Customer Reviews

Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail

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This book is quite a fascinating look at the roles women have played in the British Navy before this century. However, there does seem to be a lack of in-depth study of the women profiled. I found myself wanting to know much more than the author was willing to offer me. I felt too much time was taken re-iterating the social and economic standpoint of prostitutes in this era rather than focusing on the women's contributions to the Royal British Navy. I was mildly insulted when Ms. Stark suggested the reason these women were willing to be "transvestites," or dress as men to serve onboard naval vessels, was basically Freud's "penis envy" theory. This book did sharpen my appetite to find more books on the subject of Women in the Maritime Military.

This book would be well read in combination with Joan Druett's Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail. Stark's book focuses on the lives of prostitutes in English port towns, on sailor's wives and widows ashore, and those who sailed with their husbands, and briefly on the experiences of women who sailed disguised as men.

The author does a good job of portraying the limited options available to English women during the Napoleonic era, and explains why women might find it necessary to engage in prostitution, follow their husbands to sea, or serve disguised as men. The author takes pain to debunk the then-popular myth of disguised women sailors searching for lost husbands or brothers.

The book was, in some respects, too brief a discussion of the topic. A more in-depth analysis would be welcome.

Opens your eyes to the status of women prior to the mid 20th century.