REVIEWS
It Didn't Happen On My Watch by George Murphy, retired United States Lines Chief Engineer and Port Engim:er. 50% au tobiographical; 50% sea stories; 100% entertaining. Written from the uniq ue down under perspective of the engine room. Spans over 40 years Uni ted States Lines history from WWII and its glory years to its slow decent into bankruptcy. Includes many fascina ting, heroic and humorous sea stories and photos. "Any person who served in the merchant marine or military will relate to It Didn 't Happen On My Watch. This book tells it like it is! Sometimes serious, sometimes sad, but mostly humorous. Recommended reading for all veterans." George Searle, National President Merchant Marine Veterans Hard cover, 360pp, photos $26.00 incl: s/h. NC res. add $1.38 ORDER VISA/MC:
1-800-941-0020
Or send check/mo to: Triangle Publishing, PO Box 1223, F uq uay-Varina, NC 27526.
The American Neptune Enjoy the leading scholarly journal of maritime history and arts in the US. The American Neptune, a quarterly publication of the Peabody Essex Museum, is a great read for co ll ectors, model makers, and all who love sh ips and the sea. We offer Sea History readers an opportunity to subscri be to The American Neptune for $33, a $6 savi ngs over our regul ar subscription rate ($36 fo r non-US residents. Institutions: call for rates). To start your subscription, send a check or money order to :
The American Neptune Peabody Essex Museum East Ind ia Sq uare Salem, MA 01970 (508) 745 -1 876 Yo u may charge your subscription by fax at (508) 744-6776, or e-mail dori_ phillips@ pem.org. We accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express.
Visit our website at www.pem.org/neptune
60
of a half century before, had diagonal frame riders to prevent hogging. Thi s book, as complete as it is on clipper ship design, may well inspire model ship builders of the more ambitious kind to build their models with exposed structure. It is a guide fo r historians who wish to immerse themselves in the structu ral anatomy of the fas t sai li ng ships of the 1800s. T HOMAS C. GILLMER, NA Hen Frigates: Wives ofMerchantCaptains under Sail, by Joan Druett (Simon &Schuster, New York NY, 1998, 272pp, illus, appen, index, ISBN 0-684-839687; $25 hc) A brief inscripti on in a hidden cemetery on the Polynes ian island of Rarotonga sent Joan Druett in quest of the women who plied the seas in coasters , whalers, clippers and down easters with hu sbands and fathers. "TO the Memory of Mary Ann ," read the stone she fo und, " the beloved wife of Captn . A. D . Sherman of the American Whale Ship Harrison WHO depa1ted thi s li fe Jan uary 5, 1850 Aged 24 Years." As Druett was to di scover, hundreds of women voyaged the seas during the 1800s and earl y 1900s in shi ps that came to be called "hen fri gates." Druett's search took he r halfway aro und the world , to museums and archi ves in New England , Long Island and elsewhere, where she found journals, memoirs and letters written by the intrepid women who left their homes on land to accompany their men on long, dangerous seagoing voyages. Educated women of thi s era frequentl y maintained di aries and Hen Frigates weaves together passages from such writings, exploring all aspects of the life they fo und at sea, in evocative narrati ves that are by turns lively, lonely and tragic. What we discover as we read their words, is that life at sea seemed to intensify their roles as wives and mothers in a worl d that was isolating and difficult, rather than 1iberati ng. They rare!y bro ke out of traditional fe male acti vities, writing, sewing, cleaning, bearing children, spending time with their husbands and families, sometimes teaching, cooking and caring for the sick and injured. They had little roo m to exerc ise contro l over their surro undings, as they could do at home, confined as they were to the cramped captain 's quarters. Both loneliness and lack of pri vacy were common complaints, and the lack of fe male com-
p a n y was the most difficult burden, as they went thro ugh emotional and medi cal cri ses and day-to-day difficulties without famil y and friends. Even so, many of them returned to sea again and again, because they found the life adventurous, because they did no t want to be separated from their husbands, or because those husbands insisted on their presence. The era of the he n fri gates did not last long-as steame rs took over the long-haul trades , owners did not allow captains to take fami li es with them. But while sa iling ships plied the waters, it was not unusual to find wives and children on board. The bibliograph y is a treas ure trove of nearly 150 journals, diaries , letters and remini scences written by seafaring women, publi shed and unpublished , gleaned from a dozen instituti ons in the US and Canada. J USTINE A HLSTR OM
Ultimate Voyage: A Book of Five Mariners , by Willi a m Gilke rso n (Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston MA & London UK, 1998, 314pp, illus, ISBN 1-57062-364-3; $25hc) ln one echoing clap of thunder, fi ve babies destined for the sea li fe are born in a medieval seaport town, whose people and ways we come to know closely in an hi storic era when ships were beginning to make very long voyages to discover the oceanic world. Thi s yarn of discovery, by the noted historian and arti st Bill Gilkerson, whose paintings and drawings cast their ow n unique spell , come to life with a special kind of consciousness, 1ike that of the Arthuri an wizard Me rl in , embracing past, present and future. The fi ve characters, celebrating a common birthday, come fro m widely separated strata in the hierarchical soc iety of our ancient, sea-haunted townand that fact helps bind them more closely together in the voyage which they decide to make together to the far side of the world. The Flying Dutchman, the Ancient Mariner and Sinbad the Sailor fi nd their stories retold with new resonance and meaning in the colorful and quintessenti all y chall enging string of adventures in di stant seas and ali en lands that our mariners encounter. Each learns so me thi ng spec ial ab o ut him se lf, whether not to over-mast a ship, not to be too generous with riches , or not to grow jealous about love. And you , reader, can learn the fresh wonder of a world re born from legend, at the hands of a SEA HISTORY 85 , SUMMER 1998