Thanks for the comments Mike and Eric.
I removed the ship in 3 but not in 1. I found it even more distracting there than in 1.
I always struggle with my "ethics" cloning something out that was specifically there and belongs in the scene, but you're probably right.
I'll lodge another vote for the first.
The "ethics" of cloning elements out of a photograph is probably an issue which deserves a separate thread but I must confess I've never really seen any problem with doing it if the aim of the photographer is simply to produce a beautiful image. For photojournalists, obviously, it should be taboo but for fine art photographers, why not? It's merely the equivalent, in this case, of waiting until the ship moved out of shot; of course, by then the light would have changed, the hole might have disappeared and so on.
Jeremy