"Women onboard warships?" Topic
9 Posts
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Glengarry5 | 28 Feb 2020 2:36 a.m. PST |
I have been told with great certainty that is was normal practice for fighting ships of the 18th-19th century navy's to have women living and working aboard during their sea voyages and in battle. Is this "utter drivel"? |
14Bore | 28 Feb 2020 3:28 a.m. PST |
I think so though read a account of a female Marine who served in the Royal Navy a entire career without generally being uncovered. O'Brien has some women on board ships, some more some less, mostly wives of officers or entitled craftsmen. |
Major General Stanley | 28 Feb 2020 3:57 a.m. PST |
I had always understood that the term "son of a gun" referred to the offspring of working girls who found their way on board. |
79thPA | 28 Feb 2020 5:11 a.m. PST |
True. As 14bore notes they were the wives of commissioned officers and warrant officers. They were not part of the ship's roll, and were not supplied rations. Children could also be found on board. |
Sundance | 28 Feb 2020 7:08 a.m. PST |
It was my understanding that this was the case while in port – the officers would have had homes, but the warrants would have had their women live on board with them (son of a gun comes from the gunner's mates specifically). At sea, I always understood the women (aside from those pretending to be men in service) would have been put ashore. |
willthepiper | 28 Feb 2020 9:04 a.m. PST |
There were typically a small number on board a warship. See this BBC article for some details: link Longer article, with more detail here: link TL;DR – no room for ladies of quality aboard a warship, with exceptions for passengers under some circumstances. However, in the lower decks, some wives were tolerated, especially for petty or warrant officers like the gunner, bo'sun etc. |
79thPA | 28 Feb 2020 11:18 a.m. PST |
@Sundance, the presence of women aboard warships afloat is pretty well documented. Some officers approved of the practice, while others did not. |
martin goddard | 02 Mar 2020 10:23 a.m. PST |
Hence the practice of shouting "show a leg" to determine gender. |
Grelber | 02 Mar 2020 4:28 p.m. PST |
Yes, they performed various functions aboard ship. Jane Townshend was on HMS Defiance at Trafalgar: link They seem to have performed a variety of roles like surgeon's assistant and powder monkey. Grelber |
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