The last place one would expect to find a nineteenth century woman is on a sailing ship. Yet this book documents the lives of woman who did go to sea. They were the wives of the ship's captains. Druett's book retells how these women lived aboard ship during the age of sail. The author often used the words of the women themselves since they were often literate and kept journals of their adventures.
This is such a cool book. After finding of a grave of a whaler's wife on an island in the mid-Pacific, Druett combed the historical societies of the Northeastern United States to find letters, diaries and newspaper accounts of these hardy women. In many ways their lives were the same as on the shore and were limited to the traditional female chores of sewing, child rearing and entertaining other captains. But many of them learned how to navigate and even command the ships when their husbands fell ill or died. Life on the ocean was dangerous with storms, raiders and disease, not to mention the often food, drunken crew or the daily hazards of operating an ocean going vessel. Yet these woman chose to stay with their husbands and bear children under these hazardous conditions.
This life was not without rewards. A captain of a ship usually owned the vessel, so he was considered a man of some means. A seagoing merchant could be considered quite a catch for a young middle class woman. Many couples were deeply in love and could not bear to be without the company of the other. There was also the chance to travel across the globe, to see faraway places. For a woman raised near the ocean, often daughters of captains of smaller coastal vessels, to live on the ocean came naturally. It was a risky venture, especially given the state of medicine at that time, to sail about the oceans and pick up strange cargoes from across the globe. Yet many women prefered to be with their husbands and raise their children on the open seas then to be away from them on safety of dry land.
Along with describing the lives of the captain's wives tasty tidbits of knowledge about the nineteenth century sailing life was gleaned by the author. I recommend this book about 'sister sailors' to anyone interested in the age of sail or woman's history.
(Review copyright 2002 by J.C. James)