Munchkin Booty - Ships questions

[Realmwatching]

Hi, new guy here. Question on ships:

"Shipshape" (Booty core deck) and and "On Sail Now" in (Booty 2). If you come across the Flying Dutchman, can you take it? Or does it only count as a monster at this point and you have to wait for an actual ship?

[MunchkinMan]

The only way you can take Flying Dutchman as a Ship is to defeat it in combat. Having retrieved it from the discards or finding it when you loot the room does not mean you have defeated it in combat, so you would have to look for trouble against it, kill it, and then decide to use it as a Ship, in those circumstances. Since it is a Monster card, and not a Ship card, Shipshape and On Sail Now! would not allow you to retrieve Flying Dutchman from the discards.