Lydia Pett and recognition of women's shipbuilding skills

Lydia Pett, daughter of Joseph Pett of Limehouse, is presented as a rare acknowledged female master craftsperson in a shipbuilding family. Women took part in construction and the exchange of practical knowledge, but recognition as masters in their own right was unusual. Demand for scarce technical skills could lead institutions to set aside conventions about who should hold those positions. Her identification as Phineas Pett's elder sister is tentative, based on lecture notes that could not be checked against the family genealogy.