Remember the Ladies:
Women in 19th-Century
Maritime History
I
n a spring 1776 letter to John Adams, Abigail Adams wrote “Remember the ladies,
and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” Though the
historical narrative has more recently “remember[ed] the ladies,” there are parts
of it that women are absent. One of those is maritime history. While there are more
men involved in the 19th-century maritime trades, there are still women, some who did
amazing things, who deserve inclusion in the discussion. Below are four examples of
these women who left their mark on maritime history.
Abbie Burgess Grant (1832-1892) – Kept the Lights On
Abbie Burgess was born in Rockland, Maine. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce
appointed her father, Samuel, to be the lighthouse keeper on Metinicus Rock, and
Abbie’s family joined him. Abbie quickly learned how to tend the lighthouse, freeing
her father and brother to go fishing for supplemental income. It was not unusual for
Abbie to be left alone with her mother and younger siblings to tend the lighthouse for a
couple of days while her father and brother were away.
The first Metinicus Rock lighthouse was built
in 1827 and consisted of a pair of wooden
beacons and a cobblestone lighthouse
keeper’s house. This 1848 granite structure
replaced the previous structures and
was what Abbie lived in during the 1856
nor’easter.
In January 1856, after the cutter that
supplied both the Burgess family and the
lighthouse was unable to reach Metinicus
Rock, Samuel left for supplies. As soon A drawing of
as he left, a nor’easter came through. The Metinicus Rock Lighthouse, 1848.
Photo credit: Public domain
wind gusts and waves trapped Abbie and
the rest of her family either in their house or one of the lighthouse towers for three
days. The winds and waves toppled lesser structures on Metinicus Rock, and battered
their shelter. Abbie kept her family, and the family’s chickens, safe and dry during the
especially harsh storm. After the worst of the storm passed, it took Samuel another
three weeks to return to Metinicus Rock with supplies, as the waves were too dangerous.
During all of this time, Abbie kept the lamps in both lighthouse towers lit. Abbie did not
consider her dedication unusual. According to her, she just “went on with [her] work.”
Her commitment most certainly saved numerous mariners’ lives that month.
With the election of 1860, Samuel lost his position, but Abbie stayed on as an assistant
lighthouse keeper to help train the new keeper. Abbie married the keeper’s youngest
son in 1861, and the pair stayed on as assistant lighthouse keepers until 1875. As
a pair, Abbie and her husband became lighthouse keepers on Whitehead Island, in
northern Maine. Abbie worked until 1890, and passed two years later. In 1997, the
U.S. Coast Guard honored Abbie’s lighthouse service by naming a keeper class buoy
tender after her. The USCGC Abbie Burgess is stationed in Abbie’s birthplace of
Rockland.
Ida Lewis (1842-1911) – America’s Lifesaver
Ida was born in Newport, Rhode Island. Her father,
Captain Horsea Lewis, transferred to the lighthouse
service, and became keeper of Lime Rock Light in
1854. Ida and the rest of her family joined her father
there in 1857.Captain Lewis suffered a stroke just four
months after their arrival. Ida and her mother learned
how to tend the lighthouse. After her father’s death
in 1873, Ida’s mother became keeper of Lime Rock
Light, and Ida continued tending the light as before. It
was only after her mother’s death in 1878, that Ida was
appointed to be the keeper of Lime Rock Light.
Portrait of Ida Lewis (1842-1911)
During her time at Lime Rock, Ida became known for
Photo credit: public domain.
her life saving abilities. She is credited with saving
18 lives during her 54 years at Lime Rock, though some estimates put it as high as
25. Ida’s most famous rescue happened in 1869, when she saved two soldiers and
a 14-year-old boy after their boat capsized in Newport Harbor on their way to Fort
Adams. Ida rowed out in her boat, saved all three from the water, and brought them
back to Lime Rock Light. News of this rescue, and the others that followed, spread,
appearing in periodicals such as the New York Tribune and Harper’s Weekly.
Ida received medals from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York and the
United States Government. Newport honored her with a parade, and gifted her with a
mahogany rowboat. Later in life, Ida received a pension from the Carnegie Hero Fund.
Ida was so well-known that she even had two pieces of music inspired by her exploits –
the Ida Lewis Waltz and the Rescue Polka Mazurka. When Ida died of a stroke in 1911,
the bells of Newport tolled her passing, and flags were raised to half-staff. In 1924, the
lighthouse Ida tended was renamed Ida Lewis Rock Light in her honor, and the Coast
Guard christened the USCGC Ida Lewis in 1995.
