I was reading recently in Western Civ. book DISCOVERING THE WESTERN PAST (I think, or it was THE WESTERN EXPERIENCE), but anyway somewhere in there it mentioned something about lesbian ships! What is that. Was that a group of people that for some reason had some kinky customs that made them desirous to go down (no pun untended) in history as a bunch of homosexuals?
Could it be Greek history and the ships were from the island of Lesbos? Other than that I never knew ships had sexual preferences of any kind although they do seem to enjoy screwing the owner…
Yes, in the context of a history book “Lesbian ships” can only refer to ships from the Island of Lesbos in Greece. This would have nothing whatsoever to do with female homosexuals.
“Lesbian,” as a term for female homosexual, derives from the fact that the Greek poetess Sappho, who lived on Lesbos, celebrated love between women in her poetry.
Oh yeah, I think I might have seen a . . . uh . . uhm . . a “documentry” based on this idea. 
Correct on both counts.
From Sappho:
There was also a story about a woman pirate with a female crew. I’ll get back to you on that one.
Jill
Jill is right. Go here and here.
But, Jill, are you saying that they possibly got horny at sea and cuddled together?
(links fixed - Jill)
[Edited by JillGat on 11-02-2001 at 01:09 AM]
I couldn’t possibly tell you if they were horny and/or cuddled. I’ll leave it up to your imagination.
Jill
c
[Edited by JillGat on 11-02-2001 at 01:08 AM]
FWIW, the inhabitants of the Isle of Lesbos officially changed their nomiker from “Lesbians” to “Lesbosians.” I imagine the joke would have worn thing on me eventually as well…
“Well isn’t Danny Thomas lesbian?”
“No, Blanche - Danny Thomas is Lebanese…”
- The Golden Girls
Esprix
Lesbian ships, on the water, very free, and easy,
Easy you know the way it’s supposed to be.
I thought that they were Lesbians,
when much to my surprise…
they climbed aboard their starship
and headed for the skies!
Damn. I thought for a second Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O’Donnell were making cameos on “Love Cruise”. 
http://goodies.freeservers.com/femalepirates.html says about Ann Bonny: “Her father was a prominate lawyer” … I think that pretty much explains it. I would also become a pirate if my father was a “prominate lawyer” 
Sappho’s poetry isn’t doing it for me like a Penthouse style “documentary.” I hope they at least had some k.d. lang records with them.
*Originally posted by Ace_Face *
So “Wooden Ships” would be about…
Esprix:
I hadn’t heard “Lesbosians” before this; AFAIK, it is common for Greeks from there to refer to this island and themselves (if they’e from there) as Mytelene and Mytelinian, respectively (I may have misspelled one or the other slightly). There is a pretty good harbor on the island, so it would not surprise me that in olden times there was a substantial “Lesbian Fleet” at one time or another. Today, the island is known for its Ouzo and olive groves. I believe there are more olive trees than people there.
Apparently, Lesbian as a term for female homosexuality is much more recent… 19th Century, I think. “Lesbian Rule” used to refer to a rule (ruler) made of lead, and thus is a metaphor for adaptablility. I’m not sure, but perhaps Aristotle used it as such in the Nicomedian Ethics.
A person more up on classical linguistics can tell us if the ancients even had a specific word for female homosexuality. Perhaps “trivio”, as in “tribad”? I don’t know. It wasn’t “Lesbian” for sure. My personal opinion is that generally on the Greek mainland and later in Roman times, the lower status of women was such that their other activities didn’t rate much mention as long as they did their familial duties.
A total trivial point which others can confirm or deny is that Sappho would have spoken Aeolian Greek, and so would have called herself Psappha.