Direct answer: A relationship (or friendship) is the kind of “ship” that has two mates but no captain. Reasoning:
- The riddle relies on wordplay where “mates” refers to partners or friends rather than crew officers, and there isn’t a single leader figure like a captain [web results establish this common riddle answer: relationship or friendship].
- Variants of the same riddle sometimes answer with “fellowship,” “courtship,” or “friendship” depending on the exact phrasing, but the most widely cited and succinct answer to “two mates but no captain” is a relationship.
