WXDA Record #818
Death of a Female Sailor.
13 June 1833
Summary
Billy Bridle, birth name Rebecca Young, sailed "for the last year or two . . . in a hatch-boat as a seaman" accompanying a man. Bridle "always passed as a seaman." On "the day on which the deceased met her death she dressed herself in a pair of trousers, and a shirt, jacket, and neckerchief, which she borrowed of a sailor belonging to one of Don Pedro's ships laying off here, and went on board with him." Bridle fell when "her hands fired" descending from "the top gallant halliards" and "let go her hold" and fell: an 'Accidental death.'"
Full Title
13 Jun 1833. Death of a Female Sailor. Times p. 3 c. F.
Publication
Times of London(Times)
Full Record
- Date
- 13 June 1833
- Provisional Category
- Woman Worker
- Cross-dressing activity
- Work; Gender transition
- Cross-dressing occupation
- Seaman
- Locations
- GravesendView on map
- Primary source topic
- Dressed as a man; Occupational purpose; Ballad pattern
- Item format
- Inquest report
- Motive
- Livelihood
- Discovery of cross-dressing
- Death
- Attire
- Sailor clothes
- Social rank
- Lower class
- Stated Motive (Protagonist)
- No
- Sex Perceived by Others
- Male; Female