In Which We Discuss Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
Written by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop

HITTY Her First Hundred Years

Week of March 22, 2010

Chapter Three:  In Which I Travel – by Land and Sea:

Hitty is off to Boston with the family as Captain Preble has to check on the outfitting of his ship, the “Diana”, for an upcoming whaling trip.  Problems arise in that Captain Preble found the ship only half fitted out, some of his best men sick or signed up for other ships, and he could not find a proper cook.  He turns to Mrs. Preble in a last ditch effort to find a cook.  With the night to think about it, she finally agrees, and so Hitty and the family are set to leave on a whaling adventure.  However, Mrs. Preble insists on changing the name of the ship.  She will not “set foot on any ship with such a heathen-sounding name.”  When they arrive to depart for their trip, Captain Preble points out to his wife a crew member painting the new name on the ship.  She will now be the “Diana-Kate”. 

DISCUSSION:

It must have been a hard decision on Mrs. Preble's part. Women were not usually part of the crew of a sailing ship at that time.

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I’m sure it was a very difficult decision for Mrs. Preble.  It could not have been easy to board a whaling ship, with family in tow, amongst all those seamen, and for an eleven-month trip.  She obviously had great faith in her husband to protect her, Phoebe, and Andy.  

I loved the part about the naming of the ship.  Kate wanted nothing to do with “Diana” as a name for the ship and so it became the “Diana-Kate”.  The names forever linked.  Poor Kate Preble.