THE SEA CAPTAIN'S WIFE

A rip-roaring, seafaring adventure with a twist.

Mazzeo, the author of The Widow Clicquot, has fashioned a captivating role-reversal tale. In crisp prose, it begins in Maine’s Penobscot Bay, home to hundreds of sea captains, including Joshua Adams Patten and his 19-year-old wife, Mary Ann. In 1854 he secured the captainship of a massive clipper, the dozen-sailed Flying Scud. He sailed from New York to Liverpool and back, earning a fine salary and a handsome race wager. In 1855 he was chosen to captain the clipper ship Neptune’s Car to circumnavigate the globe. If successful, he would receive a massive payout. He and Mary Ann agreed that she would accompany him. For the first time, he confronted dangerous waves in Drake’s Passage, between South America and Antarctica. Mazzeo does a fine job explaining how the waves affect ships and the nuances of celestial navigation. Despite an impressive 101-day voyage to San Francisco, Patten lost a $2,000 race wager by hours. In Hong Kong, he took on tea for cargo and sailed to London, where it would bring high prices. Once back home, Patten quickly received another commission for the same voyage, including a five-ship race wager and a new, disgruntled first mate. Patten had to demote him, so when the captain became ill, it was Mary Ann, who was pregnant and had no sea training, who scoured navigational maps and medical texts to steer a course through Drake’s Passage amid foul weather and a questioning crew. On September 5, 1856, with a gun hidden under her oilskin, she addressed the crew with “one hell of a speech.” For the first time ever, a woman became captain of a merchant ship—with the crew’s approval. Awaiting them were terrible weather and icebergs—and the hope of returning home.

A thoroughly entertaining, delightful story.