Many stories about 19th century whaling families focus on the untraditional roles for women while their husbands were at sea: managing finances, running businesses, and even working as partners with their husbands in different trades and enterprises. Nantucket Whaling master Joseph Marshall and his wife Malvina were perhaps more untraditional for the time: in addition to being partners in the whaling industry, they raised their daughter Helen together, at sea.
A new book titled Under Sun, Stars and Sails: A Whaling Family’s Life at Sea, tells their story. Author Marsha Hall Brown joins us.