She Captains

February 28, 2000
Following Hen Frigates, an account of 19th-century women at sea, Druett tackles a broader canvas, portraying the exploits of seafaring women throughout history. Though unevenly paced, this entertaining work is filled with fascinating characters distinguished by "bold enterprise in the history of the sea" and a robust appreciation of women's forgotten or little-known role in maritime activity. The cast ranges from Cleopatra, the Valkyries, pirate queens such as Anne Bonny and cross-dressing sailors to tough mariners' wives, lighthouse keepers like Kate Walkers at Robbins Reef, N.Y., and enterprising ship owners. Some are memorialized in legend, like the Irish pirate Grace O'Malley, while others are included because of their influential relationships: Emma Hamilton had a scandalous affair with Admiral Nelson; Lady Jane Franklin launched an intensive campaign for the rescue of her husband's lost 1845 Polar expedition that not only secured Sir John Franklin's reputation as an arctic explorer but led to the opening and mapping of new arctic routes. While the early chapters are densely populated and rooted in myth, literature and folk tales, the livelier stories in the second half draw on contemporary documents and diaries, often coming boldly to life and occasionally ringing with familiar themes, as in the story of Grace Horseley Darling, a lighthouse keeper's daughter who helped rescue shipwreck victims off the coast of Northumberland in 1838 and was made into a folk heroine by an invasive, greedy press. Line drawings.