Books and inn signs

When I first blogged about inn signs I said it was a somewhat tortuous route I had followed. It all started when I clicked on the link to one of the books read by Skip - The War for All the Oceans. It looks a fascinating read. I then discovered on their web site that the authors have also written a book about the battle of Trafalgar. And there it was - a picture of the inn sign displayed by a pub in Chatham called "Trafalgar Maid". The picture on the web site showed the pub as being a free house, but I remembered it as a Whitbread pub and the sign was reproduced in miniature - and I have one. On the back is written:
"To the only woman who fought at Trafalgar - on the frigate Euryalus. Later she lived at the "New Inn", John Street, Chatham, now removed to this spot."
Sadly, it gives no more detail about her, but there were in fact numerous women on board ships at the battle, many of them prostitutes. One was Jane Townsend, on board HMS Defiance, who applied for a medal but was turned down. The National Archives have interesting information on their web site.