History of Maritime Women

Among the 37,000 shipwrecks recorded around the coast by English Heritage, including both vessel remains and documented losses, are stories showing female involvement in wreck events, a rich seam of social history. As passengers, female survivors' accounts illustrate the wrecking process, and also reveal female leisure and economic activity. From the 19th century onwards women took on a more active role at sea, involved in daring rescues or as shipboard nurses in the First World War.

Grace Darling; Victorian Heroine of Wreck and Rescue
Grace Darling, the Farne Islands' lighthouse-keeper's daughter, earned fame when she helped rescue survivors from the wreck of the 'Forfarshire'.
The Wreck of the ‘Deutschland’
The story of the wreck of the 'Deutschland' on the Kentish Knock, off the Thames Estuary, on 6 December, 1875.
The Perils of the Passenger
The dangers facing female passengers on board ship and the fate of female passengers on shipwrecks in English waters.
Shipboard Nurses in the First World War
The story of nurses surviving shipwrecks during the First World War.
Glossary of Maritime Women Terms
Definition of terms used throughout the Maritime Women section of Women's History.