The Pirate Queen (47 page)

For her work on women fishing on the south coast of Iceland, Magnusdóttir went to public records that showed in the district how many boats were registered and what sizes they were (since boats are called by the name of how many oars they have, she could calculate with some certainty). She estimated how many rowers it took to man the boats and then looked at the number of male inhabitants in the district. For instance, in 1795 there were eighty-seven boats, requiring a total crew of 560. At that time the district had 370 men between the ages of twenty and sixty. In 1800 there were sixty boats, requiring 465 rowers, but only 434 available men in the district. In 1852 fifty-two boats required 410 people to row them. There were 476 men.

Magnusdóttir counted all men between the ages of twenty and sixty, but assumed that some percentage of these were sick or disabled at any one time. That means that there was a lack of between several dozen to almost two hundred men to row the fishing boats. Magnusdóttir also found from the records that women outnumbered men in every parish. She notes: “A natural conclusion was that women
must have participated in the fishing.” Still, she asks, “Are there dependable sources to show that women worked as fishers? Their stories are rarely recorded, generally only if they are involved in a court case or suffer a tragedy, such as drowning with their shipmates. For instance, Kristine Brandsdóttir, born in 1786, drowned with the whole crew.”

Sigurdardóttir, Anna.
Vinna kvenna á islandi í 1100 ár (Working women in Iceland for 1100 years)
(Reykjavík: Kvennasögusafn Islands, 1985) Chapter nine. For material on Halldóra Ólafsdóttir and other women fishers of Breidafjord, including many women not cited in my text. Translated for me by Daniel Teague.

Chapter Sixteen: Seawim

Brantenberg, Gerd.
Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes,
translated by Louis Mackay in cooperation with Gerd Brantenberg (Seattle: Seal Press, 1985).

Fitzhugh, William W., and Elisabeth I. Ward, eds.
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 2000). For details on the excavation of the Oseberg ship.

Walker, Barbara G.
The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
(San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983). For details on Frigga.

Chapter Seventeen: Trouser-Beret

The Sami are an indigenous people who form an ethnic minority in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, and who have occupied the region north of the Arctic Circle for probably around four thousand years, and possibly earlier. With around forty thousand Sami, Norway has the largest population. Until the 1600s the Sami and the few Norwegian settlers lived side by side. More intensive colonization by the Norwegians, especially along the coast, led to assimilation and active suppression. By the end of the 1800s use of the Sami language
was restricted, and by 1902 a law was passed forbidding the sale of land to anyone who did not speak Norwegian. Norway, which had been ruled by Denmark since the Middle Ages, became independent in 1814, but was pressured into a political union with Sweden, which did not cease until 1905. One of the side effects of the country's nationalism was an attempt to culturally eradicate its ancient ethnic minority. Only in the 1960s, with the rise of indigenous peoples' organizing efforts worldwide, did the Sami begin to assert their rights. In 1988 the Norwegian Parliament adopted a new Article to the Constitution that acknowledged and preserved Sami rights and paved the way for the creation of a Sami Parliament, which opened in 1989.

No material on Trouser-Beret exists in English. In addition to conversations with Hilgunn Pedersen, I benefited from a section titled “Arbeidsdeling hos samene” (“Division of Labor Among the Sami”) in a volume of local history,
Lødingen, Tjeldsund og Tysfjords Historie 1700-1870, volume V: Fra Vidstrakt Prestegjeld til Storkommune,
edited by Alf Ragnar Nielssen, authored by Alf Ragnar Nielssen and Hilgunn Pedersen (Lødingen: Tjeldsund og Tysfjord Kommuner, 1994), as well as other genealogical notes about Beret Paulsdatter given to me by Pedersen. Buks-Beret is also known as Boks-Beret, Boksberret, and Bokseberet, depending on dialect. Bukse means trousers in Norwegian.

