Her real name isn't known, but she went by the name of William Brown when she signed on the HMS Queen Charlotte in 1815. She was 21, black, and had supposedly had a quarrel with her husband which caused her to leave him and join the Royal Navy at Grenada.
The Annual Register for that year records her as an experienced sailor, and captain of the fore-top - though the muster lists for the HMS Queen Charlotte record only a "landsman", the least experienced grade of sailor, who was put ashore for "being a female".
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