather ironic - Miniter's theme is the embodiment of our love of technology and mechanical know-how in this ship and the service she has done in our cause, and yet his employment of neutral pronouns has the effect of distancing him (and the reader) from the very object of his praise.

I think this is important insofar as the anthropomorphic tradition of speaking of ships in human terms is a significant psychological ingrediant of our success in mastering the seas with them. And even though the relationship between men and ships has changed dramatically since the days of sail, I think this still holds true.

This raises some questions to which I simply do not know the answers: Where does this tradition come from and how widespread is it? Did the ancient Greeks or Phoenicians think this way? How about the Polynesians? Or the Vikings? Are there or have there been sea-faring cultures in which ships are thought of in masculine terms? (If Tom Clancy is to be believed, the Russians refer to ships as "he", but the Russian maritime tradition is pretty thin.)

I'd be interested to know if anybody has any thoughts or recommended reading.

Posted by Robert at July 1, 2006 08:21 AM | TrackBack
Comments

An issue I struggled with in my carrier posts. Also, how does one refer to a ship that is named after a man? The USS Theodore Roosevelt, for instance. Seems a little silly to call it "she". I think my usage throughout the carrier series was inconsistent -- sometimes calling the ship she, sometimes by its name, and sometimes "the ship".

Posted by: The Colossus at July 1, 2006 10:52 AM

Not a bit of help, but Klingons refer to their ships in the masculine.

Also, US Naval vessels are "ships", except for submarines, which are "boats".

Posted by: Ted at July 1, 2006 12:04 PM

There is some disagreement, but most people believe it stems to ancient Greece when goodesses were carved as figureheads on the bow of boats.

Certainly in latin - which assigned genders to everyday objects like Spanish - assigned a feminine gender to the word for ship.

Although there is a stodgy group that claims this didn't become commonplace until the 16th Century....

Posted by: Zendo Deb at July 1, 2006 02:18 PM

The Notsees referred to the Bismarck as 'he', and yes, the Klingons refer to their ships in the masculine. Silly Notsees and Klingons.

I honestly don't know where it came from, but I have always thought the 'good luck' eyes painted on Greek ships were rather feminine in appearance.

Posted by: Scuba at July 2, 2006 11:40 AM

Not to get all pop anthropological, but the nature of a ship as a "vessel" and the idea that it carries/shelters its crew probably suggested the notion pretty early on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Phoenicians or earlier mariners hit upon the notion early on.

Posted by: The Colossus at July 2, 2006 01:39 PM

As for recommended reading, forget the stodgy "who called what, when" nonsense....

Sailing Alone Around the World by Slocum. First man to sail single-handed around the world. He did it because someone told him it couldn't be done. This was about 120 years ago now I think.

Maiden Voyage Tania Aebi sailed alone around the world when she was about 20. Copyright 1989... so not so long ago.

Just about anything by Tristan Jones. He was a great story-teller, but a consumate bullshit artist. (Take most things with a grain of salt.)

Posted by: Zendo Deb at July 2, 2006 02:07 PM

One of the few remaining plebe rates I remember was an old Navy admiral who said, "The reason we call ships 'she' is because like a woman it costs so much to keep her in paint and powder."

Posted by: Mike at July 3, 2006 05:55 PM