The myth that women were absent from Royal Navy ships in the age of sail conflicts with accounts surrounding Trafalgar that include women and even childbirth aboard ship. Fleet life did not match a later all-male simplification. Wives and daughters of senior officers could also read and write at a time when a flagship's official clerical staff was small. Their labor could help copy an admiral's orders for distribution across a large fleet, making them part of the communication system as well as the shipboard community.
Notable Point · 4:03:49-4:05:24
Women aboard age-of-sail warships were part of fleet life
Women sailed aboard large Royal Navy ships and could contribute to the administrative labor needed to copy and distribute fleet communications.