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Working Women
PROSTITUTION
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Devonport and Dock Yard
March 15, 1830
Line engraving by T. Jeavens after the drawing by J. M. W. Turner,
R.A.
The Mariners' Museum
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Jolly Boat
1840, H. Heath
From
A Nautical Dictionary
The Mariners' Museum Research Library and Archives
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Prostitution was a fixture in every port town. A thriving business,
it symbolized not only the rootlessness of the sailor's life, but
also the financial desperation many women experienced when their men
went off to sea for long periods. There are many documented cases
of women turning to prostitution when other efforts to support themselves
failed. Boats that brought prostitutes to ships in a harbor became
known as "bumboats."
 | A Scene on the Main Deck
March 1824
Printed by L. Harrison,
published by M. Jenkins
Colored aquatint
The Mariners' Museum
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When a British man-of-war came into port, boatmen selling a variety of wares or carrying wives and children would row out to the ship. Many boats were filled with prostitutes who posed as the sailors' "sisters" and stayed with the sailors until the ship left port again. These boats became known as "jolly boats" or "bumboats."
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