Call Me Bill by Lynette Richards

The story begins with a family on Marrs Island, Nova Scotia, March, 1873. The Clancy's have lived on the protected side of the island for three generations. Sarah Jane's husband, John O'Reilly fished with her father and uncle.

On April 1, 1873, Sarah Jane heard a strange noise, saw flares in the night sky across the island, and awakened her father, Michael, telling him people were in trouble. As he set out, he came across a man on the path, frozen and delirious. Michael sent a man to get help as bigger boats were needed for the open sea.

Across the island, the men found the bodies of women strewn on the rocks. People were clinging to the rocks and out on the water lay the S.S. Atlantic on its side.

At dawn, the bigger boats arrived from Upper Prospect and Terence Bay. The men battled the sea, saving the survivors. The dead they piled on the granite rocks of Ryan's Island. It came to be called "the Hill of Death".

When Captain Williams tried to identify the dead, he was stunned to find that one young sailor who looked like a boy, was a woman. No one knew who she was or how she came to be on the S.S. Atlantic.

But nine months earlier, in June of 1872, in Trenton, New Jersey, Cicely offers Margaret her father's old clothing. Using the name Billy, she took the 4:25 AM train to Jersey City, then the ferry to New York.

In New York City, Billy was hired on by the captain of the S.S. Hutton. It sailed out of New York on July 1, 1872, with Billy as the Engineer's Steward. Finding Billy a good worker, the captain asked her to stay on to China, but Billy was intent on travelling only as far as England. Despite feeling self-conscious in her father's clothing, Billy liked how she was treated when dressed as a man.

In London, Billy left the ship, stayed at the Sailors' Home Boarding House, and purchased sailor clothes and oilskins. While there, Billy saw many injustices but also how women were agitating for social change. To earn money to return to New York, Billy signed on to the Eskdale which was sailing to Genoa, Italy.

On the trip, Billy was bullied by another sailor. She tried to avoid the man as much as possible but eventually Billy decided to fight back. The result was her identity as a woman was discovered by the captain's wife. Margaret admitted to the captain and his wife that she was Maggie Armstrong but that when she wore "pantaloons" she called herself Billy. Maggie's sailor chest, clothes and oilskins that she'd purchased were confiscated and she was forced to dress in women's clothing.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, Maggie was reprimanded by the judge who ordered her to return to New York in the steerage class on the S.S. Victoria. She was told if she returned she would be jailed. On the Victoria, Margaret met Ralph Keeler, a reporter for the New York Tribune. Margaret told Keeler about her life growing up on her family's farm in New Jersey, how she began wearing her brother's clothing when she was nine-years-old, her mother's Quaker activism for social reform, her brother Jamie's death during the Civil War and how his death led to their mother's early death as well. 

Keeler and Margaret disembarked at Castle Gardens: he told her to seek support at Harry Hill's Concert Saloon. There Margaret dressed and lived as Bill. But she missed the sea, so she returned, working on the S.S. Atlantic, a passenger liner owned by the White Star Line. It would be Margaret/Bill's last journey at sea.

Discussion

Author Lynette Richards has crafted an engaging fictional account of the life of Margaret Armstrong, set against the tragedy of the sinking of the passenger liner, the S.S. Atlantic in 1873. Margaret,  a young Dutch New Jersey woman, was able to pass herself off as a male sailor in the late 1800's. Richards, using the graphic novel format, pieces together Margaret's unusual life and her tragic death from primary sources including the Aberdeen Journal, the New York Tribune and the Halifax Chronicle. Some of these sources are included in novel's illustrations.

The Aberdeen Journal's article mentions a Margaret Armstrong, from New Jersey, who dressed as a sailor, called herself Bill and was exposed as a young woman by the wife of the captain of the Eskdale which sailed from Aberdeen to Spain. Ralph Keeler's article in the New York Tribune also describes a young woman who calls herself Maggie Armstrong except when she wears pantaloons and is then called Billy. Maggie was hired on to the Eskdale to travel to Genoa Italy but was exposed as a woman after a fight with one of the men. Then comes the article in the Halifax Chronicle after the sinking of the Atlantic and the discovery that one of the young sailors was in fact, a young woman. As Emily Burton Rocha indicates in her informative introduction, its likely the woman described in these three articles, penned within a matter of months in 1873, is the same person.

Ralph Keeler, author of the Tribune article, is himself an interesting character: he worked in minstrel shows, dressed as a woman and did Black face. So it's not surprising that he would have been interested in the unconventional Margaret Armstrong and want to interview and write about her.

