Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives

For centuries, the sea has been regarded as a male domain, but in this illuminating historical narrative, maritime scholar David Cordingly shows that an astonishing number of women went to sea in the great age of sail. Some traveled as the wives or mistresses of captains; others were smuggled aboard by officers or seamen. And Cordingly has unearthed stories of a number of young women who dressed in men's clothes and worked alongside sailors for months, sometimes years, without ever revealing their gender. His tremendous research shows that there was indeed a thriving female population--from pirates to the sirens of myth and
legend--on and around the high seas. A landmark work of women's history disguised as a spectacularly entertaining yarn, Women Sailors and Sailor's Women will surprise and delight.

Author: David Cordingly
Publisher: Random House Trade
Published: 03/12/2002
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780375758720
ISBN10: 0375758720
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Women's Studies
- History | Maritime History & Piracy
- Biography & Autobiography | Women

About the Author
David Cordingly was for twelve years on the staff of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, where he was curator of paintings and then head of exhibitions. He is a graduate of Oxford and the author of Under the Black Flag, an acclaimed history of piracy. Cordingly lives with his wife and family by the sea in Sussex, England.