Diary of a Sea Captain's Wife: Tales of Santa Cruz Island

by Margaret H. Eaton, Janice Timbrook (Editor)

Margaret Eaton and her husband Ira were well known to Santa Barbarans in the early part of this century as operators of the Pelican Bay Camp on Santa Cruz Island. Beginning humbly with small-scale commercial fishing, seal hunting and passenger charters, the Eatons gradually developed a unique resort that came to be popular among writers, film companies and people from all over the country. Working from her diary and her memories, Mrs. Eaton wrote this extraordinary story of her life over a period of many years, until her death in 1947. She is remembered by her daufghter, Vera Eaton Amey, as a fearless and compassionate women. Mrs. Amey has done admirably well in sorting through mountains of letters, clippings and photographs to organize her mother's manuscript. She has also painstakingly consulted other sources to confirm, as much as possible, the accuracy of these recollections. With the passage of time- half a century and more- corroboration becomes increasingly difficult, and inconsistencies have inevitably crept in. The reader who would use "Diary of a Sea Captains Wife" as a historical reference is asked to bear this in mind. The true significance of Margaret Eaton's story lies in its appeal as the personal account of a woman living in a man's world, in a time and place remote from today's urban society. Jan Timbrook Associate Curator, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1980

Reviews

[Beth Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a sucker for nonfiction and women's stories in particular, not to mention anything to do with the sea, I absolutely loved this book. There is something in Mrs. Eaton's candor and lack of sentimentality that just pleased me. I wish she'd written more. The ending is a bit sad, but was a logical ending.

Her descriptions of sailing and raising a young child on Santa Cruz Island off Santa Barbara were just fascinating. Highly recommend it.

[MG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book really interesting- full of everyday life at the turn of the century. This woman was one tough cookie. Makes my life look so easy.

[Merlin Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love buying and reading these types of books.
Boats, yachts, historical events and books about the sea are generally excellent. If there are sequels in your series, I would love to read them.

The beauties of owning the books of important authors cannot be discussed. I'm looking forward to your new books.

For friends who want to read this book, I leave the importance of reading a book here. I wish good luck to the sellers and customers...

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[Patricia Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased this book in the Ocean Historical museum in Oxnard. At that time I had a sailboat and frequently sailed to the Channel Islands on weekends. One of the best times of my life was being on the ocean in my mid-twenties to my late thirties. I knew little about the islands other than Catalina which was a 'favorite' destination to all boaters of that area.

In reading this book my thoughts went to the pioneer women that suffered the struggles of 'moving West' and the life of hard work and perseverance...This story is about a young woman from Canada who lost her parents early in life and upon coming of age took a train to Santa Barbara, California to start a new life.

Of course I have been to Santa Barbara several times, living in So. Cal most of my life...however the description of this town in the late 1800's to approx. 1930's described a VERY different coastal city than we know today....

Margaret married a hard working young man who loved the sea. He built is first boat to provide a living fishing at sea for his family. He was ambitious and made an excellent life fishing and providing a lodge and Charter services for Santa Barbara visitors to Santa Cruz Island.

In the twenties and thirties Hollywood started using the island for making movies. John Barrymore was a frequent visitor and became a very good friend of Margareta and her husband Ira . Others such as Gloria Swanson were making movies on and around Santa Cruz Island .

I highly recommend this book

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look into life on the coast of California when there was very little but opportunity.

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. Ms. Eaton described their lives on Santa Cruz Island. I was quite surprised with all the Hollywood movie crews that they hosted.

[Stephanie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting first hand account of the Channel Islands before becoming a National Park. Definitely inspires a return trip there.

[Dan Rett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cool story about life on Santa Cruz Island in the early 1900s.

[Sespe · Rating 5 out of 5]

read while i was visiting santa bárbara, such interesting local history from a lost time

[Abe Kazemzadeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has excellent storytelling about life in the Channel Islands off the Southern California coast. There are many personal stories that touch on maritime history, early Hollywood, prohibition, smuggling, fishing, race relations, piracy/salvage, and raising a family. It's not written by a professional writer so it seems more of a personal, authentic collection of stories that could be told around a campfire than a polished work of literature. However, it's definitely got what it takes to be considered fine literature. The stories are all woven together neatly and there are only several chapters for each broad period of the author's life, so it's a lot more than a collection of individual stories. And the historical aspects about it mean that there's a deep aspect that could lead you to research other topics like historical families and shipwrecks. It's got some interesting pictures too.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Santa Barbara for many years and absolutely cherished its history there. This is a book about a woman and her daughter who lived on the Santa Cruz islands while her husband made a living fishing from his boat in surrounding areas. The daughter published it after they had both passed, I think...

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title says,this is a diary of a woman that was married to a man that had a boating business shipping cargo and customers from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island. It is very interesting, and fairly accurate, a great reminder of how people once lived, and lived happily.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for what it is. Down home story, I really enjoyed it.

[Margaret Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story ! But written very matter of factly so really a book for locals to this part of the world...

[Think-On-It]

If you'd like to know what I thought of this book, please contact me directly and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.

All the best,

- TB