Would this bother you?

I'm writing a pirate story, which naturally means that a big chunk of it is going to be taking place on boats and ships. I know that the "proper" way to refer to a ship is she and her, even though I don't think I've ever met somebody who actually did that. I keep catching myself calling them it and having to waste time going back to correct it. So, what do you think about this? If you read a pirate story that consistently referred to their ships as "it", would that bother you? If yes, would it be enough to make you stop reading or would you be able to overlook it if the story was good enough?