"The ship of state is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in book VI of Plato's Republic. It likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel - and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. The origins of the metaphor can be traced back to the lyric poet Alcaeus (frr. 6, 208, 249), and it is found in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes before Plato.
Plato establishes the comparison by describing the steering of a ship as just like any other 'craft' or profession - in particular, that of a politician. He then runs the metaphor in reference to a particular type of government: democracy. Plato’s democracy is not the modern notion of a mix of democracy and republicanism, but rather pure rule by what he terms the poor masses by way of pure majority rule. Plato argues that the masses are too busy fighting over what they consider to be the right way to steer the ship to listen to a true navigator – representing his philosopher-king. Socrates, speaking for Plato, rhetorically asks “Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing?” It is ultimately seen, then, that the ship of state metaphor is a cautionary tale against rule by anything other than an enlightened, benevolent monarch-of-sorts."
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