Yes, rodward, the literal meaning of "list" is "to lean to one side"...but I have only heard it used in nautical terms when referring to a sinking ship

I once read a maritime adventure based on a fact that spoke of a vessel being towed some hundreds of miles to Halifax while listing 30 or 60 degrees. It's not my impression that "to list" refers to the ship going down at all, even though listing heavily would probably lead to it.