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Broadcast copy:
"MISTRESS MARINERS"
The second of two talks by
R. H. DAVIS
TRANSMISSION: N.I.H.S. SATURDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 1955.
2.30-2.45 p.m.
ANNOUNCER: This is the Northern Ireland Home Service.
Here is R. H. Davis to give the second of
two talks called "Mistress Mariners".
Captain Davis .........
CAPT. DAVIS Almost 100 years ago one of our Harbour
Constables, when he came on two sailors on the
Donegall Quay that were helplessly drunk, found an
answer to the query in the old shanty "What will we
do with the drunken sailor". He took them to the
lock-up and charged them with drunkenness.
When sobered up one of the men said he was the
Master of the schooner "Liberty" then discharging
coal at Belfast. The other man gave his name as
John Stitt, aged 26, belonging to Girvan, and he
said he was an ordinary seaman on the "Liberty".
The interrogator for some reason became
suspicious of John and sent for a lady searcher, who
in due course reported that John was a female. An
additional charge was then lodged against John for
being in male attire. In the Police Court this
latter charge was dismissed, the magistrate
remarking
that there was no law against a female for wearing
a man's attire.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 2 -
John said her proper name was Betsy Irvine and on being
questioned, protested that the Captain had not taken her
away, she had willingly gone with him.
A witness from the ship said that the Captain had
brought Betsy on board as his son, to perform the duties of
an ordinary seaman. She had now been about three weeks on
board and since arrival had been working every day
on the hand winch heaving out the Cargo.
The Captain after pleading guilty to the charge of
drunkenness, told the magistrate if he would discharge Betsy
he would provide her with proper clothing and then take her
"on the long voyage". The magistrate asked what he meant
by taking her for the long voyage and the constable explained
that it meant that he would marry her. The Captain passed over
œ3 to the lady searcher to provide Betsy with an outfit.
Both were fined for drunkenness and Betsy was loudly cheered
when she came out of the courthouse in her proper dress.
When the Liberty was leaving, she again appeared on her
deck in the garb of a seaman. She went aloft and loosed the
sails and then took the wheel. The majority of the dock
labourers left their work to give her a cheer as the ship
left the Quay, and she responded by waving her cap.
The story of an Ulster girl, Ann Jane Thornton is one of
a different kind. Her story began when, in 1835 one of our
local papers came out with a paragraph headed - "A Romantic
Hoax", but the story turned out to be no hoax.
Ann Jane was the daughter of an Englishman in fairly
good circumstances who had settled in Donegal where he became
the tenant of a small farm and a store in the town. At the
early age of 13 years, Ann Jane made the acquaintance of an
American shipmaster, Alexander Burke, whose ship was
in Ballyshannon.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 3 -
She was a small vessel and he was a very young Shipmaster,
just out of his teens. The ship he commanded was the
property of his father who was a New York shipowner.
Apparently Captain Burke came to Ballyshannon on more than one
occasion as it is mentioned that when Ann Jane was 15 years
old they had become strongly attached to each other.
Shortly after this Captain Burke sailed for New York
and some months afterwards Ann Jane made up her mind to follow
him.
With the assistance of a maid servant in the employment
of her father she obtained a cabin boy's outfit and when the
opportunity occurred she left home, made her way to Galway,
and was successful in getting a berth as cabin boy on a ship
bound out to New York.
On arrival at New York she left the ship and as she had
the address of Captain Burkes father she called at his house
and asked for the whereabouts of his son, she told the father
that she had worked for Captain Burke and was anxious to be
engaged by him again.
The father gave her the stunning news that his son was
dead, he had died in a recent epidemic that had swept the
country. As she had deserted her ship and had no money, Ann
Jane was now practically destitute, so she decided that the
sea was her best prospect of earning a livelihood, and so,
still disguised as a boy she engaged herself as cook on a
vessel trading to the West Indies named the "Adelaide".
After making a number of voyages in the "Adelaide" she
left her to join a vessel that she was told was going to East
Point and then to St. Andrews in New Brunswick to load for
Belfast.
At that time there was a considerable trade between
Belfast and St. Andrews, emigrants outward and timber home.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 4 -
On arrival at East Point, Ann Jane was informed that the
ships orders had been changed and that she was again going
to load for the West Indies. She left the vessel at East
Point and made her way alone through 70 miles of wood to
St. Andrew where she was successful in obtaining a berth as
cook and steward at 9$ per month on the Belfast ship
"Sarah" owned by Mr. David Grainger a firm < that > is still in
existence.
