Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives

In "Seafaring Women," David Cordingly respectfully breaks down the stereotypes surrounding women in the maritime world. Both in literature and media, women have been portrayed as either vulgar, diseased virago types who work the docks or delicate, romantic, mournful ladies who wait for their men to return home. To counter this, Cordingly examines the Navy and merchants of Great Britain and America, specifically Boston and New York. As a result, the reality is that maritime women could be wives and prostitutes, trying to make ends meet, and still miss their husbands just as much. Women often took over their husband's shops and signed in their husband's name. Sometimes a sister or wife would be forced to take charge if a man returned show more broken and beaten by the sea. Men and women missed each other deeply, and excerpts from various letters are quite moving. The poorest of society weren't without feelings!

I enjoyed this more than Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag," in fact, I read several dramatic of the harrowing stories included out loud to my fiancé. The four star, instead of five, is only because two chapters focused on the love life of Admiral Nelson and John Paul Jones, which seemed out of place. Emma Hamilton was included of course, but their stories didn't quite fit the theme at the end. However, the book does cover every kind of woman at sea, by the sea, or related to the sea. Dockyard prostitutes, sailors' wives, whalers' wives, captains' wives, native women, female pirates and even lighthouse women! The latter was especially interesting to me, and Cordingly's enthusiasm makes it one of the best chapters. Narratively, this one was so much better than his "Under the Black Flag" because each chapter has a theme rather than enforcing a chronological order. This aspect of women's history is often overlooked, so I appreciated Cordingly's research! show less

In this illuminating historical narrative, maritime scholar David Cordingly shows that in fact an astonishing number of women went to sea in the great age of sail. Some traveled as the wives or mistresses of captains. A few were smuggled aboard by officers or seaman. A number of cases have come to light of young women dressing in men’s clothes and working alongside the sailors for months, and sometimes years. In the U.S. and British navies, it was not uncommon for the wives of bosuns, carpenters, and cooks to go to sea on warships. Cordingly’s tremendous research shows that there was indeed a thriving female population — from female pirates to the sirens of legend — on and around the high seas. A landmark work of women’s show more history disguised as a spectacularly entertaining yarn, Women’s Sailors and Sailor’s Women will surprise and delight readers. show less

This book, written by pirate expert Cordingly, covers all aspects of women and the sea- girls who sailed disguised as boys, female pirates, the lives of prostitutes in port towns and the wives of sailors and ship captains. There are many women here that I had never heard of, and I've read lots on pirate and sea history.
A standout is the story of nineteen year-old Mary Patten, the wife of a ship captain who became ill in 1856 while sailing from New York to San Francisco. The first mate was unable to navigate, but Mary's husband had taught her how on a previous journey, so rather than pull into a foreign port and cause her husband's employer to face a heavy fine, she took the wheel, navigated the ship for 4 months and completed the show more voyage.
Also surprising is the number of women who were able to collect a sort of pension from the Royal Navy after being discovered and removed from duty. It seems that in many cases, if a woman could prove that she had served honorably, even though in disguise, she received her pay for services rendered. show less

I found this book a fairly enjoyable read. I learned a lot and in a fun-loving to learn way. The author documented his sources very well which lends itself to being a very good authority on the subject. Yet, the reader isn't left to slog through stale facts. I felt like I was living the events with history's participants and enjoyed the experience.

There were a few times I felt like the author was going off on a tangent, and a few chapters felt very out of place and dropped me out of the information flow in a bad way. And I felt this book suffered from a severe lack of a conclusion. I wasn't expecting a reiteration of facts, but maybe some final thoughts or conclusions? But the final chapter just ends with no wrapping up at all.

A show more fairly good book on the subject matter on hand, one that doesn't have a lot of material out there that I can see, anyway. Very readable but does suffer some flaws. Recommended, though, if you're just looking to learn a few things from the era. show less

In short, for a book called "Seafaring Women" it was shockingly patronizing of women. (Or maybe it wasn't shocking, and that was what made me so angry.)

Cordingly is strongest when he's using and retelling stories from primary sources, unfortunately this leaves lots of unanswered questions about what was really going on when primary sources are unreliable (especially printed biographies, memoirs, newspaper accounts, etc.). Cordingly points out where things are likely exaggerations (even in the 18th/19th centuries sex sold...), but is weak on trying to offer alternative accounts. If you're an academic looking for some juicy topics to dig into, this would be a good place to start.

Interesting and incredibly readable! Seemed to be some parts that really strayed from having a focus on women, but it was easy not to mind so much since the topic remained engaging.