The following Norwegian sources were helpful:
Dundor-Heikka og flere lappers historier
by Inga Bjørnson (Oslo: Alb. Cammermeyers Forlag, 1915) and “Det tradisjonelle kjønnsrollemønster i Nord-Norge” by HÃ¥vard Dahl Bratrein in
Drivandes Kvinnfolk
(Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget, 1976).
Rundt Norge by
Dr. Yngvar Nielsen is the oversize travel book referred to in the chapter (Kristiania: Mallings Bokhandel, 1882).
Samekulturen
by Ornulv Vorren and Ernst Manker (Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget, 1976) had useful information on the Sea Sami of the Tysfjord.

Brøgger, A. W., and Haakon Shetelig.
Viking Ships
(Oslo: Dreyer, 1951). For information on Sami boat building. The quote by Nansen on the “women's boat” is also from this book.

Chapter Eighteen: Statue of a Woman Staring Out to Sea

Druett, Joan.
She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000). For information on Viking longships and Saxo's story of Alfhild.

Jesch, Judith.
Women in the Viking Age
(Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1991). For the skaldic verse about the admiring widow, taken from a series of verses by Thjódólf Arnórsson that describe King Harald's navy leaving Trondheim, Norway.

Olaus Magnus.
A Description of the Northern Peoples, Volume I,
translated by Peter Fisher and Humphrey Higgens, edited by Peter Foote (Original publication 1555, in Latin; London: Hakluyt Society, 1996). For the story of Alvid.

Saxo Grammaticus.
The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus,
translated by Oliver Elton (London: Norroena Society, 1907). For the story of Alfhild, Rusla, and other female warriors.

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

Cover

Rockfleet Castle photograph © Suzanne Arnold

Sea photo © Royalty-Free/CORBIS

Frontmatter

Title page, Rockfleet Castle photograph © Suzanne Arnold

Introduction

Page xxi, photograph courtesy of the author

Page xxiii, reprinted from Anne Chambers,
Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley,
Wolfhound Press (Dublin, Ireland)

Chapter One

Page 13, drawing courtesy of Ron Druett © 2000

Chapter Two

Page 22, © Suzanne Arnold

Page 35, reprinted from Anne Chambers,
Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley,
Wolfhound Press (Dublin, Ireland)

Chapter Three

Page 53, reprinted from Peter Foote, ed.,
A Description of the Northern Peoples
by Olaus Magnus, The Hakluyt Society (London, England)

Chapter Four

Page 59, cover illustration reprinted from Klausmann, Meinzerin, and Kuhn,
Women Pirates: and the Politics of the Jolly Roger,
Black Rose Books Ltd. (Buffalo, NY)

Page 67, illustration by W. Fraser and S. Sangster; reprinted from Sir Walter Scott,
The Pirate,
Archibald Constable and Company (Westminster, England)

Chapter Five

Page 77, courtesy of the Scottish Fisheries Museum

Page 84, courtesy of William Smith

Page 87, from the Stromness Museum

Page 89, illustration by John McGhie courtesy of the Scottish Fisheries Museum

Chapter Six

Page 108, illustration from
Narrative of the Capture, Sufferings and Miraculous Escape of Mrs. Eliza Fraser,
Charles Webb (New York, NY); reprinted from Michael Alexander,
Mrs. Fraser on the Fatal Shore,
Phoenix Press (London, England)

Page 110, illustration from John Ashton, ed.,
Modern Street Ballads,
Chatto and Windus (London, England); reprinted from Suzanne J. Stark,
Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail,
Pimlico (London, England)

Chapter Seven

Page 122, drawing by John Duncan, A.R.S.A; reprinted from Donald A. Mackenzie,
Scottish Wonder Tales from Myth and Legend,
Dover Publications, Inc. (Mineola, NY)

Chapter Eight

Page 128, photo courtesy of the author

Page 132, courtesy of the Illustrated London News Picture Library

Page 134, courtesy of the Shetland Museum

Chapter Ten

Page 166, courtesy of the Pogo Press, Incorporated

Page 168, reprinted from
Faroe Isles Review,
issue 1, Bókagar∂'ur (Tórshavn, Faroe Isles)

Chapter Twelve

Page 195, engraving by Flameng, 1869; reprinted from Joan Druett,
She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea,
Simon & Schuster (New York, NY)

