CARGO SHIPS, NO PLACE FOR WOMEN COOKS?

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march/april 2026 :: RMTnews 22 Almost 80 years ago, Kathleen Earnshaw told the Yorkshire Post that over a thousand shoreside women were awaiting a decision by the National Union of Seamen, RMT’s predecessor. A ‘yes’ could bring diversity to merchant shipping –although that term wasn’t used then. In summer 1946 a small London company, Buries Markes was controversially trying to do something that became pivotal: let women into a sector (cargo) and to do a job that had been men-only: cooking. Mrs Earnshaw MBE, an officer in the wartime Women’s Royal Naval Service, had encouraged forces’ re-settlement officers to spread the word nationally to de-mobbed Wrens: ‘A limited number of posts as cooks and stewardesses would soon be available on cargo ships’. Over 1,400 applied to join all-women catering teams. Together with Margaretta Godefroy, a Wren colleague, Kathleen interviewed 800 aspirants. ‘Most of the girls are splendid types and are tremendously keen to adopt the sea as a career,’ she declared. Stewardesses had sailed since the 1820s, serving lady passengers. But commanding kitchens on rugged tramp steamers was unthinkable. And because the union ran a closed shop, it could halt this attempted innovation that was said to threaten 20,000 male catering workers. Round one in the battle was led by the NUS Liverpool District office, in August 1946. Without consultation, Buries Markes had engaged three ex-Wren stewardesses to sail on the elderly 3,000 ton La Pampa to Brazil. District secretary Charles Booth announced that steps were being taken to prevent this ‘infiltration of women’. He said that ‘seamen can rest assured that every step will be taken to prevent the idea from spreading’. The NUS won, temporarily. Three male stewards were sent instead of the ‘infiltrators’. Ex-Wrens Florence Mathieson and Freda Clegg were only allowed to sail as ‘trainees’: supernumeraries. Margaretta, who was to have been chief stewardess, was sent ashore, on the usual grounds: no room for females. Round two, in early spring 1947, was focused initially on La Cordillera. The new 10,000 ton motor ship designed to take 15 women and 40 men. James Ockleton, NUS North east district secretary, said it ‘wouldn’t work’ but decided the ex-Wrens could sail. ‘Only as an experiment, not as a general policy’. After the arbitrating ‘yes’, all-women catering teams of 15 ex-Wrens sailed off on several ships, carrying all sort of cargoes including grain, to exotic ports. The women were happy. None were relegated to supernumerary status. Male crew enjoyed the trip, not least because the certified sea cooks produced such delicious scran. One husband, an ex-AB who helped me research my book, told me about relaxing at sunset on the hatch covers with his future wife Sonia Norris and her plentiful snacks. She approved of Harold because he’d readily eat up any galley blunders. Until at least 1952 the experiment continued, including on the sister company’s Medomsley Steamship Company’s Langleeclyde trips to Montreal, Haifa, Haifa, Alexandria, Columbo, Sydney and Cape Town. Despite misogyny and the no- fraternisation rule some crew married. The carrying of such women-only catering crews is rumoured to have ended because repatriating pregnant women crew proved too costly. Margaretta later became a hotelier in Folkestone. Sonia cooked for Harold till the end of her days, in Ashurst. However, few, if any, UK-flagged tramps sailed with female cooks. Passenger vessels, especially those with premium bistros, continue to think male chefs add more cachet to cuisine. Even in the last two years shipping companies globally still try sailing ‘pink’ or part-pink ships. Gender matters but the word ‘infiltrators’ wouldn’t be uttered. Dr Jo Stanley’s Seafaring Women Through History (History Press, Stroud) is available via the Marine Society’s online shop: https://www.marine-society.org/bookshop. Price £16.99. CARGO SHIPS, NO PLACE FOR WOMEN COOKS? Jo Stanley’s new book deals with forgotten seafaring women Chief cook Betty Fitch (left) and second cook Freda Price on the Langleeclyde, c 1950. Image courtesy of Maud McKibbin.