Polish Seawomen

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 6, 8 January 1944, Page 6

Polish Seawomen

Long before the war there were women in the Polish Merchant Service. They shipped not only as nurses, stewardesses, and cooks, but also as wireless operators and doctors, and wherever else they

could find a niche in a seemingly exclusive men’s world. When war came, with danger from surface craft, mineinfested seas, torpedoes, and aerial attack, the women were given full opportunity to take shore jobs. No one resigned; all volunteered to return to sea. Outstanding among them is Gosposia, a bright-eyed, grey-haired little Polish

woman who acts as cook on one of the largo Polish merchantmen. She is known in all the free ports of the world. She has 21,137 miles of sea travel behind her, half of which have been done in wartime. Twice torpedoed, picked up once by the French, once by the British, Gosposia holds a record of which any sailor might well be proud.