Sail Away Ladies

Stories of Cape Cod Women in the Age of Sail

By: Jim Coogan

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Maritime history has always been the domain of men. From Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast to Herman Melville's Moby Dick, the human sea experience has always been told from the viewpoint of the men who lived it. Only recently has the story of the women who accompanied these sailors been uncovered and brought to light. The fact is that litterally hundreds, perhaps thousands of women--the wives of sea captains, accompanied their sea captain husbands on the broad ocean in the 19th century. Their view of life at sea in the age of sail is a side of maritime history that is unique and interesting. Often isolated in a male dominated heirarchy of shipboard authority, these "sister sailors" endured all of the hardships and adventures that their male counterparts did. Their letters and journals reveal a remarkable strength of character and a willingness to forsake the comforts of home to be with their husbands. Exotic cultures, storms and shipwrecks, pirate attacks, childbirth at sea and endless days of boredom pierced by moments of sheer terror were the lot of these sea faring women. Sail Away Ladies tells the stories of a dozen Cape Cod women who went with their sea captain husbands to the ends of the earth aboard whaling ships and merchantmen, all the while content in being part of their "husband's society." Their story is a proud and relatively unknown chapter in the sea faring history of Cape Cod and New England.