My ship sails appears related to the 17th-century gambling game, my sow's pigg'd,[2] which is mentioned by John Taylor the "Water Poet" in a 1630 poem.

[3] The rules of a three-card version called whehee appear in Francis Willughby's Book of Plaies, written between 1665 and 1670.

[7] It was popular with the German-speaking population of South Bohemia prior to their expulsion after the Second World War, and was known there as Ox, liach de!

Forehand leads by passing a card of his choice to the player on his left – middlehand.

Play continues in this way until a player has collected all eight cards of one suit in his hand, whereupon he lays them face up on the table and declares "Ochse, leg dich!"

[9] In 1831, Eliza Leslie describes a game for girls which she calls speculation or matrimony that is essentially my ship sails with a full pack of 52 cards.

The player to the left of the dealer passes a card she does not want, face down, to her left-hand neighbour.

This continues in turn and the first player with 13 cards in suit lays them down and is the winner.