Female captains

[Rum_Pirate]

Just spotted this.

I wonder who was the first female UK captain?

SATURDAY, MARCH 07, 2009
North America's 1st female ship captain dies at 93
(as reported in the New York Times)

A native of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Ms. Kool was known familiarly throughout her life as Captain Molly. She qualified as a captain at age 23, and she spent the next five years in command of the Jean K, her father’s 70-foot engine- and sail-driven scow. In 2006, she was officially recognized by the Canadian government as the first woman to hold captain’s papers.
Hauling cargo up and down the Bay of Fundy and as far afield as Boston, Ms. Kool faced rain and fog, fire and ice, and the violent tides for which the bay is known. She also earned the disbelief, disdain and, eventually, respect of her rough-hewn male colleagues.

Her work made her a curiosity. Ms. Kool appeared on the radio on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” and was profiled often in the Canadian press. One news account from the period described her this way: “Her eyebrows are shaped and arched, her lips lightly rouged, her blonde hair up in feminine curls. That’s Miss Molly Kool ashore ... but in her barge ... she knows no fear ... and she’ll give orders if she marries, and hubby holds only a mate’s ticket.”

Ms. Kool was sometimes called New Brunswick’s first feminist, but in 1939, when she got her captain’s papers, she scarcely thought about making history. She simply wanted to be on the water.

The sea was in Ms. Kool’s blood. Her father, Paul Kool, was a Dutch sailor who settled in New Brunswick, where he captained the Jean K, named for his eldest daughter. The second of five children, Molly spent much of her childhood aboard the scow, which took cargo from ships anchored in deep water to ports along the bay.

Hoping to become her father’s first mate, Ms. Kool applied to the Merchant Marine School in St. John, New Brunswick. She was turned down but persevered, earning a mate’s certificate there in 1937. Two years later, at the Merchant Marine Institute in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, she earned a coastal master’s certificate, entitling her to work as a captain in coastal waters. Her father handed over the Jean K, which she captained for the next five years.

Ms. Kool was nothing if not pragmatic. On one widely reported occasion, the Jean K collided with another ship in a dense fog and sent her hurtling overboard, where she risked being sucked under by the ship’s propeller. A piece of timber floated by and she grabbed it, as the ship’s passengers hurled life preservers down at her.

“I’m already floating,” Ms. Kool hollered up at them. “Stop throwing useless stuff at me and send a boat!”

In 1944, a gas explosion and fire destroyed much of the Jean K. Ms. Kool planned to return to the water once it was rebuilt, but that year she married Ray Blaisdell, moved with him to Maine and found she enjoyed living on land. She worked for many years selling Singer sewing machines.

Though Ms. Kool received many tributes over the years, perhaps the best summation of what she achieved came in her own words. In 1939, after she passed the three long written tests and the arduous harbor exam needed to get her master’s certificate, she wired her family back in Alma.“You can call me captain from now on,” the telegram said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/world/americas/03kool.html

(as reported in the Seattle Times)

Molly K. Carney, who as Molly Kool was the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain, has died at her home at the age of 93.

Known in Canada by her maiden name, Molly Kool won her captain's papers in 1939 and sailed the Atlantic Ocean between Alma, New Brunswick, and Boston for five years, her friend Ken Kelly said.
Kool grew up in the village of Alma, where she learned a love of the sea and sailing from her father, a Dutch ship captain. At 23, she made history by earning the title of captain, after the Canadian Shipping Act was rewritten to say "he/she" instead of just "he," Kelly said.

She overcame superstitions about women working at sea and won the respect of her male counterparts as she sailed her father's 70-foot boat in the dangerous waters of the Bay of Fundy, said Mary Majka, who joined Kelly in a fundraising effort to pay to move her ancestral home from Alma to a knoll in nearby Fundy National Park overlooking the bay this spring.

"She was good enough that she won the respect of the old salts," Majka said.

Kool left New Brunswick after marrying Ray Blaisdell, of Bucksport, Maine, in 1944. They were together for 20 years before he died. In the 1960s, she married businessman John Carney, who bought her a boat, which he dubbed the Molly Kool.

In her final years, she lived in an independent retirement community in Bangor, where there was a lighthouse and a captain's wheel in the hallway outside her room and where residents called her Captain Molly, Kelly said. She died there Feb. 25.

Kool also was well known in the U.S., where she appeared on an episode of "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" and was flown to New York for the show.

She is survived by a sister, one of four siblings. A memorial service is planned next month in Bangor, and this summer her ashes will be returned to New Brunswick, where her wish of being returned to the sea will be honored.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008823177_apobitmollykool.html

 

[ninky]

one of the first skippers i sailed with was called molly. she was about 70 i think and recently had taken up sailing after barefoot tramping and mountaineering had become a little much. she would go out in her small tatty sailboat in all weathers in wellington harbour, on her own or with her inexperienced (myself included) female crew. she'd wear really worn out sailing jacket and get frustrated if you didn't pull the sheets in hard enough, grabbing the main in wellington's not unimpressive gusts and yanking it in with an ungloved hand.

if anyone knows what happened to her i'd love to hear.

don't really understand why people think it's so strange that women can sail or go to sea. we do far more difficult things than that. childbirth?

 

[snowleopard]

On the Lord Nelson last time I was aboard, the captain was a woman and her husband served from time to time as ship's cook. You can imagine how people would jump to the wrong conclusions about who was in charge.

 

[snowleopard]

You are obviously not referring to the soft-spoken Irish lady who was cook on LN when I was there. Her language could strip paint!

The captain (NEVER say 'skipper') was Clare Cupples.

I think this sweet young lady may be the one you are so disparaging....

 

[ianat182]

I wonder if 'Tugboat Annie' was based on a real life person,or wishful thinking!


ianat182

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

Just spotted this.

I wonder who was the first female UK captain?

I think it would be one of the 'Lady' Pirates such as Anne Bonney or Mary Read.
Late 1600's
http://www.bonney-readkrewe.com/legend.html

Mal

 

[ninky]

maybe 2000 bc when the lapita people headed to polynesia? i expect some of them made it under the guidance of women.

http://www.pakahiki.com/polynesia/history-of-ancient-polynesia/

 

[drawkins]

on the death of Dai Evans in 1858 Christain took command of the big square rigged opium runner until 1863 when a family dispute robbed her of her vessel.wonderful story told by her great grandson.

 

[dombuckley]

Betsy Miller of Saltcoats was the first female captain of a ship on the British Register: captain of the brig Clytus from 1847 until 1862.

 

[Moodyjim]

Another empty kitchen!

 

[PilotWolf]

On the Lord Nelson last time I was aboard, the captain was a woman and her husband served from time to time as ship's cook. You can imagine how people would jump to the wrong conclusions about who was in charge.

On the last trip I did as Skipper before our lovely stewardess left to go touring, she assured me that despite what the ship's papers said and no matter what my qualifications SHE was the one who ran the outfit!

...she was probably right too

W.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

A few years back a young lady skipper was my tutor for my RYA practical with an all male student crew.
She not only knew her stuff but was a delight even when she was telling us how silly some of the things we did or said were.
She was younger than my own daughter, a red head, not very tall and her boyfriend was also a skipper teacher afloat in the Solent at that time.
She may have gone on to teach at Sunsail..... does anyone recognise who I'm talking about?