Female Tars

[Tamrin]

Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail
by Suzanne Stark

The presence of women on board the ships of the British Royal Navy in the "Age of Sail" has been disregarded by historians and ignored and even hidden by the navy. Suzanne Stark is the first to seriously address the issue of female "tars", and here she presents an in-depth study of the women who lived and worked on British warships of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Stark thoroughly investigates the custom of allowing prostitutes to live with the crews of warships in port. She provides some judicious answers to questions bout what led so many women to such an appalling fate, and why the Royal Navy unofficially condoned the practice. She also offers some revealing firsthand accounts of the wives of warrant officers and seamen who spent years at sea living (and fighting) beside their men without pay or even food rations, and of the women in male disguise who actually served as seamen or marines. These women's stories have long intrigued the public as the popularity of the often richly embellished accounts of their exploits has proved. Stark disentangles fact from myth and offers some well-founded explanations for such perplexing phenomena as the willingness of women to join the navy when most of the men had to be forced on board by press gangs. Female Tars is a lively history draws on primary sources and so gives an authentic view of life on board the ships of Britain's old sailing navy and the social context of the period that served to limit roles open to lower-class women. The final chapter is devoted to the autobiography of one redoubtable sea-going woman: Mary Lacy, who served as a seaman and shipwright in the Royal Navy for twelve years. Female Tars is absolutely fascinating reading, an original, absorbing, informative, exceptionally well researched and superlatively written book! -- Midwest Book Review

Also see 10 Amazing Female Pirates