Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail

A delight. The book opens with a ghost story, or an ancestor-story: Druett falls into the grave of a sailing lady, recently reopened by a man acting in obedience to a dream of his ancestor. i love ghost stories and ocean-stories and i am quite fond of Druett as well; i want her eloquence & dry wit at my dinner parties.

An entire chapter on sex ("Sex and the Seafaring Wife"), which notes that marital relations must be difficult at sea due to the tossing of the ship in the waves ("opportunity for satisfaction was an uncertain matter on board") and also has this gem, direct from a seafaring lady's private journal: "I shall not be a fellatrix, Captain, oh my Captain, and if that be mutiny, make the most of it."

Well!

And then: the terrible, show more grieving, triggering story of Margaret Fraser, who was trapped at sea for years with an abusive husband, and writes a journal with the upmost caution (even so, he scribbled derisively over entries); what options did she have, after boarding?

Wives stopped joining their husbands with the age of steam boats: the presence of women is distracting. Odd, says Druett, "for no one has ever said that about a man who ... works on shore."

DROP MIKE. show less

Joan Duett's Hen Frigates, Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail is a fascinating and well researched book on the lives of women who went to sea with their husbands, Captains of sailing ships in the 19th century. Caught in the Victorian era the women were very restricted on what they could do (little besides sew, read, and take care of their children). They were isolated from the rest of the world aboard ship for months at a time and were often away from home for years at a time. Some of the women were timid as mice and others took change of the ships when their husbands were sick or died during a voyage. Or better yet, how many women would trust their husbands to deliver their child on a pitching ship at sea without a medical doctor in show more sight?

Joan Duett relied heavily upon the diaries and letters home written by "sea sisters," so the book has a good feel of authenticity. Hen Frigates, even though it is very factual, is easy to read and a very insightful book. I would recommend it. show less

A "hen frigate," traditionally, was any ship with the captain's wife on board. Hen frigates were miniature worlds- wildly colorful, romantic, and dangerous.Here are the dramatic, true stories of what the remarkable women on board these vessels encountered on their often amazing voyages: romantic moonlight nights on deck, debilitating seasickness, terrifying skirmishes with pirates, disease-bearing rats, and cockroaches as big as a man's slipper. And all of that while living with the constant fear of gales, hurricanes, typhoons, collisions, and fire at sea. Interweaving first-person accounts from letters and journals in and around the lyrical narrative of a sea journey, maritime historian Joan Druett brings life to these stories.

While an inherently interesting topic deserving of greater attention and full of fascinating bits of everyday familial history and some very good stories, I'm somewhat disappointed in reading this since Island of the Lost is a truly great story told masterfully while this feels more like reading someone's diary or letters (which it is, essentially, though quite well edited).

About women who went to sea with their sea captain husbands, taken from contemporary diaries. Fairly boring.