WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS lived by the sea and ventured upon it! Official sources account for more than 20 women who dressed as men and who served in the Royal Navy or Marines from the late 17th century to early 19th centuries. The Merchant Fleet - and in later times the vast numbers of Victorian Passenger and Cruise steam ships provided jobs for women - as they do now; stewardesses, nurses, kitchen workers.. Most have sailed with their ships into the past, not a few to the ocean bed. Some names survive through both legend and fact. Here are a few.....
Grace O'Malley called Granuaile in the Celtic
KNOWN AS The Pirate Queen of Ireland by the English Grace was was born about 1530, the daughter of the seafaring Clan Chief of Umhall on the west coast of Ireland . She married early but on the death of her husband returned to her father bringing with her a loyal army of some 200 men. Taking command of the family fleet - galleys with a sail and thirty oars - she began to sail the west coast of Ireland looking to capture rich merchant ships from France, Spain, Portugal and England and their valuable cargoes of silks, silver, wine, wool and spices. A skilled navigator and tough survivor - galleys tend not to have comfortable cabins - she sailed the Irish seas for 40 years commanding the total loyalty of her crew. She shared their privations and the perils; she fought alongside them and was known to fight and kill in battle. In 1577 she was captured by the English and was to be hanged - but later released and her son Murrough taken as hostage. She is thought to have met Queen Elizabeth in 1593 who agreed to a pardon provided that Grace continued to ".....invade with sword and fire all [Her] Highnesses' enemies wheresoever they are or shall be without any interruption of any person or persons whatsoever....." Returning to the sea she is thought to have died in 1603 and to have been buried on Clare Island in Connaught. Picture left:Granuaile meets Queen Elizabeth
BORN AROUND 1697 County Cork Ann was taken by her father to his plantation near Charleston in North Carolina. Always wayward and uncontrollable she excelled in the unwomanly sports of shooting and fencing and was not afraid of using her fists. She left her father's house to marry a seafarer William Bonney, together they lived in New Providence (now Nassau) a notorious haven for pirates. But William disappointed his wife by becoming a spy for the Crown, and she began a liaison with a real buccaneer Jack Rackham , known as "Calico Jack." Bonney divorced her by the traditional means of "selling" her in the marketplace; "bought" by Calico Jack they went off to sea together in his ship "The Revenge." flying the Jolly Roger. Always wearing male attire at sea Ann fought with gun and blade alongside the crew when capturing and boarding their prize ships; not one for strict fidelity she took a fancy to a young shipmate - but "he" turned out to be yet another woman disguised as a man....... Mary Read.
MARY HAD BEEN a soldier in the British Army serving in Flanders during the Spanish War of the Succession. She left off her disguise to marry a fellow soldier but after his death re-enlisted as a man in a regiment bound for the West Indies The boat was taken by "The Revenge" and Mary found herself in New Providence where she took ship with Calico Jack and caught Ann Bonney's eye ! However "The Revenge" was captured by a naval English Man O' War in 1720;the crew was taken to Jamaica where they tried for piracy, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Ann and Mary escaped execution by "pleading their bellies" a ruse not uncommon with women prisoners to ensure a stay of execution........later Ann was reprieved and seemingly turned over a new leaf for no more records of them appear in history. Mary too vanishes though some references say she died of a miscarriage also in 1720.
THE STELLA WAS A PASSENGER ferry steaming between Southampton and Guernsey. On March 30th 1899 at 4.00 PM she struck a rock and sank within 10 minutes. There was a great loss of life amongst the passengers and crew, many bodies were never recovered. The Mayor of Southampton began a Charitable Fund for relief of the families of the crew members, messages of sympathy came from the Queen and the French Government. Many stories of courage and bravery by the crew and the passengers were related. The Times of 10th April 1899 carried this report from a lady passenger as told to a surviving officer.....
"..... Mrs Rogers with great presence of mind got all the ladies from her cabin to the side of the ship, and after placing lifebelts on as many as were without them assisted them into the small boats. Then, turning around, she noticed that the narrator was without a belt, whereupon she insisted upon placing her own belt upon the lady and led her to the fast filling boat. The sailors called "Jump in Mrs Rogers", but the latter replied "No No; if I get in the boat will sink. Good-bye good-bye." With uplifted hands she said "Lord have me !" and immediately the Stella sank beneath her feet."
Tile in "Postman's Park" near the Museum of London
GRACE WAS the daughter of George and Thomasin Darling; he was a Lighthouse keeper at Longstone in the rocky and desolate Farne Islands situated out in the North sea off the wild coast of Sunderland. Picture: Longstone Lighthouse in Grace's time.
On 7th September 1838 the Forfarshire, a paddle steam vessel with sixty crew and passenger aboard travelling between Dundee and Hull encountered a violent storm , she foundered and sank with a great loss of life. A handful made it to a rock "Big Harcar" some three quarters of a mile away from the lighthouse.
