A new lecture series starts tomorrow (September 19) at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, focusing on the historic and contemporary roles and relationships women have with the sea.
A programme of talks by leading academics and speakers kicks off with Women and the Navy in the Age of Sail with Dr Elaine Murphy, who will present stories of 17th and 18th-century women who did business with the navy, and sometimes cheated it; who went to sea on board men-of-war, sometimes in disguise but more usually quite openly; and how sailors’ families coped and survived on shore.
On Thursday, October 10, Dr Charlotte MacKenzie will tell the remarkable story of Mary Broad, a Cornish convict in Australia who escaped and made a 69-day voyage in an open boat from Port Jackson in New South Wales to Dutch Timor.
Cornish writer Elizabeth Dale, aka The Cornish Bird, will explore the Forgotten Women of the Cornish Coast on Thursday, November 7, using their hidden histories to illustrate why she finds Cornwall’s history so endlessly fascinating.
The final lecture in the series sees Cornish writer Clare Howdle interview Sharon Austin, one of Cornwall’s few female wreck divers and a founder member of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Maritime Archaeological Society. Sharon will share three decades of experience, revealing the skill, planning and risk that goes into each dive.
The lectures can be attended in person in the museum’s lecture theatre as well as live online. Tickets start from £5 and can be booked via www.nmmc.co.uk