Published in 2023
11 hours and 34 minutes
Margaret Willson is a writer and cultural anthropologist. She has traveled extensively, working, doing research, or ethnographic film in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland…and a number of other places. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner and their cat Mister.
What is this book about?
History would have us believe the sea has always been a male realm, the idea of female captains almost unthinkable. But there is one exception, so notable she defies any expectation.
This is her remarkable story.
Captain Thuridur, born in Iceland in 1777, lived a life that was both controversial and unconventional. Her first time fishing, on the open unprotected rowboats of her time, was at age eleven. Soon after, she audaciously began wearing trousers. She later became an acclaimed fishing captain brilliant at weather-reading and seacraft and consistently brought in the largest catches. In the Arctic seas where drownings occurred with terrifying regularity, she never lost a single crewmember. Renowned for her acute powers of observation, she also solved a notorious crime. In this extremely unequal society, she used the courts to fight for justice for the abused, and in her sixties, embarked on perilous journeys over trackless mountains.
Weaving together fastidious research and captivating prose, Margaret Willson reveals Captain Thuridur’s fascinating story, her extraordinary courage, intelligence, and personal integrity.
