# Ships in Bottles - Why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 6, 2000, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870 "2000-01-06T15:41:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2000, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870/1 "2000-01-06T15:41:00Z")

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Does anyone know how/when/why did the craft of putting ships in bottles begin?

I think we first put bottles in ships, and then some drunken sailor misunderstood!

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I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy - Hawkeye 4077th

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**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2000, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870/2 "2000-01-06T17:32:00Z")

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The custom started with bored sailors. As an interesting aside, on the danish island of Aero, there is a museum containing thousands of ships in bottles. The old guy who made them had to have a drinking problem!

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870/3 "2000-01-07T00:30:00Z")

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Because ships in 55 gallon steel drums just lack that special \* zing!\*

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“Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.”----Jung

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**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-in-bottles-why/5870/4 "2000-01-07T04:20:00Z")

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To paraphrase Hillary:

## Because the bottles were there.

Jeremy…

Nobody ever calls me after they’ve done something smart.