HEN FRIGATES: Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea [Paperback]

Joan Druett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 1999

A "hen frigate," traditionally, was any ship with the captain's wife on board. Hen frigates were miniature worlds -- wildly colorful, romantic, and dangerous. Here are the dramatic, true stories of what the remarkable women on board these vessels encountered on their often amazing voyages: romantic moonlit nights on deck, debilitating seasickness, terrifying skirmishes with pirates, disease-bearing rats, and cockroaches as big as a man's slipper. And all of that while living with the constant fear of gales, hurricanes, typhoons, collisions, and fire at sea. Interweaving first-person accounts from letters and journals in and around the lyrical narrative of a sea journey, maritime historian Joan Druett brings life to these stories. We can almost feel for ourselves the fear, pain, anger, love, and heartbreak of these courageous women. Lavishly illustrated, this breathtaking book transports us to the golden age of sail.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Holly Morris The New York Times Book Review A valuable collective portrait of intrepid seafaring women -- and an image of domestic challenge that would leave even Martha Stewart spinning.

Judith Dunford Newsday Great fun, exhilarating as a cruise on a windjammer, and no Dramamine required.

Michael Kenney The Boston Globe An altogether fascinating account...lively and...poignant.

Michelle Green The Wall Street Journal Riveting history.

About the Author

Joan Druett, an award-winning writer of nautical nonfiction, is the author of numerous works, including Hen Frigates and In the Wake of Madness. She lives in New Zealand. Visit her website at www.joan.druett.gen.nz.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (May 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684854341
• ISBN-13: 978-0684854342
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,208,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Back in the year 1984, on the picture-poster tropical island of Rarotonga, I literally fell into whaling history when I tumbled into a grave. A great tree had been felled by a recent hurricane, exposing a gravestone that had been hidden for more than one and a half centuries. It was the memorial to a young whaling wife, who had sailed with her husband on the New Bedford ship Harrison in the year 1845. And so my fascination with maritime history was triggered ... resulting in 18 books (so far). The latest -- number nineteen -- is a biography of a truly extraordinary man, Tupaia, star navigator and creator of amazing art.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating chronicle of womens' history/Victorian mores, June 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: HEN FRIGATES: Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea (Paperback)

This book is a compendium of the experiences of 19th century women who spent much of their lives on board sailing ships. Largely invisible in naval chronicles, a not inconsiderable number of wives and daughters accompanied merchant captains of that time. These globe-hopping women and girls led highly unconventional lives. They faced everything from abject boredom to dire peril from pirates, mutineers and the loss of loved ones from illness and injury - yet managed to overcome almost every challenge.

The book is organized into broad categories of experience, and uses the womens' own words from letters and diaries to tell their stories. There are lots of thumbnail illustrations of shipboard life, too. All in all this is a fascinating peek at Victorian conventionality and how far women could go in stretching it while remaining firmly trussed within its bounds.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting ride along......, February 27, 2001

By 

Brooke Cale - See all my reviews

This review is from: HEN FRIGATES: Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea (Paperback)

"Hen Frigates" is such a specific book, one can hardly imagine the time and research it must have taken to pull it all together. Ms. Druett has compiled list after list, diary excerpt after diary excerpt etc. to transport us into days past. Even though the time periods vary with the womens accounts, the stories all seem to ring the same. Each wife suffered through the same torments of life on the sea, but also in time relished with her husband. This is an interesting fact as husbands could sometimes be away for three years at a time with ittle or no contact home. By allowing the wives to share in the shipping/whaling experience, their marriage became all the stronger, or all the weaker in some cases. It is so easy for we in the 21st century to take advantage of all the amenities we use in everyday life, but the brave women portrayed lived as the sailors lived...sparsely. Raising children is difficult enough on land, but to do it on a ship sailing the seven seas, must have proved to be near impossible at times. All in all, a very interesting book on a forgotten subject.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hen Frigates, January 9, 2002

By 

Charles H. Russell, PhD (Houston, TX,) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HEN FRIGATES: Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea (Paperback)

This is an outstanding non-fiction book so alive with detailed stories about women aboard ships that it reads like a novel. It discloses not only women's stories about long journeys, shipwrecks, and daily experiences on board, but how women served as navigators across seas around the world. A splendid source on 19th century sailing.