Essential information
| Type |
Talks and tours
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Date and times | Thursday 29 October 2026 | 1pm-1.30pm |
In this talk, Caird Fellow Ema Sala will look at sailors’ clothing and masculinity against the grain by turning their attention to 'female sailors'.
This was the term used in contemporary sources for people assigned female at birth who sailed as men in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Taking J. M. W. Turner’s The Battle of Trafalgar as their starting point, which prominently depicts a group of sailors in the foreground, their talk focuses on sailors’ bodies, and in particular on the clothes they wore in the nineteenth century.
Image
Before the standardisation of naval uniforms, sailors looked very different from one another. Yet even when they were not at sea, they could be immediately recognised as sailors, as their clothing marked them as members of a specialised group.
Especially after Trafalgar, sailors became icons of masculinity, though often an unruly and sometimes even queer form of masculinity.
Focusing on nineteenth-century news reports, diaries and iconography, Ema will discuss what female sailors wore, how they procured their clothing, and how it helped them position themselves as men.
Female sailors offer an insight into nautical masculinities in the nineteenth century, as well as into how sailors clothed themselves and what their clothes meant to them. They are an important piece of the puzzle of nineteenth-century masculinities, and one that has been little explored.
Attending the talk
Ema Sala will be giving their talk in the 'Turner' room, just off the Great Hall in the Queen's House.
Accessibility
Please note that as this event takes place in a gallery, seating opportunities are limited. There will be a small number of folding stools available.
If you would like to discuss any accessibility requirements in advance of the event, or if you require a step-free route, please contact bookings@rmg.co.uk so that we can best facilitate your visit.
About Ema Sala
Ema Sala (they/them) is a Caird Fellow at Royal Museums Greenwich, where they research female sailors.
They are the coordinator of Queer History Club, a community-led research group that has been active at the Museum since 2023, and have worked on events including Pirates Late and the Being Human festival in November 2025.
Their research interests are trans and working-class history, masculinities, fashion, and the embodied experience of being a sailor.
In spring 2025, they led a reading group on the Peglar papers, a document of the Franklin expedition (1845-1849?) held at the Caird Library. Their blog about female sailors can be found here and their blog about the Peglar papers here.
