FAIR SAILORS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12244, 16 February 1918, Page 5

FAIR SAILORS.

WHERE SHIPS ARE MANNED BY WOMEN. , In many foreign countries the the habit of shipping as a sailor is quite popular among the fair sex. ■Before the outbreak of war it was computed that altogether there were some.three thousand women earning their living in this fashion along the wild Breton coast. .They must each and every one of them obtain official permission before taking up their hazardous and laborious calling; but this once obtained they rank, as regards wages and work, exactly as do the other members of the crew. However ambitions a Breton woman may be, she can never aspire to the coveted position c(f skipper, for it’ is forbidden by law. At Yokohama crews of women are kept by most of the native hoardinghouse masters, in readiness to ship on any tramp coasting steamer that may bo in want of hands. They do not go aloft, bub for all the other work of a steamship, even that of stoking and trimming, they are said to bo' excellent. .In, their spare time on shore they frequently take on a coaling contract, at which laborious occupation, strange though it may seen, they arct rather superior than inferior to men. Indeed, until quite recently the world’s record for coaling an ironclad was held hy a gang of Japanese " seaworaen,” ail of whom were of small stature and under twenty-one years of ago. Of course, there are any number of instances on record of women sailing ships into port single-handed when compelled thereto by exceptional circumstances. All the girls who live on Rhodes Island aro. skilful mariners, and are, in addition, excellent divers; They are bound to be, if tliey aspire to tlie dig- ’ nity of wifehood, for they are not allowed to marry until they have been on at least three voyages* and have brought up a sped lied number of sponges, each taken from a. certain depth. The people of Rhodes Island, it should be explained, all get their living by sponge-fishing, fu Norway, Sweden and Finland women are frequently shipped as sailors without any demur being made, and do their work excellently ; while in Donmark large numbers of women are employed the State as pilots. They ■ go far out to sea in their tiny boats in meet incoming, vessels, amThaving nimbly climbed on board and shown their official diplomas they take charge of the ship in the usual affably-over-bearing manner affected by pilots the. world over, and skilfully steer her into port.