Sailing sailing, alone across the Atlantic, first female!

Ann Davison (5 June 1913 – 12 May 1992) was an author and sailor. At the age of 39, she was the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean. She departed Plymouth, England in her 23-foot boat Felicity Ann on 18 May 1952.

The Felicity Ann, designed and built by Mashfords Brothers launched in 1949, delayed somewhat by the Second World War, after she was laid down in 1939. She was sailed in 1952 by Ann Davison to become the first ever single handed transatlantic crossing by a woman.

She landed in Brittany, Portugal, Morocco and the Canary Islands, before setting sail across the Atlantic on 20 November 1952, aiming to make land-fall in Antigua. In the event storms pushed her south and having been driven past Barbados she eventually touched land in Dominica on 23 January 1953. After an extended stopover in the Caribbean she sailed north to Florida and finally to New York by way of the Intracoastal Waterway.^[4]

A beautiful little 23 footer, she was lovingly rebuilt in 2018.

Ann Davison’s story and her voyage across The Atlantic in 1952 is a mesmerising tale, told in the book, My Ship is so Small. A choice quote by Ann Davison, reads…”Choosing a boat is like picking a husband, a wife, or a horse….You have to fall in love to get the best out of the partnership.”

The Felicity Ann, built by Mashford Bros of Cremyll (Cornwall) in 1939, has recently (2008–2009) been in private possession in Haines, Alaska undergoing initial restoration, but has now been donated to the Northwest School of Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, Washington for further restoration. The original design for the Felicity Ann and three other identical hulls are from 1936. The Felicity Ann has been almost fully restored, and on 6 August 2017 the title was transferred to the Community Boat Project in Port Hadlock, WA by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding where students and volunteers did most of the planking restoration. The boat will be finished by volunteers and will be sailed around the Puget Sound area next year before being used for sailing instruction.

In 2017 a blue plaque recognising Davison was unveiled at Mere Brook House (where she lived from 1939) which is near Thornton Hough, Wirral.^[8]

Ann Davison was the subject of a New York Times Overlooked article on 3 December 2022