Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991.

This was apparently one of John Smothers's (Zappa's bodyguard) many malapropisms, which are also referred to in the song "Dong Work for Yuda" from Joe's Garage (1979).

[7] The pseudo-title track, "Drowning Witch", begins with lyrics based around the theme of the cover art, and segues into an instrumental section of typical (for Zappa) complexity and intricacy, featuring musical quotations from The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky and the Dragnet TV theme composed by Walter Schumann and Miklós Rózsa.

[8] Zappa's band for the fall 1981 and summer 1982 tours, which he would continue to feature on the next few albums and the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series, included Ray White on rhythm guitar and vocals, Steve Vai on guitar, Tommy Mars on keyboards, Bobby Martin on keyboards, saxophone and vocals, Ed Mann on percussion, Scott Thunes on bass and Chad Wackerman on drums.

For studio sessions, he also used past band members including vocalists Ike Willis, Bob Harris and Roy Estrada and bassists Arthur Barrow and Patrick O'Hearn.

The album "was mixed on JBL 4311 speakers" with MicMix Dynaflanger and Aphex compressors, consequently giving a "played up" prominence to its songs' bass lines.

[9][7] The original LP release contained a note that reads "This album has been engineered to sound correct on JBL 4311 speakers or an equivalent.