'dead in the water', again

I posted a question only a couple of days ago, but it's already disappearing out of sight down the page, with no responses to date: Can anyone help me with the provenance of the phrase 'dead in the water' (which pretty soon could be applied to the question itself)?

Some of us look at every new post. When a question gets no answer, it's often because nobody here knows its answer. That probably happened this time.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of, and why I added my parenthetical remark. I gave the same answer myself to someone else's repeated question a week or so ago. But I like EAH's suggestion, above this response. (I have to say I'm not one of those who read all new posts, though--only the ones that seem intriguing.)

I think it has a naval origin. A disabled warship is 'dead in the water'. By extension, anything out of action is too.

Yes--this from EAH, in a separate thread fork:
"When there is no wind, a sailing ship is 'dead in the water'. Another related phrase is 'in the doldrums'."

Thanks, both.

I looked in several references including two nautical phrase books. Couldn't find the expression even though it is a common one.