Iron Men, Wooden Women

This exploration of the relationship of gender and seafaring argues that popular fascination with seafaring and the sailors' rigorous, male-only life led to models of gender behaviour based on "iron men" aboard ship and stoic women ashore. Topics discussed include women in the American whaling industry, the role of the captain's wife aboard ship, the careers of female pirates such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and the women who dressed up as men to serve on the crews of sailing ships. The connections between gender and race are considered in connection to African American and other seamen in the American and British merchant marines. The authors use a variety of sources - diaries, logbooks, account ledgers, songs, poetry, fiction, and public documents.