Before Women's Lib there was Mary Ann Patten, the 16 year old wife of Captain Joshua Patten, both of Maine. She was a product of her time and place, schooled in the art of homemaking and someday becoming the wife of a Sea Captain. When they met he was several years her senior, which was not unusual for the times. But what was unusual was the woman she would become, and the role she would play in her husband's life. This is a book which will have you cheering at times as you learn of her accomplishments and trials. Joshua was the Captain of the last generation of Clipper ships, known as "Extreme" clippers, designed for speed and revenue. They could transport goods from Maine to Liverpool in as little as 13 days, or down around the Cape of South America through Drake's Passage and on to San Francisco in 100 days. These ships could make you rich. Or they could leave you broken and stranded on a foreign shore.
Mary Ann and Joshua had a plan. They would Captain his ship, " Neptune's Boxcar", and circumnavigate it around the world, from Maine to New York,on to San Francisco, then China and India and back again. If they were sucessful they could retire by age 30 with a farm and the means to live well for the rest of their lives.
But Mary Ann and Joshua were so in love that they would not be parted, and though it was not unusual for a Captain to take his wife with him on a perilous voyage; where convention would see the women confined to the Captain's quarters for much of the voyage; what was unusual was the timber of this particular woman.
Mary Ann had only a rudimentary education, but at age 17, in an age and world dominated by men, she would teach herself the mathematics necessary to navigate by the stars, read the Nautical Charts, determine ocean currents and everything else necessary to not only assist Joshua, but to take his place when their fortunes turned. And this is the meat of the story, as well as the measure of the woman.
In their planned 2 year voyage she would become the first woman, at age 19 and pregnant, to Captain their ship when Joshua took deathly ill with Tuberculosis and "Brain Fever", brave the perilous voyage around the Horn and through Drake's Passage, nurse her dying husband, put down a Mutiny and bring her man home. It is an extraordinary tale; and true.
Written by her great great great granddaughter, Tilar J. Mazzeo; an accomplished Mariner and author in her own right; this book will inspire and then anger you when Mary Ann, 8 months pregnant, and suffering from Malaria, is almost cheated out of her husband's wages on a technicality. As a woman she had no right to accomplish what she had. The ship's owner's took the position that because Joshua had been ill for most of the voyage, he had done little of the work he had been contracted to do. And since there was no contract with Mary Ann, they were owed nothing.
The story of how this 19 year old woman was able to bring her husband home, have her child and survive is compelling. It is also an infuriating one. Why are there no statues, or Commemorative Coins to honor this woman? And why is there still no Equal Rights Amendment for Women? This book is food for that thought.
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