Daniel notices that ships are always called she -- her hull, her crew, she sailed.

He wants to know why.

The honest answer is that nobody knows for certain. But the clues that have survived are each interesting in their own way.

There is a theory from language. The Latin word for ship -- navis -- was feminine. But the Old English word for ship was actually neuter. So the Latin connection might be part of the story, but it does not completely explain why English sailors started using she.

There are theories from tradition. Ships were associated with goddesses, saints, and protective figures across many maritime cultures. Ships were often given women's names, carrying associations of protection, devotion, and home out to sea. Many old sailing ships had figureheads at the prow -- sometimes a woman, sometimes a god or an anima ...