Molly Kool

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Myrtle "Molly" Kool (1937)

Molly Kool , actually Myrtle Kool (born February 23, 1916 in Alma , New Brunswick , † February 25, 2009 in Bangor , Maine ), was a Canadian - American captain . She was the first North American woman and the second worldwide after Anna Schtschetinina to acquire a captain's license.

Life

Myrtle Kool was the daughter of Captain Paul Kool and his wife Myrtle Kool, née Anderson. She had three sisters and a brother. Her father was a Dutch seaman who settled in New Brunswick in 1912 and married a local woman. He built a barge for traffic and the transport of goods between the ships in the roadstead and the coast. He named him after his eldest daughter Jean K.

Kool showed an early interest in working on the coastal freighter. After graduating from high school in the 1930s and having difficulties finding work during the Great Depression , she helped her father repair the sails and cooked the meals on board, but she was also interested in navigation and navigation . The sailing area extended along the Maine coast from the Bay of Fundy , which has a tidal range of up to 21 m and a very rugged coastline, down to Boston. With the support of her family, she attended the Marine Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's , Newfoundland , at the age of 21 . There she acquired a helmsman patent and returned to the Jean K. back.

First of all, she had to assert herself with the men who were to work under her from now on. But after a short time she was able to earn their respect. At the age of 23, she graduated from the Merchant Marine Institute in Yarmouth , Nova Scotia , with an examination for the coastal shipping captaincy exam . Several tests and an extensive examination by two experienced captains across the different ports were intended to ensure that she was qualified for this profession. Kool passed the exam with flying colors and received her captain's license. The telegram she sent home after the exam read:

"Call me Captain from now on."

"Call me captain from now on."

- Molly Kool

Myrtle Kool changed her name to Molly Kool. Later she was mostly called Captain Molly . After obtaining the captain's license, she took over her father's ship, the Jean K. , and worked in the coastal shipping industry for the next five years. Her father stayed on board as the helmsman until he retired. In the five years under her command, her ship suffered three disasters. The Norwegian captain Gunderson tried to push her from her berth on the quay in Moncton . In doing so, he rammed her ship and cut the lines. The Jean K. drifted incapable of maneuvering and Captain Molly ordered her men to leave the ship, as she feared the strong currents that it could smash against a bridge pier. Gunderson wanted to save the ship and sent his crew on board, but no anchor could be set. The ship ran aground on a sandbank. Molly Kool and her father sued Gunderson, who had to pay damages.

Molly went overboard in a dense fog collision with a steamer. She could hold on to a drifting piece of wood and avoid the steamer's propellers that would have pulled her underwater. When the passengers of the steamer threw their life-saving equipment, she called out that she was already swimming, that a boat should be sent to her.

In the fifth year of her command, the Jean K. caught fire in a fuel explosion and was seriously damaged. Molly Kool had originally planned to return to the ship after the repairs were completed, but she stayed ashore in connection with their wedding. Jean K. was taken over by her brother.

Molly caught media attention as a captain in the 1940s. These followed their careers and reported regularly. She was interviewed on the radio show Ripley's Believe It Or Not radio show .

She married Ray Blaisdell in 1944 and moved to Bucksport from New Brunswick, selling Singer sewing machines for a while. They lived together for 20 years until his death. She then married John Carney, who bought her a boat he named Molly Kool . She died on February 25, 2009 in a senior citizens' home in Bangor.

In line with her final wish to receive a sea burial, her ashes were scattered outside her birthplace, Alma, in Fundy Bay.

The Canadian Coast Guard named the icebreaker CCGS Captain Molly Kool after her in 2018 .

literature

  • Christine Welldon: Molly Kool: First Female Captain Of The Atlantic , Nimbus Publishing, 2011

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Captain Molly Kool, section15.ca. In: section15.ca. Retrieved May 27, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Molly Kool, 93, a Pioneer of the Coastal Waters, Dies, NYT, March 2, 2009 , accessed May 27, 2018
  3. ↑ a b http://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/culture--heritage/molly-kool-a-worthy-role-model. In: connectingalbertcounty.org. Retrieved May 27, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Molly Kool. In: albertcountymuseum.com. The Albert County Museum & RB Bennett Center, accessed May 27, 2018 (American English).
  5. ↑ a b Molly Kool Obituary, 2009 accessed May 27, 2018
  6. ↑ Capt. Molly Kool's ashes spread over Bay of Fundy | CBC News . In: CBC . ( cbc.ca ).
  7. ^ Coast Guard takes possession of new icebreaker named after pioneer Molly Kool | CTV News Montreal. In: ctvnews.ca. montreal.ctvnews.ca, accessed December 15, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kool, Molly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kool, Myrtle (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian-US captain
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Alma , New Brunswick
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 2009
Place of death Bangor , Maine