During the nineteenth century it became increasingly common for merchant service masters to take their wives to sea. Among the first, and most accomplished literature about this subject, is Abby Jane Morrell's account of a voyage between 1829 and 1831 that took her from New England to the South Pacific. Apart from the descriptions of exotic places, much of the interest in this book is the traditional, centuries-old world of the sailor as seen through the eyes of a thoughtful and well-educated woman.