Hen Frigates - Wives Of Merchant Captains Under Sail [Import] [Hardcover]

Joan Druett (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0285634488
• ISBN-13: 978-0285634480
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,646,343 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Accounts of the Sea, September 9, 2000

By 

Scott Anderson "Sharpsburg" (Shepherdstown, WV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail (Hardcover)

Joan Druett has put together fascinating stories about women that set sail with their husbands. Not only have their trials and tribulations been recorded, but first hand accounts from diaries were beautifully interlaced among the stories.

The illustrations are well done and I agree with other reviews in that it was a hard book to put down. The material was well researched and very easy to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun and fascinating history, December 13, 1998

By 

Rick Hunter (Malone, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail (Hardcover)

Joan Druett's Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail is a delightful book. Profusely illustrated, this largely anecdotal account gives the sense of life at sea during the age of sail from the woman's perspective. Because, however, so much of the hardships of sail belonged to the whole crew, Dreutt does not limit her writing to the wives, although much of her point of view is taken from several journals and diaries of these intrepid women. This is not so much a work of interpretative history or argument as it is a collection of delightful yarns. I found Druett a very pleasant and amiable companion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthralling account of life at sea, July 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail (Hardcover)

Those of us accustomed to the luxuries of modern life will surely appreciate them even more after reading this mesmerizing book! These women who sailed with their husbands had a hard life, one which few of us would choose today to pursue. This book was hard to put down, and I stayed up very late to finish it. Top-notch and well-researched.