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| Painting by Gordon Johnson depicting Mary Patten on the clipper ship Neptune’s Car |
Awhile back when I was looking for info on Susie Langley re: my post about waterwomen (click here), I found this account of Mary Patten. At the age of 19 and pregnant, she assumed Captain’s duties after her husband fell ill and the First Mate mutinied. For more info click here and scroll down. In 2002, a book The Captain’s Wife was written about her click here.
When Buzzy and I toured Ireland (click here), our tour bus driver would play Enya’s CD whenever he had nothing to say during some long stretches of driving around. At first it got on my nerves a little because to me most of her songs sound like nursery rhymes, repetitious and annoying. But after several listenings over the course of several days, somewhere on the ride from Shannon to Galway, I actually found myself humming and enjoying this tune: