When I started the game (I started yesterday) and went out to sea, my ship appeared on a column on water that was raised quite high above the water level of the water around it. Also, in the distance, you can see that the water level is raised (probably to the same height as the column under my ship) at what looks like a circle around my ship. When I move my ship, the raised water moves with it.
What it actually looks like though is that there is a "doughnut" area where the water level is lowered with my ship in the middle where the doughnut hole would be.
Also, the tutorial dialogue box that pops up is empty with the choice buttons also blank. That might be a seperate issue though. As you can see in the second screenshot, I managed to complete the first item on the gunnery tutorial, but I have no idea what that is!