An American sailor is captured during the War of 1812
I have the pleasure to inform you, that we captured, after a chase from five P. M. to half past to A. M. this morning, the Revenge American letter of marque schooner, thirty-seven days from Charleston to Bourdeaux; she is a new vessel, copper-bottomed and fastened, pierced for sixteen guns, having on board four long nine-pounders and thirty-two men. [“Extract of a Letter from Captain Harris, of his Majesty’s Ship Belle Poule.” The London Gazette [London, England] issue #16729 (15 May 1813); p. 944]
When the Revenge was captured on 10 April 1813, its crew was sent to Mill Prison, Plymouth, Devon. Here it was learned that one of the sailors was female. The unnamed individual was one of a number of women living as male while working on 19th-century ships. This person, however, was on an American ship captured by a British frigate during the War of 1812.
The person’s story is … intriguing, verging on romantic—and possibly fictional. Apparently a servant traveling with employers, the individual was the sole survivor of shipwreck and donned a sailor’s clothing out of desperation. Three years later, as part of the captured crew, this sailor reassumed female identity.
(The description of the sailor is a standard trope in these news stories. What’s missing here is assurance to the reader that no sexual activity was involved. That information is standard in pieces in American newspapers later in the century.)
Did the individual generally identify as male or female? Living for three years as a male would hint at “male.” But there was a practical side to life as a male sailor: distressed seamen received aid; seamen could find a job. (“Landsman” was a naval term for a sailor with little experience on a ship.) Life as a female servant was perhaps more difficult, as the unnamed prisoner would have known from experience. Certainly the landsman succeeded in learning enough to serve as a sailor among thirty others.
Who was the sailor? I haven’t been able to discover this. It is to be hoped, however, that he or she received the $200 (about $3202 in 2024) in wages and prize money, which was clearly earned.
The story originated in a Plymouth, England, newspaper dated 20 May 1813. The Morning Chronicle [London, England] printed the story on page 3 of the 22 May 1813 issue; this piece was reprinted in several British newspapers before being reprinted in American newspapers.
“A Female Sailor.” the Chronicle, or Harrisburg Visitor [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania] 26 July 1813; p. 2.
The Revenge, American schooner of about 250 tons, with a cargo of cotton arrived here a few days since, having been captured off Cape Ortugal, on her voyage to France, by his majesty’s ship Belle Poule. An American seaman taken in the above schooner, on finding he was going to Mill Prison, discovered himself to be a woman, and that she had worn men’s clothes these three years. She was examined and sent to the Hospital to be clothed. The account she gives of herself is as follows: going coastwise with her master, mistress and family, about three years since, the vessel was wrecked, and all on board perished except herself. She was naked, and finding the dead body of a seaman lying on the land, she conceived the idea of dressing herself in mens [sic] apparel, and then begged her way as a shipwrecked seaman to the nearest seaport. She got relief and also got employment as a landsman on board a vessel, and from thence into the Revenge schooner at the breaking out of the war. She says her share of prize money and wages is about 200 dollars. She wishes to be sent home to her native country, which, it is hoped, will be granted her. She has a comely face, sun burnt as well as her hands; and appeared, when in men’s clothes, a decent, well-looking young man.
previous: Clothing and women’s lives
next: A driver from Vermont, 1817
To “Nineteenth-Century American Children & What They Read”
Some of the children | Some of their books | Some of their magazines
Some works for adults, 1800-1872