America's Victorian Era in the Age of Sail: Women at Sea

The real me

I am fascinated by America’s Victorian Era. From the Victorians’ manners, etiquette, and fashions to the women who challenged the status quo. From the better-known women like Lucy Stone, Ednah Cheney and Maria Mitchell to the extraordinary, little-known women who remained at their husband’s sides even though that meant living at sea for years at a time.  Those women, known as Sister-Sailors or Whaling Wives include Mary Brewster, Martha Smith Brewer Brown, Mary Chipman Lawrence, and Clara Clifford Kingman Wheldon. During the peak of America’s whaling industry (about 1835-1860), each of these women and many more, traveled the seven seas aboard whaling vessels.  Wives and companions to their husbands, shipboard nurse, and mothers, many of whom gave birth while at sea with only their husbands to act as doctor or midwife. Between 1830 to 1860, approximately two hundred whaling vessels departed the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Nearly sixty of those ships had wives and children on board.

Join me here on my Blog, as I take you on a journey filled with romance, intrigue, and adventure. Through various posts, you will get a glimpse into the lives of amazing women who lived over a century ago, but were, in so many ways, the same as you and me  — simply stated, ordinary women living under extraordinary circumstances.  Here, you will get a glimpse of little-known American women’s history rarely taught in schools.

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