Fifteen Postcards by Kirsten McKenzie

Author:Kirsten McKenzie [McKenzie, Kirsten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783758739
Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Fishing Fleet

The ladies made their way to the dining room, where the level of conversation was comparable to the noise of the winds of the previous night. Passengers from all spheres of life were regaling their friends with tales of how sick they’d been in the night, their stumbles, or, for those sporting bruises, how they’d fallen out of bed during the storm. As was now her habit, Sarah surveyed the room for the faces of her parents. Once again she was disappointed.

As Sarah, Maria, and Elaine sat at their allocated table beside three other young women, they overheard a curly-haired girl bemoaning her night.

‘Just look at my eye! Why on earth would any man look at me with this on my face? I may as well return to England as an ‘empty’. No one will have me. You’ll all get off the boat and will nab all the lieutenants. If I’m lucky, I might get some Collector from some horrid place in the middle of nowhere.’

She stabbed dejectedly at her breakfast on branded P&O crockery. A pale mousy girl ineffectually patted her shoulder.

‘It will fade, Margot. Once you are wearing your topi, we’ll add a mosquito veil and no one will notice. Five days at the most you’ll have to cover it. There will be plenty of parties. We’re not all going to get married the minute we step off this boat. Karen will, of course.’

All the girls at the table turned to face the most serene girl of the group, silently eating her scrambled eggs with a look on her face suggesting she knew she was triumphant in negotiating a betrothal aboard a Fishing Fleet boat.

For Sarah was on one of these. Colloquially known as the Fishing Fleet, essentially it was a boat full of unmarried Englishwomen of good breeding stock. Lots of “fifth daughters of the vicar” type girls, as well as girls born in India to British officers, sent to England for their education, and now returning to be married to other officers or highly placed employees of the East India Company. There was a smattering of upper class girls, who were plain of face, and had therefore failed to find a husband during a number of ‘seasons’ in London. It was widely agreed that if you’d not succeeded in marrying after three, your only hope was to sail off to India and, given the lack of competition from other girls, you’d score yourself a husband regardless of your looks.

Karen had achieved what many other girls had before her. She’d identified a suitable prospect on board, and was already betrothed. They were due to marry as soon as the ship docked. For, although the Fishing Fleet boats carried unmarried women to India (to ensure the Englishmen there didn’t marry any of the native women), they were also transporting returning officers, new graduates off to work for the East India Company, family members, and adventurers. The chances of a young woman meeting her future spouse on the boat were high.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.