person, of some eighteen summers, rigged out in regular Jack Tar habiliments,
made application at a certain Whitby office to be apprenticed to a vessel belonging
to that port. Articles were signed binding the "smart-looking young man" for the
usual term of apprenticeship, and the sailor got safely lodged in his "bunk." Shortly afterwards the vessel sailed from Whitby laden with coals for Malaga.
During the voyage, which was a rough one, the apprentice behaved "himself"
like a man, doing the regular sailor work, and seeming to have great pluck
for going aloft, and performing duty with such spirit that older hands were rather
astonished. No suspicions as to the real sex of the new apprentice were aroused until
the vessel arrived at her destination, when the deception was discovered, and the
new apprentice turned out to be a female. The young spark bade farewell, for a time at least, and it is to be hoped for ever, to
the rough work of a sailor, and donned the clothes of her sex. The captain of the vessel
had the articles cancelled, and re-engaged the "apprentice" as stewardess for his ship,
and, after taking in a cargo of esparto grass, left Malaga and arrived at Aberdeen a day
or two a ago. Many a laugh the sailors enjoyed as the yarn of the doings of the female sailor went
around during the homeward voyage. The "new apprentice" is a stoutly-built female,
and as her hair is not very long, she has a thoroughly masculine appearance, and it
would have been a sharp eye that could have detected the deception when dressed as a sailor. We hear that the female will give no reason for the foolish freak. It is thought that she is
a native of Whitby. --English paper. Notes
From the South Australian Newspaper The Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News 25 Apr 1873 p. 4.
See also The Australian version of The Female Rambling Sailor in this collection
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