What began as an adventure for a young wife, developed into a desperate situation requiring much more strength, courage, and knowledge than was typically required of girls in the mid-1800’s. “The Captain’s Wife” is very loosely based on a young woman, Mary Patten, who in 1856 found herself in dire straights as she accompanied her husband on a voyage from New York City to San Francisco.
At that time, ships traveled down the East Coast of North, then South America, around Cape Horn, and back up the West Coast of both continents. This apparently was a very dangerous trip, with the Cape Horn labeled most treacherous area.
Mary and her husband, Joshua, had not been married long when she began to travel with him. Joshua is a sea captain. The events documented in “The Captain’s Wife” supposedly occur on the second voyage Mary embarks upon. What begins as a fun, free-spirited vacation for Mary soon becomes much more serious. The book contains most of the typical characteristics of an intriguing story: a strong heroine as the primary character (Mary), an evil nemesis, adventure, dire situations, and danger.
To summarize, Mary is thrown into the role of leadership on her husband’s ship when he falls ill with some sort of brain illness. Prior to Joshua’s illness, the first mate, who is typically second in command on a ship, is locked below deck due to insubordination. This leaves a young second mate with problems of his own in command. Mary is required to assist the second mate because she had learned from her husband how to navigate. Together, Mary & this second mate manage to fight storms, high seas, and the evil first mate to safely complete the journey. This truly is a great accomplishment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story of “The Captain’s Wife”. However, I felt that the author often went into a bit too much detail about the operations of the ship. I had little interest in the operation of a sextant, or how to unfurl sails, or any other such mundane task that often received a painstaking description.
I also felt somewhat mislead by the amount of literary license the author uses to create the story. In the Author’s Note, following the story, I learned that the author actually had very little information to base this story on. The overall story is a true one, but many of the characters and much of the interaction and events are actually created to enhance the story, or at the very least developed as the author imagines that they might have been. For example, the author hints that there is some interest between Mary and the young second mate as they toil together to see the ship through. However, any woman knows that in this situation, the last thing on her mind would be another man: Mary is pregnant, meaning she is nauseous all the time; she is caring for a deathly ill husband, which is not a pleasant task; she is sleeping very little; she has not changed her clothes in weeks, much less bathed; she is responsible for the lives of about 40 other individuals; and she has no idea what she is doing. So, the author decides that a sick, exhausted, stressed out, and grimy young woman on the verge of becoming a widow needs a love interest. I discovered that the majority of the occurrences in the book are fiction, although the story itself is true, after I completed the book. This left me feeling duped. I wish that I had known prior to reading “The Captain’s Wife” about the veracity of the book.
Additionally, I felt that the story ended rather abruptly. The author used the seven page epilogue to tie things up nicely, but the brief ending left me feeling unsatisfied. In my opinion, if the author could create a great story about the time spent on the ship, he should be able to finish up the Pattens’ saga, giving the reader the full experience. Instead, he ends the book story with the ships docking, and uses the epilogue to let the reader know how it all ended. I felt that this was a rip off, and the author could definitely have done a more thorough job.
I did enjoy “The Captain’s Wife”, and I would recommend it to other readers. It is an easy read, and it does give a good idea of life on a ship about 150 years ago. “The Captain’s Wife” is a good book, despite its disappointing ending. I do have to note that the author is from my home state, and I was happy to see one of my fellow Oklahomans with a book in publication.
Although this is not a great book, I do believe the story itself, which the book is based on, is great. I found “The Captain’s Wife” to be much different than most of the books I read, and I enjoyed it a lot. I consider it a worthwhile read.
Recommended:
