This document discusses women who went to sea disguised as men throughout history. It provides background on how ships traditionally only allowed male crew members. Some reasons women went to sea as men include joining lovers in the navy, economic opportunities, and escaping problems at home. Notable women who disguised as men include Hannah Snell and Mary Anne Talbot. The document also describes the famous pirate duo of Mary Read and Anne Bonny. It notes how striking it was that some women were able to maintain their disguises for weeks, months or years given the physical demands of life at sea. In closing, the document suggests these women set a strong example and endured significant hardships.

1. WOMEN AT SEA
Stephanie Scales

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Background
 Reasons why women went to sea
 Who are the women
 Piracy
 Side note
 Online museums
 Images
 Bibliography

3. BACKGROUND
 The earliest of time can account that the sea has always been male dominated.
But where were their families you ask?
The wives and family of these seaman were left on shore to tend to their homes and
children.
The crews of these ships consisted of all male beings, or so they thought.
 There were times where wives and mistresses were brought aboard the ships. Often
times, these women were snuck aboard by officers or seamen.
 In recent findings, women boarded the ships as men and went months and years
without being caught.

5. W H Y W OU L D A W OMAN WAN T TO GO
TO SEA DRESSED AS A MAN?
 Join their sailor lovers
• William Prothero- followed her lover to sea.
• Margaret Thompson- left her uncle’s home and joined the navy under
alias name; George Thompson. When Margaret (George) was busted
she explained that she went through such measures to see her
“sweetheart”.
 Economy
• Anne McLean- born to poor parents and after they passed away she
found it hard to obtain a livelihood. Anne, had a masculine demeanor,
described as “ being stout and hardy, thought she might pass for a boy”.
After signing on as a sailor, her disguise was shortly ended when an
onlooker realized that she was a woman.

6. W H Y W OU L D A W OMAN WAN T TO GO TO
SEA DRESSED AS A MAN? CONT’D
 Escape problems at home
• Lucy Brewer- left home to save her parents from shame when
she realized she was pregnant.
• There are several accounts of young woman following in those
same footsteps.
• British collier, Edmund and Mary, were sailing from Blyth when
it was discovered that one of the boys on the ship was a
female. The woman had become pregnant and after she had
given birth she left home to never return.

7. THE WOMEN
Hannah Snell
• Born in Worcester on April 23,
1973
• Spent four and a half years
dressed as a man.
• Joined the marines
• Sailed to India
• Was severely wounded after the
siege of Pondicherry
• On her return, she revealed her
identity and was discharged from
the navy.

8. THE WOMEN CONT’D
Mary Anne Talbot
• Born in London on February 2, 1778
• Used the alias name: John Taylor
• Taken under the wing of Captain
Essex Bowen. He took her alongside
of him as his footboy.
• After Captain Bowen was killed, Mary
embarked on a French privateer.
• Discharged at age nineteen and
spent the rest of her life in London.

9. PIRACY
The
DYNAMIC
DUO

10. PIRACY CONT’D
Of all the women who went to sea dressed as men, the most
fascinating must surely be the two pirates Mary Read and Anne
Bonny. (Cordingly 1427).

11. PIRACY CONT’D
Mary Read
• Born in England
• Passed off as a boy after older
brother passed away
• Mary was dressed everyday as a
boy
• As a teenager, Mary worked as a
footboy.
• Fell in love with a soilder and after
he passed, Mary began wearing
mens clothing again.

12. PIRACY CONT’D
Anne Bonny
• Born near cork an illegitimate daughter of a
lawyer and his maidservant
• Ashamed of his illegitimate child, Anne’s dad
dressed her as a boy to prevent his wife and
the townsfolk from suspecting anything.
• Anne grew up as a strong women, and got
married. Her father later threw her out of the
house.
• Persuaded by a pirate to leave her husband
and go to sea.
• After having her child, the pirate sent for her
and she rejoined the crew, dressed in men's
clothes.

