I find a satisfying enough solution to problems like this is only to acknowledge that common language does not extend itself to very deep analysis. A ship simpl

I find a satisfying enough solution to problems like this is only to acknowledge that common language does not extend itself to very deep analysis. A ship simply cannot be thought of a rigorous object, as it is in the end a gross linguistic abstraction of many physical objects, human concepts and ideas etc. In the end, the problem boils down to which way you want to handle the abstraction, and thus you can solve it as you please.