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akashiverThe new IUCAT system works a lot better, though it still has a few glitches. I like that they now tell you the meaning of the subject headings they've assigned.
Accounts of women sailors in 18/19 century naval-exploration lit are rare. Those we do have usually involve episodes in which a member of the crew is exposed as a woman posing as a man. The woman in question has either a) been raised in drag (usually to pose for a dead brother, for reasons of inheritance) or b) has run away to sea to be with / near her lover.
The interesting thing about these accounts is that the observer is always shocked - *shocked*- that the person in question is a woman.
Academics usually conclude that:
a) either the woman in question was supernaturally skilled at finding private space on crowded ships
b) the woman had assistance in concealing her identity from the captain, who then can't afford to lose face or
c) most of the ship's crew knew and kept quiet unless public exposure was thrust upon them.
There's a surprising amount of evidence for option c. In one South Sea exploration account, for example, the natives of a supply island surround a member of the crew and insist he is a woman. Everyone from the ship stands around denying this - nope, sorry, just effeminate - until one of the natives forces the issue. At which point the sailor confesses yes, she's a woman, and she joined because she wanted to circumnavigate the globe. At which point the captain is shocked -*shocked*- that one of his crew members is a woman. The obvious question is - was it freedom from certain gender stereotypes that allowed the natives to recognize a female sailor for what she was? Or is the crew's stubborn obtuseness a product of an implicit "don't ask, don't tell" policy in naval culture?
All this is prompted by today's arctic reading, which involves my favorite non-naval cross-dressing exposure so far.
In 1806, Isobel Gunn joined the Hudson's Bay Company under the name of John Fubbister. Having worked through an arctic winter with her companions, she ran into difficulties at a trading post after a Christmas party and delayed her return to an inland post due to "illness."
To quote Alexander Henry, who was in charge of the post at the time:
"I was surprised at the fellow's demand; however, I told him to sit down and warm himself... he sent one of my people, requesting the favor of speaking with me. Accordingly I stepped down to him, and was much surprised to find him extended on the hearth... he stretched out his hands to me and in piteous tones begged me to be kind to a poor helpless abandoned wretch, who was not of the sex I had supposed, but an unfortunate Orkney girl, pregnant and actually in childbirth. In saying this she opened her jacket and displayed a pair of beautiful, round white breasts... In almost an hour she was safely delivered of a fine boy, and that same day she was conveyed home in my cariole, where she soon recovered..."
There you go grrls. Childbirth will get you every time.
This also makes me want to go shop at the Hudson's Bay Company - 'oldest department store in the world' (or so they like to claim) and friend to cross-dressers everywhere. Alas, there's no Bay in B-town. :(
Accounts of women sailors in 18/19 century naval-exploration lit are rare. Those we do have usually involve episodes in which a member of the crew is exposed as a woman posing as a man. The woman in question has either a) been raised in drag (usually to pose for a dead brother, for reasons of inheritance) or b) has run away to sea to be with / near her lover.
The interesting thing about these accounts is that the observer is always shocked - *shocked*- that the person in question is a woman.
Academics usually conclude that:
a) either the woman in question was supernaturally skilled at finding private space on crowded ships
b) the woman had assistance in concealing her identity from the captain, who then can't afford to lose face or
c) most of the ship's crew knew and kept quiet unless public exposure was thrust upon them.
There's a surprising amount of evidence for option c. In one South Sea exploration account, for example, the natives of a supply island surround a member of the crew and insist he is a woman. Everyone from the ship stands around denying this - nope, sorry, just effeminate - until one of the natives forces the issue. At which point the sailor confesses yes, she's a woman, and she joined because she wanted to circumnavigate the globe. At which point the captain is shocked -*shocked*- that one of his crew members is a woman. The obvious question is - was it freedom from certain gender stereotypes that allowed the natives to recognize a female sailor for what she was? Or is the crew's stubborn obtuseness a product of an implicit "don't ask, don't tell" policy in naval culture?
All this is prompted by today's arctic reading, which involves my favorite non-naval cross-dressing exposure so far.
In 1806, Isobel Gunn joined the Hudson's Bay Company under the name of John Fubbister. Having worked through an arctic winter with her companions, she ran into difficulties at a trading post after a Christmas party and delayed her return to an inland post due to "illness."
To quote Alexander Henry, who was in charge of the post at the time:
"I was surprised at the fellow's demand; however, I told him to sit down and warm himself... he sent one of my people, requesting the favor of speaking with me. Accordingly I stepped down to him, and was much surprised to find him extended on the hearth... he stretched out his hands to me and in piteous tones begged me to be kind to a poor helpless abandoned wretch, who was not of the sex I had supposed, but an unfortunate Orkney girl, pregnant and actually in childbirth. In saying this she opened her jacket and displayed a pair of beautiful, round white breasts... In almost an hour she was safely delivered of a fine boy, and that same day she was conveyed home in my cariole, where she soon recovered..."
There you go grrls. Childbirth will get you every time.
This also makes me want to go shop at the Hudson's Bay Company - 'oldest department store in the world' (or so they like to claim) and friend to cross-dressers everywhere. Alas, there's no Bay in B-town. :(
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 06:55 pm (UTC)Sometimes she's just seeking adventure, as in <a href = "http://tadpole.mytunebook.de/songs/cabinboy.htm"> The Handsome Cabin Boy </a>. As in your story above, childbirth finally blows her cover, but not before she gets romantically involved with both the captain and his wife. "Eating of the captain's biscuit her colour did destroy!"
Another thing that sometimes blows the cover of a cross-dressing female sailor is when she is forced to reveal her secret because another girl falls in love with her, as in the case of <a href = "http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSAILMAID;ttSAILMAID.html"> The Handsome Young Sailor </a>.
This sounds like a fun research topic!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 03:25 am (UTC)