Women at sea

[James Curry]

Aniseed Balls or Brandy Balls , John

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Very deep apologies to the ladies who went to sea, but then I do wonder if when they got together after their watches they spoke about different subjects like we did on No Four hatch.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

If some where like a certain telephonist on the Winsor then yes, a group of ladies together can be very dangerous.

[Julian Norman]

There were several female deck cadets at Plymouth School of Maritime Studies when I was there in the 1980's. I don't know specifically what happened to them but there are several female Captains on cruise ships these days, particularly amongst the Carnival fleet. Its not unusual these days.

[Jo Stanley]

Not to mention that stewardesses where also on the BSL fliers. So not only on dedicated passenger ships

Quite a lot of ex-nurses became stewardesses, Les. Union Castle especially liked having such dual-skilled women. Nursing magazines of the 1920s argued that such stewardesses should be paid at NURSES rates, not stewardesses rates, as such women had invested so much money in their professional training. That didn't happen.

[Jo Stanley]

Thanks at last the nurse gets a mention , I do think there was a nurse on all passenger ships but this the first mention on this forum since I joined a few years ago. Way back in the 1970’s I joined my first ship , I am old now but many happy memories

Val, nurses began working on some pax ships in 1920s but it seems they were not on ALL pax ships until the late 1960s. Numbers of nurses on the team depended on pax numbers.
Lady Docs began in 1950s, mainly on kids' educational cruises and on pilgrim ships to Mecca. ****** women believed that it was lucky to go Jeddah if you were pregnant. But in fact the ship's motion seemed to bring on premature births and miscarriages (which only women staff should handle, according to religious rules.)
Val, what do you think of the 1970s Mills&Boon-type nurse at sea novels?

[Valerie Pratt]

I rarely read Mills and Boon books but know that one depicted a nurse I had heard of not a very popular lass,

[Jo Stanley]

I rarely read Mills and Boon books but know that one depicted a nurse I had heard of not a very popular lass,

Hi Val, You may well find the M&B novels very annoyingly unrealistic eg every doctor is handsome, every nurse is avid to marry (and therefore about to give up her sea career before it's barely started).
I read them sociologically, not as a duped believer. The story behind the book you mention sounds fsacinating. Can you say more?

[j.sabourn]

#38 … Jo I did the shipmasters medical course in Liverpool as think I already have mentioned in a previous post. it was in the MN hotel and the lecturers were 3 sister tutors . It covered Childbirth , VD, and Druggies. The shipowner sent me don’t know why as his ships didn’t carry passengers . The midwife one was very straight and to the point her remarks before starting was I can tell you all what to do and not to do , but off the record my father is a shipmaster and if you lot are anything like him When confronted with such a situation my unofficial advice would be to tie the patients legs together and make for the nearest port. I must also say that some of our stalwart seafarers when watching the accompanying movies had to leave the room under various excuses. That’s life as Esther Ranson used to say. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

Further to childbirth in the D.I. Y. Mode the old fashioned way of gauging the time of appearance of the new born was by measurement utilizing the coin of the Realm , e.g. half crowns , 2 Bob bits etc. Decimalization must have played havoc with the British birth rate at sea ? JS