Among the 37,000 shipwrecks recorded around the coast by English Heritage, including both vessel remains and documented losses, are stories showing female involvement in wreck events, a rich seam of social history. As passengers, female survivors' accounts illustrate the wrecking process, and also reveal female leisure and economic activity. From the 19th century onwards women took on a more active role at sea, involved in daring rescues or as shipboard nurses in the First World War.
