She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea

Product Description With her pistols loaded she went aboardAnd by her side hung a glittering swordIn her belt two daggers, well armed for warWas this female smuggler Was this female smuggler who never feared a scar. If a "hen frigate" was any ship carrying a captain's wife, then a "she captain" is a bold woman distinguished for courageous enterprise in the history of the sea. "She captains," who infamously possessed the "bodies of women and the souls of men," thrilled and terrorized their shipmates, doing "deeds beyond the valor of women." Some were "bold and crafty pirates with broadsword in hand." Others were sirens, too, like the Valkyria Princess Alfhild, whom the mariners made rover-captain for her beauty. Like their male counterparts, these astonishing women were drawn to the ocean's beauty -- and its danger. In her inimitable, yarn-spinning style, award-winning historian Joan Druett tells us what life was like for the women who dared to captain ships of their own, don pirates' garb, and perform heroic and hellacious deeds on the high seas. We meet Irish raider Grace "Grania" O'Malley -- sometimes called "the bald Grania" because she cut her hair short like a boy's -- who commanded three galleys and two hundred fighting men. Female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read were wanted by the law. Armed to the teeth with cutlasses and pistols, they inspired awe and admiration as they swaggered about in fancy hats and expensive finery, killing many a man who cowered cravenly before them. Lovelorn Susan "Put on a jolly sailor's dress/And daubed her hands with tar/To cross the raging sea/On board a man of war" to be near her William. Others disguised themselves for economic reasons. In 1835, Ann Jane Thornton signed on as a ship's steward to earn the fair wage of nine dollars per month. When it was discovered that she was a woman, the captain testified that Jane was a capital sailor, but the crew had been suspicious of her from the start, "because she would not drink her grog like a regular seaman." In 1838, twenty-two-year-old Grace Darling led the charge to rescue nine castaways from the wreck of the Forfarshire (the Titanic of its day). "I'll save the crew!" she cried, her courageous pledge immortalized in a torrent of books, songs, and poems. Though "she captains" had been sailing for hundreds of years by the turn of the twentieth century, Scotswoman Betsey Miller made headlines by weathering "storms of the deep when many commanders of the other sex have been driven to pieces on the rocks." From the warrior queens of the sixth century B.C. to the women shipowners influential in opening the Northwest Passage, Druett has assembled a real-life cast of characters whose boldness and bravado will capture popular imagination. Following the arc of maritime history from the female perspective, She Captains' intrepid crew sails forth into a sea of adventure. Review "Riveting history." -- Michelle Green, The Wall Street Journal"Great reading, especially for those who love tales of risk, glory, gritty adventure, and action-packed history." -- Karin Winegar, Minneapolis Star Tribune"Druett is as valued for her jaunty storytelling as she is for reclaiming the forgotten lives of seafaring women....Maritime lore has always been rich in romance and suffering; Druett's revelations increase its fascination tenfold." -- Donna Seaman, Booklist"Joan Druett's She Captains sweeps across the decks as a gale of tales -- saucy, surprising, always seaworthy. A sparkling voyage." -- David Hays, coauthor, My Old Man and the Sea About the Author Joan Druett, an award-winning writer of nautical nonfiction, is the author of numerous works, including Hen Frigates and In the Wake of Madness. She lives in New Zealand. Visit her website at www.joan.druett.gen.nz. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter Seven: Bonny & Read I had my fill of fine gentlemen in the sugar plantations....They can't ask a girl for what they want without simpering an