The Lady Was A Skipper Signed Missionary Eleanor Wilson

The Lady was a Skipper: The Story of Eleanor Wilson, Missionary Extraordinary - Signed By Rev. Wilson

You could spend $40.00 plus shipping at Mission Books in Three Rivers, Texas, for a "good" condition ex-library copy of this scarce historical fiction. Or pick up this handsome first edition, signed by Rev. Eleanor Wilson, and with a fascinating naval provenance, for about the same investment:

The Lady was a Skipper: The Story of Eleanor Wilson, Missionary Extraordinary, to the Marshall and Carline Islands, by Maribelle Cormack (NY: Hill & Wang 1956), signed first edition, 5 5/8" x 8 1/8" tall light blue cloth hardbound in publisher's unclipped dust jacket (preserved in a Brodart archival sleeve), dark blue lettering to spine, 224pp. Boston Herald Traveler 1972 obituary of Rev. Eleanor Wilson laid in. Covers are rubbed, stained and edgeworn, with sunning to spine. Tape marks on both pastedowns. Signature of Rev. Eleanor Wilson on front free-endpaper. Stamp and signature of prior owner (Capt. Alfred L. Cope, former commanding officer of the Navy's Kwajalein base, close to where Rev. Wilson brought her floating pulpit) on front pastedown and free-endpaper. Prior owner notes on the title page's map. One page with a bit of minor staining. Otherwise, a very good copy in a chipped and torn but otherwise good+ (and well-preserved) dust jacket

In 1936, Rev. Eleanor Wilson was sent to teach on the island of Kusale in the Eatern Carolines for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, now known as the United Church Board for World Missionaries. Fifteen years later, when she was in charge of missionary work at 28 church stations and missionary schools in the Caroline and Marshall Islands, Rev. Wilson received a message that jolted her.

The message was from the master of the Morning Star VI, a 63-foot, two-masted schooner which served as a sort of floating pulpit in spreading the Gospel to the islanders. The master said that he had to return to the United States at once because of a serious illness in the family. He asked Rev. Wilson to "please take over" the schooner.

Rev. Wilson, an ordained minister of the Congregational Christian Church, had never skippered before, but she found a book on navigation and located a sextant. She also found a Navy officer on Kwajalein who gave her some instruction.

After crammed instruction and lots of prayer, Rev. Wilson set out on a new journey in missionary work. For 17 months she and her six-man native crew sailed some of the most treacherous waters in the world, from Kwajalein to Truk and back again, an area encompassing 500,000 square miles and 1,000 islands.

In 1951, when she wasn't aboard, the schooner sank. But Rev. Wilson grabbed whatever rides she could - by Navy plane, a copra boat or an outrigger canoe - to visit the islanders.

This book about Rev. Wilson, The Lady was a Skipper, attracted the attention of a reader who sent her $50,000 to build another boat, called Morning Star VII. In 1961, she retired from mission work, becoming pastor of Koolau Hau'is United Church of Christ in Kaui, Hawaii, from which she retired in 1965.

Rev. Wilson was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, and lived for many years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She lived in a Claremont, California retirement center from 1966 through her death in 1972.

About the author: Maribelle Cormack (January 11, 1902-1984) was a museum director and children's author. Cormack attended Cornell, (A.B. English Literature), University of Vienna and Geneva (botanical summer school), and Brown University (M.A. Botany). She is known for her interests in nature and astronomy and held a weekly nature story hour for children.

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