FROM the book “Sea Quest” by Charles Borden comes this gem:
“Eleanor Wilson, ordained minister and island pilot whose skill with a ship is known from Guam in the Marianas to Ebon in the Marshall Islands, became “Lady Skipper” in 1950 when the former captain was suddenly called home and no one else was available to take the missionary schooner on her regular run.
“A small woman with white hair who kept a Bible beside her nautical almanac and set of navigation tables, Miss Wilson was fifty-nine when she took command of the Morning Star VI, and in the following years cruised widely through the islands of Micronesia, bringing passengers and supplies and conducting christenings, marriages, funerals, and conferences with island leaders.
“After learning navigation from a navy captain, seamanship from the islanders, and pilotage from years of sailing in the Caroline and Marshall archipelagos, Eleanor Wilson found that a woman captain went against the grain of the Marshallese male. In their long tradition of priest-astronomer-navigator there had never been a woman to whom the secrets of a ship and the sea had been entrusted. The navigator was always a man of high rank and prestige.
“But Eleanor Wilson, with her many years of experience in Micronesia, was not to be done in by island tradition. When orders came through from Beacon Street, Boston, to take over the Star, she quietly assembled the crew on the afterdeck.
“The ways of the Lord,” said she, “are past understanding. He means for us — you and me together — to sail the Star and do His work. When Jesus began his ministry here on Earth he had only twelve disciples. Many were fishermen as you are. They set out to carry the gospel to the whole world. They did not despair. Nor did they question their orders. Our task is much simpler than theirs. We have only to carry on the work here in these islands.”
“Praise the Lord!” said Luckabudge, an ordained minister and spokesman for the Marshallese sailors. “We will sail the ship. Since there is no man to be our captain, Mother Wilson will read the stars.”
“Sailing the rounds of her 500,000 square mile parish, Skipper Wilson slept on a plank bunk, ate rice and beans with fish and an occasional can of bully beef, and ran a taut ship — one that “The Lord wouldn’t be ashamed of.” Morning prayers were held daily at sea, and no smoking, drinking, or trifling with the Seventh Commandment was permitted.
“Ironically, when she went home on a long-overdue leave in 1954, Morning Star VI foundered in a gale between Ponape and the Marshalls while under the command of a veteran Canadian master mariner. When a suitable replacement schooner was found in Japan and Eleanor Wilson took Morning Star VII on the old run with passengers, freight, and the blue pennant with the white dove at the masthead, there was rejoicing in the many ports of her parish from Majuro and Ailinglaplap to Ponape and Kusaie.”
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
BC Cook