Chapter Fourteen

Page 236, courtesy of Gunnar Marel Eggertsson

Page 248, “Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir,” Asmundur Sveinsson © Heirs/Myndstef 2004

Chapter Fifteen

Page 265, courtesy of the National Museum of Iceland

Page 270, photo courtesy of the author

Chapter Seventeen

Page 289, photograph by Annie Giæver; reprinted from Bente Foldvik,
Jenteliv uten vaskemaskin,
Nordlys

Page 298, reprinted from Johannes Shefferus,
The History of Lapland,
Bokförlaget Rediviva (Stockholm, Sweden)

Chapter Eighteen

Page 303, from Ellms,
Pirates Own Book,
Boston 1837; reprinted from Joan Druett,
She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea,
Simon & Schuster (New York, NY)

Page 311, reprinted from Peter Foote, ed.,
A Description of the Northern Peoples
by Olaus Magnus, The Hakluyt Society (London, England)

Page 320, photo courtesy of the author

Epilogue

Page 333, courtesy of the author's private collection

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M
ANY OF
the stories I went looking for and happened upon as I traveled around the North Atlantic have been kept alive by folklorists, writers, and relatives of seafaring women. I relied heavily on their passion for research and dedication to memory. My greatest thanks, therefore, to all the writers and storytellers I encountered along the way, for the pleasure of their company and for their belief that what women have accomplished matters to us all.

In Ireland, I'm extremely grateful for the help of Anne Chambers, Mary Gavin Hughes, and Jeremy Browne, Lord Altamont, who know and love Clew Bay and who increased my understanding of the pirate queen who once lived there. Many thanks also to Mary McGreal of the Mayo County Tourist Office in Westport, Ireland and to Mary O'Malley of the Granuaile Heritage Centre.

In Scotland, I'd like to thank Ellen Galford and Ellen Kelly for taking me to Anstruther to the Scottish Fisheries Museum, and Linda Semple for digging up an old copy of
The Pirate.
In Stromness, Orkney, I was fortunate to meet Gunnie Moberg and Anne Robertson, which led me to the fudge factory and Jim Robertson. A great thank you to Jim Robertson for the tour, the talk, and the fudge. Bryce Wilson, honorary curator of the Stromness Museum, offered useful corrections to the chapter on his wonderful town.

In Shetland I am grateful to Tommy Watt of the Shetland Museum and to Douglas Sinclair of the Lerwick Library, as well as to the incomparable Dorothy Thomson and to Mary Isbister. I thank Jeanne Pratt, author of the “Instructions to Hostesses”
for her illuminating notes on shipboard life and work.

Hanus undir Leitinum very kindly took the time to show me around Húsavík in the Faroe Islands and to give me a sense of Gudrún Sjúrdardóttir's world.

In Iceland I appreciated having two weeks at Gúnnarshus, in the apartment maintained by the Writers' Union of Iceland, and thank Jónína Michaelsdóttir and Ragnheidur Tryggvadóttir for helping make that possible. Inga Jóna Thórdardóttir, Brynja Benediktsdóttir, Erla Hulda Halldorsdóttir at the University of Reykjavík Library, Gísli Sigurdsson, Gulli and Gudrún Bergmann, Jónas Kristjánsson, and Ellen Ingvadóttir all contributed to my understanding of Icelandic history and women's roles in seafaring and fishing. Daniel Teague was an able translator of some of this history. Steinunn Jóhannesdóttir's research on Turkish Gudda sparked my own curiosity, and I thank her for sharing her knowledge with me. I'm very grateful to Thorunn Magnusdóttir, for her scholarship and great generosity, as well as to Gudrún Bergmann for encouragement to do something unexpected.

My conversations with Joan Clark in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Dr. Birgitta Linderoth Wallace in Halifax, Nova Scotia about Freydís Eiríksdóttir helped me to understand some of the many fascinating issues surrounding this historical figure. Scholarship on the Vínland Voyages (and much to do with Vikings in general) is vast and sometimes conflicting, and all mistakes of interpretation are, of course, my own. However, I give particular thanks to Dr. Wallace for her comments on my chapter about Freydís.