Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820-1920 [Paperback]

Joan Druett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Joan Druett offers an informed and accessible account of little known stories of wives of whaling captains who accompanied their husbands on long and arduous journeys to bring whale oil and blubber to New England. Surprisingly, by 1850 roughly a sixth of all whaling vessels carried the captains' wives. Invariably the only woman aboard a very cramped ship, they endured harsh conditions to provide companionship for their husbands, and sometimes even exerted a strong unofficial moral influence on a rowdy crew. Joan Druett provides captivating portraits of many of these wives and the difficult circumstances they endured.

Petticoat Whalers, first published in New Zealand in 1991, has been out of print since 1995. The Kendall Whaling Museum's L. Byrne Waterman Award citation states: "It is not insignificant that Petticoat Whalers is already an indispensable classic, and [Druett's] other books and articles have earned the status of Basic Necessities on any well-stocked shelf of maritime narratives and reference works."

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

7 1/4 x 10 1/4 trim. 88 illus. LC 2001-090498

About the Author

A prize-winning maritime historian and writer of historical novels, JOAN DRUETT's nonfiction books dealing with the sea include Rough Medicine: Surgeons at Sea in the Age of Sail (2001), She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea (2000), and Hen Frigates (1998).

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: UPNE; 1st edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584651598
• ISBN-13: 978-1584651598
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,137,490 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 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first thorough book on women on whalers, December 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820-1920 (Hardcover)

Explorations of women's relationship to the sea are rare - but growing. This book is a valuable foundation stone. I know this because of my involvement in women's maritime history, which has become a new and important sub-discipline of maritime history. It has a home at the Women and the Sea Network (which I co-ordinate), based at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich UK. Joan Druett's book was the first to explore women on whalers - who were there mainly as wives and daughters of captains. I especially enjoyed reading about 'gamming' - the way these women gossiped with each other when they met, being rowed over to each others ships, dressing up, taking tea, exchanging presents. I also enjoyed her novel Abigail (Macmillan New Zealand, 1988), which is about a very spirited woman, daughter of a whaling captain, and her connections with the whaling industry, incl whaling lovers. Reading both books in tandem gave me a very good picture of women in that branch of maritime industry. Thanks. I loved them both and look forward to reading Joan's new book Hen Frigates, about women on non-whaling ships.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genealogy treasure, August 31, 2010

By 

jouel - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820-1920 (Paperback)

Great information on the subject of the Whaling industry in general and even better genealogical information for those with family ties to the whaleship captains, wives & crew. I found a previously unknown family whaler in this book and discovered more whaling relatives within it's pages.
On a purely historical note the description of the hard lives led by all involved in the whale trade was interesting & informative.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea 1820-1920, March 1, 2008

By 

Barbara And Byron Skinner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea, 1820-1920 (Paperback)

I really would have liked to rate this book higher because I have an strong interest in the subject but can't because of the writing.

Two major problems. First this is a topic the cries out for a linear story but the author chops it up and jumps from time period to time period and back again. I assume her rational is that here sources are journals and diaries but if you are new to this literature it can be confusing.

Second problem is the omission of a brief history of U.S. Whalefishing, it was not refered to as Whaleing during it's active period. There is no mention of the fact the Whale Oil was the biggist American export until King Cotton of the early 19th. Century. The time period od which the author write is really the decline of Whalefishing in the United States and the of oil in western Pa., and it biproduct Kerosene that replaced Whale Oil as a fuel.