women role introduction
Answers
The roles of the women who accompanied their sea captain husbands were as varied as the women themselves. Ranging from the twenty-year-old bride who left on her wedding day for a three year trip around the world, to the woman who sailed with her husband for almost twenty years and bore seven children while doing so, women learned and accepted these roles. They filled their days at sea and ashore with a variety of activities that ranged from helping with navigation aboard to shopping in port cities like London, Singapore, and Valparaiso. While ashore they renewed acquaintances with other wives from home; explored the local history, flora and fauna; and made new friends. They sewed for themselves, their families, and often for the church fairs back in Maine. Sometimes they sewed on the very sails on which they depended for a safe passage. Sometimes they experienced great danger and drama.