In Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain, boats were usually referred to using the pronoun . they she it he

she

Explanation:

Mark Twain had a great admiration for boats, as we can see in "Life on the Mississippi." This admiration made Twain see boats as living beings, as an entity independent of human beings and for this reason, he did not use the pronoun "it" to refer to boats, as this pronoun is associated with inanimate beings and Twain I didn't see boats that way. He preferred to use the name "she," as we can see in this excerpt:

"This kind of whispers was still going on, the men being bunched together forrard watching for the bar'l, when, lo and behold you, here she comes again. Down she comes, slow and steady, and settles into her old tracks. You could a heard a pin drop. Then up comes the captain, and says [...]."