To learn how Mystic Seaport’s educational programs
meet the Common Core standards and the CT Social
Studies Frameworks,
please see
https://www.mysticseaport.org/learn/k-12-programs/common-core/
By Jordan Ecker, Museum Educator
Eleanor Creesy (1814-1900) – Navigator and Record Breaker
Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Eleanor was the only child of Captain John
Prentiss and his wife Mary. Eleanor was a bright child and learned math easily. Her
father saw this, and began instructing his daughter in navigation. By her father’s side,
Eleanor learned how to use a sextant, read a chart, and do all of the calculations
needed to successfully chart a course and navigate a ship. While Captain Prentiss
may not have thought that Eleanor would ever be a ship’s navigator, Eleanor had other
ideas. Eleanor married Captain Josiah Creesy in 1841 and joined him on his voyages.
While that in itself was not unusual, Eleanor was the navigator on all of her husband’s
voyages, which was rare. It was during one of these trips that Eleanor made history.
In May 1851, the new clipper ship the Flying
Cloud launched on its maiden voyage out of
New York Harbor to China, with a stop in San
Francisco. On that voyage, Captain Creesy
was the vessel’s commander, and Eleanor its
navigator. Its route was popular for clippers
carrying cargo, and it was common for these
vessels leaving at the same time to race each
other to see who could get to San Francisco
the fastest, and people would bet on the Flying Cloud
outcome. That May of 1851 the Challenge Photo credit: public domain.
and the Flying Cloud were in such a race.
The goal was to make the trip in less than 100 days. With Eleanor’s navigation skills, the
Flying Cloud made the trip in 89 days, 21 hours, beating the Challenge. Not one to rest
on her laurels, Eleanor made history again just three years later, when she navigated
the Flying Cloud from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days, 8 hours. Not only
did Eleanor beat her old record by 13 hours, but she created a speed record that
held until 1989. Though Eleanor accomplished amazing things, her and her husband’s
time in the spotlight did not last long. Just a few years later, both retired to a farm in
Massachusetts, where they lived in relative obscurity.
Mary Ann Brown Patten (1837-1861) – First Woman Commander of a Cargo Vessel
Mary Ann Brown Patten was born in Chelsea,
Massachusetts. She married Captain Joshua
Adams Patten right before she turned 16,
in 1853. When Captain Patten became
commander of a clipper ship, Neptune’s Car,
in 1855, Mary Ann joined her husband on that
voyage, and passed the 17 months at sea
learning navigation.
Neptune’s Car, again commanded by Captain
Patten joined by Mary Ann, left on its next
voyage, New York to San Francisco, on July 1,
1856. As Neptune’s Car prepared to depart,
Captain Patten boasted that he could not only
beat the other two clippers leaving New York at
the same time – the Intrepid and Romance of
Mary Ann Brown Patten,
the Seas – to San Francisco, but he would do it Taken after her fateful voyage in 1856.
in less than 100 days. The three commanders Photo credit: National Portrait Gallery,
decided to race to San Francisco, and bets were Smithsonian Institution
placed on which vessel would win.
At first, the voyage was going well, with Neptune’s Car making good time, but then the
vessel’s luck started to turn. First, the first mate was caught sleeping on watch and
not properly tending the sails, and Captain Patten confined him to his cabin. Then,
Captain Patten himself fell ill with tuberculosis at the foot of Cape Horn. Since the first
mate was not trusted to take command, and the second mate was illiterate and could
not navigate, the responsibility of getting Neptune’s Car and its cargo safely to San
Francisco fell to Mary Ann.
Just 19 and pregnant with her first child, Mary Ann took control of the ship, becoming
the first woman commander of a cargo vessel. The first mate attempted mutiny against
her, and tried to have the ship put into port at Valparaiso, Chile, instead of continuing
to San Francisco, but Mary Ann got the crew’s support. Using her navigation skills,
Mary Ann safely rounded Cape Horn, and, on November 15, 1856, personally pulled
Neptune’s Car into port at San Francisco.
Even with all of the trials of the voyage, Neptune’s Car came in second in the race to
San Francisco, and the insurers of the vessel rewarded Mary Ann with $1,000 for her
work. Mary Ann did not think she did anything unusual, stating that she only performed
“the plain duty of a wife.” After that fateful voyage, Mary Ann and her husband did not
go back to sea. Captain Patten did not survive his tuberculous, and died a few months
after returning from that voyage. Mary Ann succumbed to the same disease in 1861.
She was 23 years old.
While Abbie, Ida, Eleanor, and Mary Ann accomplished amazing things during their
lives, they are not the only women in maritime history. There are the famed pirates Ann
Bonny and Mary Reed, who operated in the Caribbean in the early 1700s. In 1759,
Mary Lacy dressed as a man, called herself William Chandler, and signed onto the
HMS Sandwich, where she learned how to be a shipwright. In 1890, Philomene Daniels
got her pilot’s license to join her husband in running a steamboat on Lake Champlain.
After his death, Philomene took over his steamboat company, and piloted the boats
herself. Remember the ladies – they have fascinating stories to tell.