The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-08-28
SAILOR WOMEN.
AN OCCUPATION IN WHICH MEN Excel

AN OCCUPATION IN WHICH MEN EXCEL.
Now and Then a woman Has Be
coDsc a sailor, and Has Made Fame
and Sometimes administrations
Female Pirates.
"Women are making their wagon shore
into all sorts of trades and occupations"
said an old skipper to a New York Sun
reporter '"but 1t will be long time, Pm
thinking, before you viii see a woman in
command of a Liverpool packet running
across the Western ocean. Not but what
woman could do all the work a skipper
needs TO do on one Of these big steamships,
providing she knew enough. 1t is a mat
ter of endurance with the skipper, and
not .Tnuscular strength The skipper
neither pulls on ropes nor hands and
reefs, nor stands a trick at the wheel. He
just stays on deck and looks after things.
without any watch below worth speaking
of, from the time be leaves Queenstown
till he's tied up alongside of some North
River pier. There ar5 plenty of women
who could do that If they knew enough.
But the trouble is the learning. They
have got to do the work before they can
boss it; at least, that's the generals idea
among sailor men.
There have been cases. howsver,
though not very many where women
have shown themselves 70 be firs5-class
sailors. Maybe you have seen n big
schooner yacht cruising about the lower
bay with handsome gray haired woman
standing at the wheel and keeping her
full and by with one spoke I have, any
how, and I am tod that there a-e half
dozen ladies whose husbands belong to
the New York Yacht Club who are as
handy about the deck as their husbands
are.
o. Ship owners have a cast-irUn, case
hardened rule which fOrbids shippers to
take their wives to sea the theory being
that Captain viii be looking after the
wife when he ought to be looking after
the ship. It's a bad theory, and is not al
ways held to. There is the case of the
cargo ship Edgar, homeward bound from
Senegal to London. The fever broke out
and all the crew were prostrated except
the Captain and the mate. These two men
went into the engine room, and the Cap
tain's wife steered. But bor her grit the
ship would have been lost
Then there was the heroic Mary Pat
ten who was with her husband in a voyage
around the Horn in the early days OF the
California gold excitement. Her husband
wss taken sick off the Horn, and she took
his place on the quarter deck, The crew
were a lot OF swabs, and none of them
knew a seXtant from a spud- bag, not even
. the mate but Mrs Patten kept the log,
and took the sun, and navigated the ship
into Frisco, caring for hsr husband when
IL was her watch below.
Another case where a woman served
as skipper is that Of the British brig
Cleetus, Miss Betsy Miller master. Her
father was a ship owner Of Saltcoats He
had no sons, and took his daughter into
his office and about the docks as q com
panion. She gradually picked up a
knowledge Of ships and navigation Fin
ally she became 50 much enamored with
a life at sea that her father put her IN
command of the Cleotus which he built
especially for her. For more than twenty
years she sailed the Cleotus about the
stormy coasts of Great Britainand the con
Hnent, resisting the wooings of the many
/ gallant sailor boys who were fascinated by
her bravery and when her father died
she succeeded to and conducted his busi-
ness successfully.
Not long ago a men who had for years
! served as quartermaster in the British
! navy died at a hospital in London. His
name was Thomas Phelau. He was born
on the frigate Swallow ia 1912, his mother
having been regularly shipped on board
the vessel She was married woman,
her husband being a gunner. Three
4 weeks after Tommy was born the Ssyallow
was attacked by two French vessels off
Brejus. During the action Mrs. Phelan
was stationed to assist the surgeon in the
na-a of Z he f1a1 IL. -I,1.
were engaged, yardarm TO yardarp1, word
reached her that her husband had been
I dangerously wounded on deck She at
/ once rushed on deck and took him in her
arms. He opened his eyes. whispered her
name, and then closed them again At
that instant a large cannon ball took off
her head, and the two died together They
were sewed up in one hammock and
buried in the sea after the action was
over.
=" Not the least interesting of the stories
of women at sea are the tales of the fe-
male pirates. Some of them are historical
as well as romantic. AIwilda, the
daughter of Synardus. Gothic King, was
betrothed by her father to ALI, the heir to
the throne of Denmark The proposed
marriage was so disagreeable to AIwilda
that she gathered troup of young Anna
IONS. dressed them in the Rarb of sailors,
left her home, and put to sea as a viking
She was exceedingly courageous and sue
cessfu1 Finally she one day found a
crew of pirates who were beWailing the
loss of their commander. She proposed
that they sail under her command. The
men were PLEASED with her bearing and
readily accepted With this increase of
forces she became terror to the coast
and rapidly increased her fleet and the
number OF her sailors. 1t finally became
necessary to exterminate this new band Of
pirates under an unknown and handsome
commander, and All, the rejected lover
was placed in command of the naval fleet
that was ordered to search for her The
two fleets met ia the gulf of Finland.
Alwilda laid her ship alongside the Ad-
nliral's. and in the battle that easued
half of her crew was killed outright, and
she was overpoweaed by the Admiral him
self She wore casque over her head,
and was not recognized until she had
been dis8rmed, and the casque was re-
moved. The astonishment of the pros
pective King was great when he saw the
runaway girl His valor in action had
meantime. won the respect of ale