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MRS. JOSHUA A. PATTEN, CAPTAIN
Captain Joshua A. Patten was taken ill with brain fever and was stricken blind while
sailing the "Neptune's Car" to San Francisco in 1856, whereupon his wife, who had been to
sea with her husband once before and had fortunately made a study of navigation, took
charge of the vessel and brought her around Cape Horn. Previous to his illness, Captain
Patten had put the first mate off duty on account of incompetency, and when the Captain
had to give up his command, this officer was most insistent that Mrs. Patten give him charge
of the ship. It was to no purpose, however, as she determined to stand by her husband's
judgment. The second mate did not understand navigation, but the Captain's wife worked
up the reckoning every day and proved herself to be such a seaman that she earned for
herself an international reputation. Not only did she have to attend to her ship's duties, but
she also was obliged to act as nurse, physician, and protector of the property intrusted to
her husband; she even studied medicine in her spare moments in order to learn how to treat
his case, and by her care and devotion kept him alive. For fifty nights she did not undress,
and got very little sleep during this anxious time.
Mrs. Patten at this time must have been under twenty years of age, as there is the
following record of a marriage at the State House in Boston: "Joshua A. Patten (mariner)
married Mary A. Brown, of Boston, April 1, 1853; his age 26, her age 16. He born in
Maine, and she daughter of George Brown of Boston."
Captain Patten died the following year at the McLean Asylum in Boston, an obituary
in one of the Boston papers stating that "Deaf, blind and sick, he has been for months past
cared for by his heroic wife."
Mrs. Patten's knowledge of the sea was quite the opposite of the old aunt of one of
Boston's well-known shipping-merchants, who not long ago made a visit on board the
"Thomas W. Lawson" in Boston Harbour. Her nephew, noticing that the old lady continually went to the side of the vessel and looked over the gunwale, presently asked her
what she was doing. The reply brought forth roars of laughter from every one on board, for
she said that she was waiting for the tide to rise so that she would have less distance to
climb down into the rowboat.
Gorham Sprague, son of Captain Sprague, who at one time had an interest in
"Neptune's Car," relates an astonishing incident that happened on the "Ossipee." She was
rolling badly in a heavy sea when he saw the galley, containing the cook, washed overboard;
the return wave brought it back on deck, the cook jumped out, and the galley went over
again, this time on the other side.
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genealogy resource from genealogy finds . com
Source:
Other Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston, State Street Trust
Company, Boston, Mass., 1919
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