Call Me Bill is a story of resilience, grit and determination. Margaret Armstrong was a woman who felt constrained by the social norms and expectations placed on women in this era. Dressing as a man, gave Margaret the opportunity to be treated better (something she readily noticed) and to support herself - an option that was not common at this time for women. The expectation was that a woman would marry. A sailor's life was hard, but it also offered the opportunity to see the world and a measure of freedom that Margaret would never have had living on a farm in New Jersey.

Richards who serves on the Board of Directors of the S.S. Atlantic Heritage Park and Society, frames Margaret's story with the sinking of the Atlantic. In her Author's Note, Richards writes, "I set out to tell the true story of the SS Atlantic wreck and the heroic rescue through the lens of the mysterious 'female sailor'. Newspapers provided facts, but did not, could not, recount the substance of the person. I recognized myself in this person, and I suspect many readers will too. This story presents the opportunity to explore identity, courage, and the radical imagination of a young person who took huge risks to occupy space that others would have had difficulty imagining."

Although she wrote a long version of this story, Richards decided to use the graphic novel format, "...to activate readers' interest and imaginations around th eimportant history of the SS Atlantic, and the heroic efforts of local Nova Scotian villagers." Her beautiful panels were rendered in grey watercolour washes which she references in her Author's Note. 

Call Me Bill is well-written, interesting and beautifully illustrated. A must-read for those who love graphic novels, unusual historical figures, and Canadian history.

Book Details:

Call Me Bill by Lynette Richards
Wolfville, Nova Scotia: Conundrum Press     2022
96 pp.

Heart of a Samauri by Margi Preus

Heart of a Samurai is a fictionalized account of the true story of Manjiro Nakahama, whom the Japanese called "the boy who discovered America".

Manjiro's amazing story begins in 1841 with the sinking of the fishing boat he had joined. Manjiro along with four other sailors, Jusuke, Denzo, Toraemon, and Goemon, land on a deserted island which they name Bird Island, for its large albatross population. Manjiro was just fourteen years old and had left his mother and younger siblings to find work. At the time of the shipwreck, Japan was extremely xenophobic and isolationist. Any person who left Japan and later tried to return was put to death. For this reason, fisherman were warned not to stray too far from the coast for fear of "contamination" by the barbarians who lived outside of Japan. If they were lost at sea, they would be unable to return.

Once on the island, Manjiro and his companions waited for rescue by a ship, their situation becoming more dire with the passing of each day. Eventually after about six months, they were picked up by the whaling ship, the John Howland, captained by John Whitfield. Terrified of these strange bearded barbarians, Manjiro and his companions expected to be humiliated, poisoned and possibly eaten. Instead, the sailors fed and clothed them. Manjiro began to learn English so that he could learn what the sailors were doing sailing such a large ship on the ocean and to find out what they intended to do with him and his fellow Japanese. Not understanding Manjiro very well, the American sailors gave him the name, John Mung.

Manjiro found that Captain Whitfield was a kindly man who expected Manjiro to ask questions and learn. Captain Whitfield tells Manjiro that they had hoped to take them back to their homeland, but when they discovered they were from Japan, they knew this to be impossible since Japan will not accept any foreign ships in their ports. Manjiro comes to understand that the John Howland is a whaling vessel and when they finally make their first whale kill, he learns about whaling and why the Americans hunt whales.

After three and half years at sea, the John Howland returned to its home port of New Bedford in Massachusetts. Manjiro was one of the first Japanese to visit America and people did not know how to treat him. This made Manjiro's adjustment to living in America difficult at times. He decided to accept Captain Whitfield's offer to live with him and his new wife, and was able to attend school in America. However, Manjiro eventually decided that he needed to try to return home to Japan, both to see his mother whom he greatly missed, and also to work for change in Japan's isolationist ways.  Manjiro has many more adventures, including being part of California's gold rush before he does return to Japan with some of his remaining friends who were shipwrecked with him so many years before. Wishing to bring about change in Japan, it was his influence which finally made the Emperor open Japan to other countries.

Discussion

Heart of a Samurai is a great book for young teen boys who enjoy historical fiction. The  novel is a fictionalized account of Manjiro's adventures and includes many of Manjiro's drawings and some photographs as well. The novel takes its title from the fact that Manjiro wanted to be a samurai but because he was a lowly fisherman, he could never achieve this high station in Japanese society. However, he had the heart of a samurai for his bravery in living among the "barbarians" and he was eventually made a samurai when he returned to Japan.

This is a beautifully crafted novel in every way; the writing is superb and the illustrations enhance the reader's understanding of this unusual, interesting story. The hero is a likable, brave soul whom we can't help but root for! There is an Epilogue, a Historical Note, a Glossary and a Bibliography where readers can find books about Manjiro, whaling and also Japan.  Highly recommended.

Book Details:
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
New York: Amulet Books        2012
301 pp.