J. Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur's "Letters from an American Farmer"

vessel

Definition (n)

1aa container (such as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something
ba person into whom some quality (such as grace) is infused
2a watercraft bigger than a rowboat
especially  SHIP sense 1
3aa tube or canal (such as an artery) in which a body fluid is contained and conveyed or circulated
ba conducting tube in the xylem of a vascular plant formed by the fusion and loss of end walls of a series of cells

Source