13. SIDE NOTE
During this time period women were unknowingly accomplishing
tough tasks that were only sought out for men. A man was to go out
to sea in hopes of making money. Also, “ some captains were lucky
and tracked down enough whales within a few months to fill their
holds with whale oil and set off for home” (Cordingly 2162). A
woman’s duties consisted of staying ashore with their children and
families, holding down the fort until their husbands returned home.

14. SIDE NOTE CONT’D
“ What is striking about the genuine cases of female sailors is how
they were able to fool the men on board for weeks, months, and in
some cases, several years” (Cordingly 1116).
How were women able to retain the same
strength that men are naturally born with?

15. SIDE NOTE CONT’D
“ Most working-class women in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries were accustomed to a hard life that involved long hours
and a great deal of physical labor so that, provided the female sailor
was reasonably strong and fit, she would not have found most of the
demands of the sailors’ work beyond her. She obviously had to
develop a head for heights, and this proved the undoing of at least
one woman” (Cordingly 1143).

17. NANTUCKET HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
Susan Austin Veeder 1816-1897
• Veeder kept a journal of her whaling
voyage
• Left her family to join her husband (the
captain) out at sea. During this time
Veeder gave birth to a child who later
passed at 14 months.
http://www.nha.org/digitalexhibits/Sometim
esThinkofMe/Voices.html (copy and paste
link to hear full story of Susan Veeder)

18. MYSTIC SEAPORT
THE MUSEUM OF AMERICA AND THE SEA
 The Journal of Sallie G.
Smith (wife of captain F.H.
Smith)
 Sallie was on board of Barque Ohio of New
Bedford.
 She kept in her diary day by day events,
Observation and feelings.
 Link to her online journal 1875-1878
<http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/PageImage.cfm?PageNum=2&BibID=33
889>

19. MYSTIC SEAPORT
THE MUSEUM OF AMERICA AND THE SEA
Sallie drew pictures of her
surroundings.

20. CLOSER LOOK
American 38-gun frigate Chesapeake

21. CLOSER LOOK CONT’D
Wife going to sea with her husband
and children.

22. SEAFARING WOMEN SET
THE BAR
Seafaring women set the bar for women today. It took a
strong women (mentally and physically) to board these
ships full of men dressed as one of them. These woman
endured the same struggles the men did, they never let
the fact that they were women be a factor to why they
couldn't’t perform like men. As I mentioned, these women
stayed on these ships disguised at men for months and
years without being recognized. Many may wonder why it
was so important for these women to prove that they
were capable of equally doing the same work as a man
and what they planned to achieve from these adventures.

23. S E A FA R I N G W O M E N S E T T H E
BAR CONT’D
There were several women (prostitutes, cross-dressers, wives and mistresses) who
boarded these ships for different reasons. Some of these reasons may be agreed or
disagreed with but it takes a strong, loyal and dedicated women to board these ships
and bare witness and endure the things that occur.
Hannah Snell, and Mary Anne Talbot were two amongst many women who crossed
dressed to board these ships, they have my respect because I couldn’t imagine
doing what they did to get and stay on these ships.
Mary Read and Anne Bonny, played roles that it seem like you only read in fiction
stories. These two women were tough and carried out their roles to the bitter end.

24. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Cordingly, David. Women Sailors and Sailors' Women: An
Untold Maritime History. New York: Random House, 2001.
Print.
2. "Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Seaâ„ ¢ :
Home." Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the
Seaâ„ ¢ : Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.
<http://www.mysticseaport.org/>.
3. Boardman, Susan. "Notable Nantuckett Women Through The
Centuries." Nantucket Historical Association. N.p., n.d. Web.
16 May 2012. <http://www.nha.org/>.

25. THANK YOU!!!
I HOPE THAT I WAS
ABLE TO PROVIDE
YOU WITH NEW
INFORMATION