In Oliver Wendell poem what is the hoped for end of ship?

In the poem "The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the hoped-for end of the ship is revealed through the imagery of a pearly chambered nautilus shell. The ship is likened to the nautilus, a creature that builds its shell by adding increasingly larger chambers as it grows. Each new chamber is built from the innermost part of the shell, representing the nautilus's continuous growth and development.

The poem ends with the lines:

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, noble than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

Through this imagery, the poet conveys the idea that the ship, like the nautilus, should strive for constant growth and expansion. It should shed its past experiences and limitations and embrace new opportunities for self-improvement. The ultimate goal is for the ship to transcend worldly constraints and achieve spiritual liberation, symbolized by the words "Till thou at length art free."

By drawing parallels between the ship and the nautilus, the poem encourages a vision of continuous self-transcendence and a relentless pursuit of higher realms of consciousness and understanding.