Maritime Tales

I think I was a whaler's wife in a past life

Photo by Zacke Feller on Unsplash

I think I was a whaler’s wife in a previous life. That would explain my lifelong fascination with Widow’s Walks.

When I was a young girl, we vacationed every year in Cape Cod. One year we boarded a ferry to take a day trip to Nantucket. It was then my fascination with the architectural element of Widow’s Walks began. I saw the railings on the rooftops of the large, Italianate houses and wanted to know what they were. My parents explained they were like porches on the roofs of houses where the wives and mothers of seafaring men would stand and look out at the sea, scanning the horizon for their lovers’ ships.

Photo by Richard Sagredo on Unsplash

When we went to the Nantucket Whaling Museum, and I learned more about the history of the whaling industry, I saw the scrimshaw on the whale bone jewelry and accessories that the sailors made for their beloveds, I was enthralled, it was all so romantic. Even today, if I see a house with a Widow’s Walk, I am filled with a sense of isolation and longing, I can almost feel the long skirts of the women who walked them, flapping against their legs like sails. I imagine their fear that the name of these small, rooftop platforms would soon become all to true.

Later, when I was in my early twenties and waiting for my future husband to return home from Europe where he was studying for his PhD, I read the book, Ahab’s Wife, or The Stargazer by Sena Jeter Naslund and rekindled my love of the maritime stories of the women who were left behind. Although I was not waiting for a ship to come into port, I could identify with the loneliness of being the one who waits for the return of their loved one.

If you haven’t read Ahab’s Wife, I highly recommend it. It is the story of Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab, as told by his wife, of how she came to marry the man who would slowly and tragically lose his mind and what happened while he was off chasing the great, white whale. It has stayed with me all these years and is the perfect summer read. You don’t need to have read Moby Dick to appreciate it either. (Which is a relief, isn’t it?)

If you are in the mood for more maritime stories, I also recommend The Sea Captain’s Wife by Beth Powning. In that novel, a young woman, Azuba, dreams of traveling the world, and marries a sea captain, thinking that will enable to her to do so. However, after quickly becoming pregnant she is left behind. Eventually she convinces her husband to take her and their daughter on the ship to travel with him and she soon discovers the hardship, loneliness, and terror of sailing the seas. Powning does an excellent job of capturing life on a merchant ship during the Age of Sail.

Over the years, I’ve continued feed my obsession of maritime lore, visiting museums, looking longingly at ships in bottles. Share your seafaring reads with me in the comments below.

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Here’s what’s been inspiring me lately:

Binge-watching Younger

When I was younger, I wanted to be a literary agent. I got myself a comparative literature degree but then chickened out of moving to New York City. This television series is about a 40 year old woman who, after her divorce moves to NYC to try to pick-up on her dream of working in the publishing industry. Oh, there’s a ridiculous bit about her lying about her age, but I enjoyed seeing the publishing industry in action, the spotlights on generational differences, and Debi Mazar as the main character’s BFF.

Rewatching Single White Female

My daughter wanted to watch this movie and I was interested in seeing how it aged since the first time I saw it in 1992. One of our favorite things to do after watching a movie is to dissect and discuss the movie, then we go online and read critical reviews. This time, my daughter found a review that said the movie was about lesbianism and pointed out that the montage with Bridget Fonda interviewing potential roommates had all the stereotypes of lesbians portrayed. Isn’t it funny how you can watch the same movie, at different times of your life and it becomes a completely different experience?

Make these beans

We had a big 4th of July party and I made these Bourbon Peach BBQ Baked Beans. There were none left by the end of the party.

Join me at the Prairie Pages Book Club

Most of you know I’m the administrator for Modern Prairie’s monthly book club. In July, we’re reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and will be discussing the book online on July 23 from 4-5pm PST. You can sign-up to join the Zoom discussion here.