I've got a better idea for how to use it. Build a "water" base, stick those things into it, and announce that you've built a model of a ship that's sunk in shallow water.
Reminds me of a model of the Mary Rose that Donald McNarry (who gets my vote as the best modeler who's ever come to my attention) built a few years ago and wrote up in Model Shipwright magazine. He showed her in the process of sinking, with only the masts visible. He was trying to make a serious point: that the surviving remains of the ship aren't enough to allow a serious reconstruction of the whole hull and decks. But the result was sure funny.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.