At the time Grace and her father were the only family members on Longstone. With the storm still raging Grace and her father launched their "coble", a flat bottomed rowing boat. With an oar each they made it to Big Harcar and rescued nine survivors, Grace keeping the boat afloat as her father took the survivors on board. The storm was so bad that the survivors were forced to stay in the lighthouse for a further three days until they could be taken to the mainland, Bamburgh Castle, some three miles away.
There is a Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh which has the coble which saved the survivors of the Forfarshire; letters in Grace's writing, locks of her hair, dresses and much memorabilia. Commemorative pottery; tea tins, soap, matches, mugs plates and jugs all bearing Grace's portrait are valuable today. She received offers of marriage, the Duke of Northumberland made her his ward, £700 (a huge sum then) was raised for her by public subscription. Books and plays and portraits described her life - which was cut sadly short.
Continuing to lead a retired life in Northumberland with little thought to her fame and fortune Grace contracted tuberculosis and died four years later.
Letter from the Treasury Chambers dated 24 November 1838 to Miss Grace Darling, Longstone Lighthouse.
Madam,
The Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury have commanded me to acquaint you that the attention of Her Majesty having been called to the circumstances attending the wreck of the Forfarshire............Her Majesty has signified her pleasure that as a mark of her gracious approbation of your conduct on the occasion, the sum of fifty pounds should be paid to you; and their Lordships have given direction to The Paymaster General of Civil Services to make this payment to you accordingly.
I am [etc. ]
Interestingly the Forfarshire is described as a luxury vessel, there were private staterooms and a ladies' cabin; certainly at least one lady passenger, a Mrs Dawson, was saved by Grace and her father's effort. Presumably there was a Stewardess ? It was after, and as a result of, this rescue that the National Lifeboat Institution (which had been founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary) achieved nationwide prominence and respect.
The Rescue !
IN 1759 AGED ABOUT 19 Mary Lacy dressed herself in male attire and signed on H.M.S. Sandwich at Chatham docks as William Chandler, a servant to the ship's carpenter. William went to sea with the Navy for 3 years and survived scurvy, leaky vessels, violent storms, and bullying from upper class boys on board. Suffering from rheumatism he was eventually able to be bound apprentice to a Carpenter and Shipwright ashore at Portsmouth Dockyard where he continued to serve in the Navy for the full 7 years of his indentures. William became a fully qualified Shipwright at 30. Unfortunately his rheumatism returned so that he could not work; applying to the Admiralty in his own name - Mary Lacy - for a pension. In 1772 The Admiralty granted Mary Lacy a pension of £20 per year.
In 1773 she wrote a book describing her adventures. William was clearly an attractive young man with a quick wit and lively sense of humour who can flirt with ease. He was often befriended by the Carpenter's wife when at sea and by bumboat women when he was aboard ship in harbour. He had no shortage of girlfriends, in fact often a superfluity !
William became "very free and intimate " with one Sarah How and drops a previous girlfriend Betsey. He is swaggering down the street one day when..........
"...as I was going down the common in Union Street she [Betsey] happened to stand at a door; and seeing me said "Will, I thought you was dead !"
"Why so," returned I. "Did you send anyone to kill me ?"
"No," replied she, "but I thought I would never see you any more."
"Well," said I, "you are welcome to think so still, if you please, but I must be going."
"What !" said she, "You are in a great hurry now to be gone, if you was along with that Gosport girl you would not be in such haste to leave her ."
I said "I am not in such a hurry to be gone from your company Betsey; what makes you think so ?"
After this little chat, though with some seeming reserve on both side, she asked if I would come in. I went in and sat down, and asked her if she would come next Sunday to Gosport and drink tea. She told me she would. Thus it was all made up again.
At one time when working in the dockyard Mary comes perilously close to being exposed. William keeps his head and at first laughs it off, but cannot permanently dodge the accusation.
".....the man whose name was Corbin and his mate who taught me my business came and told me in a serious manner that I must go with them to be searched. "For if you don't," said they "You will be overhauled by the boys."
Indeed I knew not what to do in this case, but I considered that they were very sober men and that it was safer to trust them than expose myself to the rudeness of the boys. They put the question very seriously, which as I ingeniously answered, though it made me cry that I could scarce speak, at which declaration of mine in plainly telling them that I was a woman, they seemed greatly surprised and offered to take their oaths of secrecy.
When they went back, the people asked them if it was true what they had heard.
"No, said they," he is a man-and-a-half to a great many."
Grace O'Malley Ann Bonney & Mary Read Mary Rogers Grace Darling Mary Lacy
With thanks to:
"Bold in their Breeches, Women Pirates across the Ages" by Jo Stanley. Pandora 1995
"Grace had an English Heart" by Jessica Mitford. Viking Penguin 1988
"Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail" by Suzanne J Stark. Pimlico 1996
"The History of the Female Shipwright" by Mary Lacy. London M. Lewis 1773 (more thanks to Suzanne J Stark.)
Hove Library.
Picture from "Mary Lacy";Illustration from the ballad "Young Henry of the Roaring Main" which tells of a young woman who went to sea disguised as a man with her lover Henry.! Modern Street Ballads 1888, Chatto & Windus
From Old Dyke 11, April MMI
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