Perhaps the earliest known lines in English (well, Scots) to employ, in detail, the metaphor of a woman as a ship (not the other way round) are those of satirist Robert Sempill entitled "The ballat maid vpoun Margaret flemyng callit the flemyng bark In Edinburt," most likely written in the 1560s.

Sempill's target, Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl, was a member of the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. Born around 1530, she was the considerably older sister of Mary Fleming, one of balladry's "Four Marys." Sempill's poem claims she was notoriously promiscuous and mercenary.

The poem extends to 64 lines. Sempill describes in not-always coherent detail as an older but still desirable "bark" needing men to board and control her and keep her afloat.

Here's a sample (my prose translation):

"See that her hatches are handled right,...and she'll sail a whole winter's night without heeling over....Bring your tackle smartly to her stern: she will not fail to lay your mast....But if she leaks, get men of skill to plug the holes low in her hull."

However, the poem contains no battle imagery and no diseases. That differentiates it from the later Richard Head and the "fireship" balladists.

More later.