s during the 1890s in their travel diaries - Georgina Dyer who was shipwrecked, Eula Harding en route to Cuba who took her cat with her in an open boat. It was described as a "wild scene" with a "howling wind". But during one bad storm, an Allen wife made tea for her husband and lemonade for the crew, then withdrew to her room to embroider while the ocean rocked them about. They were all particularly wary of sailing around Cape Horn called the "dreaded place". Ann Hawlett Bangs and Sylvia Taylor Park were among those who became seasick and wrote about their travails. Otherwise, these courageous ladies went about their usual routine of washing clothes and caring for their children, some having been born at sea.
Women wrote about their experiences of life at sea and their emotions and those of others - the squabbles between the crew and even between their spouses and themselves. When a boy or sailor was lost overboard, they revealed the sense of loss unlike their captain spouses. In a tragic tale, a woman aboard Capt Harding's vessel, The Turk, saw her son washed overboard when the ship rolled near offshore Chatham. Ann Kammet Burgess wrote in 1852 when her little boy died, she"pickled" him and brought him back home to bury in the Pocasset family plot. In one story, a child lived only 21 days after birth. Another scene recalls the vivid rescue of a 17 year-old young man and how all aboard realized the value of life.
Coogan quoted an interesting view from a bridegroom, Elisha Sears, about his wife Bethia Mayo, 19, withstanding the rigors of a honeymoon at sea on the Essex. They were headed to the West Indies out of Boston. He notes in his wife's journal that she got along better than expected, only vomiting four times, getting plump and sunburned while headed toward Brazil. She wrote about episodes when her infected tooth was pulled out by pincers and how she dealt with rats at night. They had taken their wedding cake aboard and ate some each month, but finally finished it because of mold.
This happened on a typical voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco, and then to Calcutta where they found other Brewster captains. They saw Bengal tigers at the zoo, were distressed at burning bodies, and then sailed for China both becoming ill, probably with cholera. There was delirious fever and dysentery, according to Bethia's journal, and entries were skipped. She was becoming weaker and weaker. On September 16, she was miserable at times and didn't know what to take for a cure. On September 23, Elisha wrote in plaintive words: "Died. Made a coffin for Bethia". Her gravestone in Orleans reads, "age 20".
Some of these stories share the zest of life, according to Coogan, and are uplifting, but mostly they struck him as sad. He also recommends reading Petticoat Whalers by Joan Druett to learn more about what part women played in the 19th century maritime industry.
See the Presentation Notes Index for summaries of other presentations given at the Society's monthly meetings.