彭定康未雨绸缪!

We often hear about adventures at sea involving storms, mutinies, accidents, and illness. More often than not, the storyteller goes on to talk about the heroics of a crew member who is, usually, a man. But what if it were a woman? An amazing 19-year-old woman? A woman who happened to also be pregnant?

The story of Mary Patten was well known when it took place in the 19th century. It appeared in many newspapers because of the sheer novelty of the incident. Women in 19th-century society were considered the “weaker sex,” and whose sole purpose, in middle class America, was to support their husbands and families at home. I grew up in New England and never heard a word about Mary.

Mary Ann Brown was born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a large seafaring family. Her father George and mother Elizabeth immigrated from England before Mary was born, after they’d already had several children. George was a seaman by trade and several of his children also went into maritime-related work, including caulkers (if you don’t have caulkers, your ship sinks!).

Mary, at 16, married Captain Joshua Patten, originally from Rockland, Maine. As you can see from the document below, he was already listed as a Master Mariner at age 26!

The clipper ship where our dramatic story took place wasNeptune’s Car.它于1853年4月16日从弗吉尼亚州朴次茅斯的Page＆Allen Shipyard推出，纽约的Foster＆Nickerson。它是英联邦有史以来最大的快船船。在此期间，快船船在商业上很受欢迎，因为它们取得了出色的速度，这对投资者来说意味着金钱。这些船只能够前往香港，并能够在淘金热期间从东海岸航行到加利福尼亚，携带物资和乘客。这些船只非常有利可图，尽管风险很高。

Neptune’s Car1853年10月15日离开纽约前往旧金山，并于2月9日到达，在福布斯上尉的指挥下，在117天内奔跑。1854年，它从旧金山航行到新加坡，然后在109天内从加尔各答到纽约。这些是记录的航行。

Due to unforeseen problems with Captain Forbes ofNeptune’s Carfalling ill, Mary’s husband Joshua was signed on as the new captain of this fairly new ship. As they had only been married for a year, Mary joined Joshua aboard. She was determined to be useful, reading all the books in the ship’s library, and teaching herself shipboard medicine and navigation. She also learned how to use sextants and compasses. The first trip went smoothly, but the second voyage in 1856 did not.

With this second journey onNeptune’s Car,有很大的区别。玛丽19岁，怀有他们的第一个孩子。与往常一样，由于谁不喜欢有趣的赌博，因此在同一旅程中，还有其他几艘船同时启航。这被认为是一场友好的小比赛，另外两艘参加的船只是Romance of the Seas和Intrepid。获胜者的钱包可以从$ 1,000- $ 3,000中获得任何钱！

Problems started immediately when the first mate broke his leg and couldn’t continue. There was a schedule to be kept so the company made Mr. Keeler the first mate. He ended up in irons for neglecting his duties. And I mean, REALLY neglecting his duties, including falling asleep during his watch, setting courses through reef beds, refusing to do tasks, and more. The second mate, Mr. Hare, had no experience in navigation. Joshua tried to fill both roles even while feeling ill upon the start of the journey. He soon wasfeverish and delirious.

The greatest threat continued to be Mr. Keeler. He actually sent Mary a letter offering to act as captain if she would release him from the brig. He tried to get the crew to mutiny but thankfully, they refused. But the first mate had an ulterior motive and was not keeping to course. He argued with Mary and Joshua and said that he could not keep the ship headed to San Francisco. He continued trying to set the ship for Valparaiso, Chile. With $300,000 worth of cargo aboard the ship, the first mate was once again confined.(He was a big, huge jerk.)

Just watch this video below. Can you possibly imagine being aboard the ship as it journeys around Cape Horn, with frigid waters washing over the deck? Mary spent 50 days, she later said, in the same clothes without undressing. One can only imagine her level of fear and worry, surrounded by a difficult crew and a very sick husband. She felt that she needed to be in command of the ship and know what was happening at all times. Joshua had developed pneumonia which only exacerbated his undiagnosed original ailment: tuberculosis meningitis. He spent the majority of the time completely out of touch with reality.

When the ship arrived in San Francisco, Mary stood at the helm and navigated the ship into port. Onlookers were stunned. She was an instant celebrity in the press due to her gender and what she had accomplished, something for which she was not prepared. Captain Joshua Patten happened to be a Mason and they received help from the California Masonic Temple, because he was so ill. They also received help getting back aboard a ship,George Law, that would take them to New York and on to Boston.

玛丽写了一封信给保险公司，解释了旅程中发生的事情。它发表在许多报纸上（Gotta Lovewww.newspapers.com）。就像任何其他报纸采访一样，许多“事实”都是错误的。她从运输线获得了1,000美元的奖金，但他们拒绝支付约书亚的工资。只有在公众强烈抗议之后，保险公司才给了她这一点。当然，作为19世纪的维多利亚时代妇女，她衷心地感谢他们，并要求他们赞扬Neptune’s Car。A Boston newspaper set up a 19th-century style “go fund me” to defray the costs of caring for her very sick husband. Remember, she’s also pregnant with their first child during all of this.

不幸的是，约书亚从未康复。他于1857年7月在波士顿的麦克莱恩庇护所去世，享年30岁。最后，他最终失明，聋和完全不连贯，甚至从未知道玛丽已经生下了他们的儿子约书亚·帕滕（Joshua Patten Jr）。

可悲的是，玛丽从未真正从经历中康复。到1860年，她也患有结核病，并于1861年3月17日，在23岁零11个月和11天的招标上死亡。她的一生仅在波士顿的几个街区发生。难怪她跳了出来。她被埋葬在丈夫旁边的波士顿。

另外,她的儿子约书亚表现不太好。He was raised by his maternal grandmother and as an adult, briefly lived with two of his uncles, making his money as a carriage painter. He then headed to his father’s homeland, Rockland, Maine, and was a laborer, living in the local Alms House (a nice name for the poor house). He died in a freak accidental drowning in 1900 at the age of 41. (I’m telling you, research is divine.)

Mary Patten isn’t completely unknown. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY, opened a hospital that they christened Patten Hospital in memory of the “Florence Nightingale of the Ocean.” They gave her credit for keeping her husband, the Captain of the ship, alive during a perilous journey. She also goes down in history as the first American woman to captain a merchant vessel. I’m not sure what Mary’s 19th-century sensibilities would have thought of that!