For whatever reason, boats are traditionally referred to in the feminine, as are cars often. I don't know if this is exclusive to the US, but suspect it started across the pond. I've always thought it was definitely rooted in sexism. The big powerful boat may be female, but she's nothing without a man to guide her.... that sort of crap. Nowadays boats can guide themselves; at least this boat does!
Goldfish are impossible to sex, as are some birds, but we have some guppies, and they are referred to appropriately.
Coincidentally, the Bible passage last Sunday was James 9:36 "Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them..." I found this very curious. The version is NRSV, which differs from nearly all other versions with its use of the neuter "it". I don't know what research was done to prompt such a change, but I thought it was interesting.
Also interesting to me is that people in the US seem uncomfortable referring to a fetus as "it", and want the mother to either find out ASAP, or guess and use one or the other. To me this indicates the perception of objectification of people, which is apparently unacceptable. I like that. But I still didn't "find out" what sex any of my babies were before they were born. Life these days holds few surprises, and I wanted some! I do ramble on, though.... :0)