The "Sarah" was loading a cargo of timber for Belfast
but at the last moment her cargo was resold and she received
orders for London.
In a small ship like the Sarah, she was only 200 tons,
when there was a call for all hands on deck, the cook would
have to turn out to assist.
It was winter time, the month of February, they
encountered a lot of heavy weather on the passage, and a few
days before they made the land, all hands were called one
night to furl a topsail. When the work was finished aloft
and the hands were again on deck, one of the seamen accused
the cook of not pulling his weight, with the result there
was fight, in the course of which Ann Jane's sex was
discovered.
When the Captain heard of this he brought the girl aft
and gave her a cabin, and on arrival at London a few days
afterwards he lodged her at a hostelry "The Sign of the
Coopers Arms" in Lower Thames Street. He knew the
proprietor who, he said, was a most respectable person and in
whose house she would be properly looked after. When the
"Sarah" berthed in the London Dock, the news of a female
sailor being on board was noised abroad, and a much
exaggerated report got around of ill treatment that she had
received on board.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 5 -
The Press got hold of the report and came out with headlines
about her bad treatment.
The Lord Mayor of London became interested and he
instructed the Chief of Police to enquire into the matter
and report to him.
After interrogating the girl and the Captain of the
"Sarah", the Chief of Police decided to bring them both to
the Mansion House to tell their stories to the Lord
Mayor. The Captain told his tale first, recounting that
he had engaged the girl as cook and steward for the voyage
to London and he had no suspicions, until a few days before
their arrival, that she was other than what she seemed.
Towards the end of the voyage the crew might had their
suspicions owing to the fact that she wouldn't drink grog.
The Lord Mayor then asked about her illtreatment
[ill-treatment?]. The girl answered him, stating, that Captain
McIntyre had always acted towards her with great humanity, and
when she had first joined the ship he had told her to inform him
if any of the crew attempted to treat her harshly. In the course
of the voyage she had occasionally been struck by some of the
sailors because she couldn't work as hard as they did but she
had never complained to the Captain and was in gratitude
bound to acknowledge his kindness and humanity. The Lord
Mayor then asked if a mere girl like this (Ann Jane was not
yet seventeen) could perform the duties of a seaman.
"She could My Lord" the Captain replied, "she performed them
to admiration, she would run up aloft to hand a tgallant sail
in any kind of weather, and we had a severe passage, she had
suffered greatly from the cold but she bore it excellently
and was a good sailor.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 6 -
The Lord Mayor next questioned the girl and obtained her
story as I have told it so far. He informed Ann Jane that
he would Communicate with her father and gave directions that
until he heard from him, she should be taken care of. She
returned to the Coopers Arms but had to leave there afterwards
and go into private lodging as she had now gained such
notoriety that there was a continuous crowd of people coming
to have a look at her. Her landlady stated to the Press
that she entertained the greatest respect for the girl but
the crowd was causing her great inconvenience.
The proprietor of a theatre made her an offer to appear
in a play and a showman made an even better offer if she
would allow herself to be exhibited.
It was some days before the Lord Mayor heard from
Donegal and when the answer came it informed him that shortly
after Ann Jane had run away from home, her father had
imigrated [immigrated?] to Canada, there was however a married
sister living in Donegal who expressed the greatest joy at the
prospect of her sister being restored to her. The Lord Mayor
paid
Ann Jane's passage home and this ended her career as a female
sailor.
The Ballyshannon Herald gave an account of her reception
at Donegal, the writer describing her as of middle size,
stoutly built, a dark swarthy complexion, with very white
teeth, dark eyes, and a comely face. I am afraid the
writer indulged in some journalistic license when he ended up
by saying that on the coach from Derry, at a bend in the road,
Ann Jane told the driver to mend his helm.
Some time afterwards she took seriously ill and a
petition on her behalf was sent to the King by the Marques of
Willesly, with a recommendation from the rector of Donegal
who certified as to her good moral character.
Capt. Davis (contd.) - 7 -
The King directed that she should be granted œ10 annually
from the Privy Purse. When she recovered she married and
settled down on the farm formerly held by her father and the
last record of her is an announcement that she had become the
mother of a baby boy and on what happier note would end my
tales of women at sea.
ANNOUNCER: That was Captain R. H. Davis giving the second
of two talks called "Mistress Mariners".
