# Writers: Fictional ships you've named? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479 "2009-09-25T04:10:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/1 "2009-09-25T04:10:29Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533184), I’m curious…for those writers here who’ve created fictional ships, what have you _named_ them? Marine vessels, airships, and space/star ships all count. As for myself, I’ve only got two I can think of off the top of my head—the _Argent Bifid_ and the _Lancehead_. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/2 "2009-09-25T04:40:46Z")
I wrote a small story about a man buying a sailboat from an elderly man’s estate and sailing it to Catalina. Out on the ocean he suddenly smells cigar smoke, and remembers being told the late owner was a cigar smoker, He discovers his his engine is overheating, and repairs it quickly, at which point the cigar smoke is smelled no more. He renames his boat **Seance**. In another old wooden sloops are named **Lamplighter** , \*\*Childhood’s End \*\*and **Overreacher**. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/3 "2009-09-25T05:45:47Z")
Back when I was playing VGA Planets, I tended to name my ships after cities/towns. The bigger the ship, the larger the namesake location. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/4 "2009-09-25T06:05:27Z")
I’m prepping for a RPG campaign set aboard a spaceship named the “Fair Trade.” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/5 "2009-09-25T08:30:33Z")
The Europa (a starship), the Silvermoon (luxury passenger ship - ironically decorated primarily in gold and platinum - but it’s owned by a vampire, and none of this world’s moons are golden in colour, so…), the Kestrel (starship)… I know I’ve used more, but those are the only ones I’m not blanking on right now. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/6 "2009-09-25T10:16:44Z")
The starship the main character in one of my novels owns is called “The Dutchman.” ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/7 "2009-09-25T10:23:44Z")
When I was a super geeky kid I drew and named my own spaceships and submarines for my own galactic civilizations, I know very lame. Some of my made up names were: Najeana Provistea Lyndivea Anderquozea Menifoleeax Nin-Osensa Taieai-Don Tassitan Some drawings from my youth of the above ships. [![](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2665/3786126977_605881840a_o.jpg) ](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2665/3786126977_605881840a_o.jpg) [![](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3786936548_fc09039b82_o.jpg) ](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3786936548_fc09039b82_o.jpg) [![](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2517/3786936428_3c7eda456b_o.jpg) ](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2517/3786936428_3c7eda456b_o.jpg) [![](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/3051040192_1c1e5de39e_o.jpg) ](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/3051040192_1c1e5de39e_o.jpg) Yes, I know super geeky lame. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/8 "2009-09-25T10:26:48Z")
In RPGs, I’v had both fantasy oceangoing and sfi-fi spacegoing ships named after various Japanese mythical creatures - _Kitsune_, _Tanuki_, _Kappa_, _Tengu_, _Shojo_. Another fantasy setting had sea ships named by full lines from various Romantic poets - IIRC, there was “_A homeless sound of joy was in the sky_”, “_Then stretches out my golden wing_”, “_O well for the fisherman’s boy_”, “_Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green_”, and some others. Of course, players rapidly shortened these to “skyjoy”, goldwing" etc, but the ships (animate - inhabited by spirits) always insisted on the full name before doing anything. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/9 "2009-09-25T11:22:18Z")
My most recent unpublishable story featured the third ship in the ill-fated Franklin expedition. Since the two real ships were the Terror and the Erebus, I named the third ship the HMS Tartarus. (This ship fell through a Symmes opening and formed the core of a colony in Pellucidar, Fort Tartarus.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/10 "2009-09-25T12:54:15Z")
The Wreckless ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/11 "2009-09-25T13:01:33Z")
The USS Perry K Orbino, a frigate in an alternate WWII. She was armed with 40mm gatling guns. Big gatling guns. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/12 "2009-09-25T17:46:21Z")
I named some battlecruisers in an SF screenplay the Strank, the Block, the Hayes, the Sousley, and the Gagnon. A medical veseel in the same script was the Bradley. I figured if you knew the origin of the names (only a couple were mentioned in dialogue, the rest just seen) you might smile; if you didn’t it would not distract. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/13 "2009-09-25T17:48:49Z")
In an as-yet-unplaced story about a trip to the moon, I named the ship the **Hans Pfall**. Look it up. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/14 "2009-09-25T17:50:19Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > I wrote a small story about a man buying a sailboat from an elderly man’s estate and sailing it to Catalina. Out on the ocean he suddenly smells cigar smoke, and remembers being told the late owner was a cigar smoker, He discovers his his engine is overheating, and repairs it quickly, at which point the cigar smoke is smelled no more. Sailboats have engines now? Wonders never cease. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/15 "2009-09-25T17:54:59Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Sailboats have engines now? > > Wonders never cease. What do you think they use if there’s no wind? Engines on a sailboat aren’t that uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/16 "2009-09-25T18:02:29Z")
Well, it’s not _writing_, per se, but in an old Star Wars game and in EVE Online, my personal starfighter in both settings was named _The Rascal King_. It’s become my standard whenever I have the ability to name a ship in games or in writing, with Bosstone as the pilot handle. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/17 "2009-09-25T18:19:02Z")
Several short stories I’ve written have involved boats (not ships.) _Dog II_ is a V-Drive sport boat owned by a small-town real estate mogul with severe anxiety disorder; _Destrier_ is the sailing yacht belonging to a wealthy Rhodesian expatriate in upstate New York; _Valerie Owens_ is the fishing boat that the protagonist commandeers in an attempt to escape an animal attack in _People vs. Animals,_ an as-yet unfinished story about an all-out war between people and animals. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/18 "2009-09-25T18:29:02Z")
In X2: the Threat, one of my capital ships was called the _Shinde Kudasai (Please Die)_. Other ships I’ve named have been given more generic names, including a Soviet colony ship called the _Red Star_. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/19 "2009-09-25T19:58:14Z")
In two different Star Wars RPG campaigns, my character owned a starship. In one, we named the ship the _Corellian Dancer_. The ship was the same model as the Millennium Falcon, and both of the ship’s owners were from Corellia. In the other, the ship was an old consular ship from the Old Republic days; those tended to have red paint jobs. The ship was given to my PC (the black-sheep child of a noble family), with the instructions to “use this to go far away from us, and not come back for a long period of time”. So, it was named the _Crimson Wanderer_. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479/20 "2009-09-25T20:14:02Z")
Hardly a bastion of creativity, any time I play a game which has a freight style vessel (space or water), the first one gets named the _Ceres_. Each time I play Pirates!, my flag ship is the _Reconquista_, no matter my nationality. I figure I probably got it from the Spanish anyway even if I’m playing French/English/Dutch 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-fictional-ships-youve-named/511479.md?page=2)