Passing The Bar – Molly Kool

Captain Molly Kool – North America’s first registered female sea captain, died this week at the age of 93.   Raised in Alma, New Brunswick, she was the daughter of ship’s captain and worked as mate on his timber scow.  At 21, she was the first woman to attend the Merchant Marine School in Saint John, New Brunswick. She graduated two years later with a Master Mariner’s certificate.  The Canadian Shipping act had to be amended to read “he or she” to allow for a female captain.  Captain Kool was the first woman to be registered as a ship’s captain in North America, and only the second in the world.   (A Russian woman had received her license only months before.)   She assumed command of her father’s scow, the Jean K, sailing in the Bay of Fundy . Read more of this amazing story HERE.

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