A friend sent the first chapter of a book he is writing, a history. I have questions on two terms he uses right away but, since I don't want to contact him before reading the chapter through and giving it some thought, I figured I'd run them by you.

The first is "sweet ship." The vessel, though then being used to carry passengers, ordinarilly freighted wine and thus, had no 'bilge stink.' I can't find the term ("sweet ship") elsewhere, and I wonder if this refers specifically to a vessel used to carry wine, or to any ship that carried a relatively 'aromatic' cargo.

The second is "steerage." He writes that, since it wasn't a passenger ship, most of the people aboard were crowded forward of steerage. Dictionary.com gives as one (perhaps the primary) definition the area of the ship housing the steering mechanism, so that the use is correct. However, on first reading the sentence seems 'misleading' to me, since, by the more common use, one would think it odd that 'space being limited most of the passengers were crowded foreward of steerage.' -- A recent thread discussed a sentence in which the reference of 'it' was unclear to some readers. Although most here seemed untroubled by the syntax, it seems to me, a sentence is usually -- but not always -- better when it requires only one reading. What does anyone else think about this use of 'steerage,' would you pause, or just keep reading?