In a bid to get on with the times, the Scottish Maritime Museum near Troon landed itself in very hot waters over its recent decisions to kill the centuries-old tradition of referring to ships as “she.”
A hint of this move came on social media earlier this month, when the Museum posted photos of defaced description plaques, where the word “she” had been scratched out. Apparently, some activists had walked around the museum and, not happy with reading about a ship referred to as a “she,” decided to cut that word right out.
In the post, the Museum rightfully lamented the act of vandalism, saying that they operated as a charity and couldn’t afford to replace the destroyed plaques. Still, they did order new ones and they would replace “she” with “it” in all descriptions of ships.
In statements to the British media, people from the Museum also said that calling a ship “she” was outdated and that they wanted to be seen as progressive, hence the change. Judging by the reactions their announcement has gotten, the only thing they managed to do was get on a lot of people’s toes.
Former Navy Chief Lord Alan West, ex First Sea Lord, for one, is fuming mad. He is so mad that he placed a call on a BBC program discussing the move, just so he could describe it as “stark staring bonkers.” That’s British-speak for a lot of cuss words, as you know.
“[It’s] political correctness gone mad,” he said, as cited by The Telegraph. “It's a sort of insult to generations of sailors, the ships are seen almost as a mother to preserve us from the dangers of the sea and also from the violence of the enemy. To change it in this trite fashion is just absolutely stupid.”
“We've done it for centuries as that's how we refer to them, we have to be very careful with little tiny pressure groups that make people change things. It's a very dangerous road we are going down,” Lord West continued. “I don't think it's dated at all… sometimes things that are dated are there for very good reasons and I am very proud of some of those facts.”
He is not the only one to feel that the Museum is caving in to PC activists, either. A spokesperson for the Royal Navy tells The Telegraph that the Navy feels the same way, so they have no plans to start referring to ships as “it” anytime soon. Or ever.
In the post, the Museum rightfully lamented the act of vandalism, saying that they operated as a charity and couldn’t afford to replace the destroyed plaques. Still, they did order new ones and they would replace “she” with “it” in all descriptions of ships.
In statements to the British media, people from the Museum also said that calling a ship “she” was outdated and that they wanted to be seen as progressive, hence the change. Judging by the reactions their announcement has gotten, the only thing they managed to do was get on a lot of people’s toes.
Former Navy Chief Lord Alan West, ex First Sea Lord, for one, is fuming mad. He is so mad that he placed a call on a BBC program discussing the move, just so he could describe it as “stark staring bonkers.” That’s British-speak for a lot of cuss words, as you know.
“[It’s] political correctness gone mad,” he said, as cited by The Telegraph. “It's a sort of insult to generations of sailors, the ships are seen almost as a mother to preserve us from the dangers of the sea and also from the violence of the enemy. To change it in this trite fashion is just absolutely stupid.”
“We've done it for centuries as that's how we refer to them, we have to be very careful with little tiny pressure groups that make people change things. It's a very dangerous road we are going down,” Lord West continued. “I don't think it's dated at all… sometimes things that are dated are there for very good reasons and I am very proud of some of those facts.”
He is not the only one to feel that the Museum is caving in to PC activists, either. A spokesperson for the Royal Navy tells The Telegraph that the Navy feels the same way, so they have no plans to start referring to ships as “it” anytime soon. Or ever.