Mary Ann Brown Patten

Mary Ann Brown Patten or Patton (April 6, 1837 – March 17, 1861) was the first female commander of an American merchant vessel. She was the wife of Joshua Adams Patten, captain of the merchant clipper ship Neptune's Car. The ship was bound around Cape Horn from New York towards San Francisco when Joshua Patten collapsed from fatigue in 1856. His wife took command for 56 days, faced down a mutiny, and successfully managed to navigate the clipper ship into San Francisco. At the time of docking, she was 19 years old and eight months pregnant with her only child.

Early life and first voyage

Mary Ann Brown was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1837 to George and Elizabeth Brown. She married a young captain named Joshua Adams Patten (1827–1857) in Boston on April 1, 1853, just before her 16th birthday. In 1855 Captain Patten was offered the command of a clipper ship named Neptune's Car. Patten was hesitant to leave his wife for so long so early in their marriage, and so the ship's owners granted permission for her to accompany him.

Neptune's Car was launched in 1853 and by 1855 the vessel had already developed a reputation for speed. It was 216 feet long and weighed 1,617 tons. Mary passed the time learning navigation and assisting Joshua with his duties as captain. Under usual circumstances the first mate would take command. However, earlier in the voyage Captain Patten had caught him sleeping on watch and losing valuable time by leaving sails reefed. The mate had likely placed bets on one of Neptune's Car'''s competitors, and so Captain Patten had confined him to his cabin. The second mate was illiterate and unable to navigate, which left Mary Patten the most qualified person on board to bring the ship safely into port. He then attempted to incite a mutiny by trying to convince the crew that they would be better off putting into the nearby port of Valparaiso rather than continuing on to San Francisco. Patten knew that putting into port in South America would mean a loss of crew and quite possibly cargo. She responded by making an appeal to the crew, and in the end won their unanimous support.

Arrival in San Francisco and return northeast When Neptune's Car arrived at San Francisco Harbor Mary Patten rejected an offer to wait for a pilot to navigate the clipper ship into port, and instead took the helm herself. Despite all of Neptune's Car's tribulations, the clipper ship still arrived in San Francisco second, beating the Intrepid.

Joshua Patten survived the journey back to New York on the steamer George Law and safely returned to Boston with his wife. There on March 10, less than a month after arriving in port, Mary gave birth to a son whom she named Joshua. Mary Ann Brown Patten was given $1,399 from a fund for her relief set up by the Boston Courier.

Mary Patten died of tuberculosis four years later on Sunday, March 17, 1861, shortly before what would have been her 24th birthday. She and her husband are both buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts. and the subject of a narrative non-fiction book called The Sea Captain's Wife'' by Tilar J. Mazzeo.

The hospital at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, New York, is named after her.