Q:

Verbs of motion for sailing

I have a doubt concerning what verbs are used to describe the movement of a ship, boat, etc.
Идти/ходить, respectively determinate and indeterminate, mean "to go on foot/walk". If I go somewhere by car, I tell "я езжу" (ind.), "я поеду" (det. pf.).
I've heard that the displacement of vehicles themselves is referred to as идти/ходить too. "Автобус ходит по городу", for example.
But what if I am talking about ships? Dictionaries tell that "плавать" means not only "to swim" but also "to sail/navigate". 
Does плавать/плыть and compounds with prefixes such as уплывать/уплыть refer to the action of a sailor aboard a ship, or the movement of the ship herself on water?

A:

Yes they all denote movement of a person aboard a vessel and of a vessel itself. 
Add to them поплыть.
In contexts where the fact of travelling to certain destination is what's important and not the means, ездить can also be used.
However it's believed that professional sailors like to emphasize that they do not плавают, because it's shit which floats, whereas they ходят.

Плавает только говно и щепки, а моряки ходят

But this is professional jargon and has no bearing on the regular usage.
Illustration from a movie

