The Female Sailor Bold

A Faithful Account of the Perilous Adventures of that Courageous Young Female, Anne Jane Thornton, who left her Father’s House, and, in the Dress of a Sailor, entered as a Cabin Boy on board of an American Vessel in search of her Sweetheart,—with an Account of her
Arrival at New York, where she learnt her Sweetheart was Dead—of her Travelling Seventy Miles on Foot alone, through the Forests of America—of her entering as Cook and Steward on board the Sarah; with many other wonderful Adventures, As Related by Herself before the Lord Mayor of London.

A Song.

Good people give attention and listen to my song
I will unfold a circumstance that does to love belong.
Concerning of a pretty maid who ventur’d we are told
Across the briny ocean as a Female Sailor bold
Her name was Ann Jane Thornton, of Glostershire we hear
And was courted by a Captain all in her 15th year
But he sail’d to America, as I will now unfold
And she ventur’d o’er the ocean, disguis’d a Sailor bold,
Disguised in her sailor’s clothes, a cabin-boy she went,
To New York, in America, with pleasure & content,
But when the damsel landed of her lover’s death was told,
Then in agony & sorrow wept the Female Sailor bold.
Some thousand miles from home, from her parents far away,
She travelled thro’ the dismal woods of North America,
She serv’d on board the Adelaide, as steward we are told,
And sailed with the Rover did the Female Sailor bold
At length in the Sarah from St. Andrew’s she set sail,
And nobly did the seaman’s part in tempest, storm, and gale
Would run to the top gallant-sail, did reef and steer were told,
By the captain much respected was the Female Sailor bold.
In the month of February, 1825,
She to the port of London in the Srah did arrive,
Her sex was then discovered and the secret did unfold,
And then the captain gaz’d with wonder on the Female Sailor bold.
It was to seek her lover that she sailed across the main,
Thro’ love she did encounter storm, tempest, wind, and the rain;
It was love caused all her trouble and hardships we are told.
May she rest at home contented now the Female Sailor bold.

The Lord Mayor having read in the Times a marvellous account of a
female sailor, directed one of the City police officers to make
inquiry into the circumstances, in order that if she required
any assistance, it might be rendered to her. Accordingly the
officer thought it best to bring her to the Mansion-house, that
his Lordship might hear the remarkable details of the case from
the girl’s own lips.
Capt. M’Intire of the Sarah, stated that he met the girl at
St. Andrew’s, North America: he engaged her as cook and steward,
and considered what she seemed to be, until a few days before the
arrival of the vessel in the port of London. It appeared that
some of the crew had suspected her sex before she was seen washing
in her berth, from the circumstance of her having refused to
drink grog. She performed the duties of a sailor admirably–
she would run up to hand the top-gallant-sail in any sort of
weather, during a severe passage. The poor girl had had a hard
time of it, and she suffered greatly from the wet, but she bore
it all excellently, and she was a capital seaman. Her hands
appeared as if they were covered with thick brown leather gloves,
and it was by repeated questioning, the Lord Mayor got from her
the facts, of which the following is the substance:–
Anne Jane Thornton stated, she was in the 17th year of her age.
Her father, who is now a widower, took her and the rest of his
family from Gloucestershire, where she was born, to Donegal, when
she was 6 years old. He was in good circumstances, and was always
affectionate to her. She regretted that she quitted her home,
for her departure, of which she had given no previous notice to
her father, must have caused him many a sorrowful hour. When
she was only 13 years old, she met Capt. Alexander Burke, whose
father resided in New York, and was the owner of vessels there,
and before she was 15, they became strongly attached to each other.
Soon afterwards Alexander Burke was obliged to go to New York, and
she resolved to follow him.
She quitted her father’s house, accompanied by a maid servant and
a boy; and having procured a cabin-boy’s dress, she exerted
herself to obtain a passage to America. She succedded in her
object: the servant maid and boy took leave of her immediately
upon her embarking, the latter being charged with a message to
her father, informing him of her intention. By degrees she became
reconciled to the labours of her new employment, and she beheld
with joys the shores of New York, where she thought her labours
would terminate: the moment she landed, she went off in her
cabin-boy’s dress to the house of Captain Burke’s father, and
said that she had worked under the Captain’s orders, and wished
to be engaged by him again. It was by the father of the young
man she was informed of the event which placed the eternal barrier
between them, and she retired from the house disconsolate.
America was, however, no place in which to look for sympathy.
In the belief that the sea, which no doubt her feelings of
affection for Burke recommended to her, was a more probable
mode of existence than any she could adopt in the dress of
her sex, she applied for and obtained a situation as cook and
steward in the Adelaide, and subsequently in the Rover, in
which vessel she sailed to St. Andrew’s, where she fell in with
Capt. M’Intire: the captain of the Rover had agreed to take her
to Belfast, but he received an order from the owners to sail for
the West Indies, and, as she was resolved to return to her father
as soon as possible, she refused to accompany him. For 31 months,
she had been engaged in these remarkable adventures, and
participated in the most sever toils of the crews of which she
performed a part.

The Lord Mayor asked how she fanced to assume the sailor’s
dress?
The Girl–I could not think of any other way, and I did the
duties as well as I could. I underwent a good deal. I travelled
from East Point, in North America, to St. Andrew’s, by myself,
a distance of 70 miles, through the woods. I walked all the way.
Captain M’Intire said he bore testimony to the extraordinary
propriety of the girl’s conduct, who said she was bound in grati-
tude to acknowledge the kindness and humanity of the captain.
The Lord Mayor–I will give directions that you be taken care
of until I hear from your father, to whom I will write to-night.
After receiving some salutary advice from the Lord Mayor, she
retired, and placed under the care of the worthy proprietor of
the Cooper’s Arms, Lower Thames Street. She is low of stature,
and her limbs are firmly knit; comely face; dark eyes; and teeth
very white.
On Saturday the 14th, Mr. M’Lean, the inspector of police,
applied to the Lord Mayor, to have our heroine removed from the
Cooper’s Arms; for, on account of the intense interest her case
excited, multitudes of persons so beset the house to get a sight
of her, that the landlord found it impossible to conduct his
business.–The proprietress of a minor theather offered her a guinea
a night to appear in character in a piece to be got up on purpose.
A celebrated artist had applied to take her likeness; and
numberless persons have supplicated her to exhibit herself; but
all in vain; as she feels a great repugnance to the various
offers, being determined never again to assume the sailor’s dress.
She possesses a great flow of spirits; is communicative; but
extremely correct in her behavior. Upon the whole, she is
undoubtedly, one of the most extraordinary strong-minded girls that
ever lived.

*Transcriber’s note: Dugaw’s catalogue contains multiple variants of this ballad; this is the first of the variants listed. To review other variants of this ballad, please consult the Dugaw catalogue.