Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail - Softcover

Stark, Suzanne J.

3.71

113 ratings by Goodreads

9780712666602: Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712666605 ISBN 13: 9780712666602

Publisher: Pimlico, 1998

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Provides an in-depth study of the women who lived and worked on British warships of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The author investigates the custom of allowing prostitutes to live with the crews of warships in port and why the Royal Navy unofficially condoned the practice. She offers accounts of the wives of warrant officers and seaman who spent years at sea living - and fighting - beside their men without pay or even food rations and of the women in disguise who actually served as seaman or marines.

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Review:

"For a very long time now I have delighted in histories, letters, records, and memoirs to do with the Royal Navy in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century; but Suzanne Stark's book has told me many, many things I did not know, and I shall keep it on an honored shelf."--Patrick O'Brian

"Female Tars is well-written, and accessible to both academic and casual readers. This study expands our understanding of life aboard Royal Navy warships during the age of sail. In doing so it brings into context the social and economic situations women faced during the long eighteenth century with the wartime pressures faced by the Royal Navy to keep warships manned. The Naval Institute Press should be commended to bring such an important work back into print." --Naval Historical Foundation

"Despite its age, Female Tars remains an interesting and insightful work about a still little known aspect of life at sea, a subject needing more research." --Strategy Page

About the Author:

Suzanne J. Stark (1926-2015) was an artist, teacher, editor and freelance writer.

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