Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1875 — A Disabled Vessel Navigated by a Woman. [ARTICLE]

A Disabled Vessel Navigated by a Woman.

A vessel which arrived at this port last Friday brought the intelligence that the bark Rebecca Crowell, which left New York March 6 for Buenos Ayres, became disabled during a severe gale three days after leaving here. Several of the spars and sails were carried away and the Captain and first mate were injured to such an extent that they were confined to their berths throughout the rest of the voyage and rendered incapable of managing the vessel. There was no other person on board except the Captain’s wife who understood navigation, and she undertook the task of conducting the bark to its point of destination. The second mate was a young man twenty years old, able to take the helm but ignorant of the process of making observations. The woman then assumed the command of the vessel, boxed the compass, took observations, ascertained the latitude and longitude, maintained her place upon the bridge and directed the course of the vessel. After exercising control for fifty-eight days, during which the vessel encountered violent gales and shipped heavy seas, the Captain’s wife, worn out and exhausted with her labors, conducted the vessel with its valuable cargo safely into the port of Buenos Ayres. A purse was made up for her her arrival. — N. T. Tribune. An exchange says: “We’ll ride two miles to see two brothers under twelve years of age go to bed together without having a dispute about something.”