Women's Pioneer. Called the "first Canadian feminist", she was the first North American female ship's captain. Raised on the Canadian coast, her father was a Dutch immigrant sea captain who taught her his own love for the water. After learning the skills of a sailor, she applied several times to the Merchant Marine School in St. John, New Brunswick, before being accepted. She got her Mate's license in 1937 and after three written tests and an arduous practical received her Master's papers in 1939. She telegraphed home simply "You can call me captain now"; the Canadian Shipping Act had to be amended to allow a lady captain (saying "he/she", rather than "he"). Her father turned his ship, the "Jean K", over to her, and for the next five years she carried cargo on the Bay of Fundy and down to Boston. Many stories were told: on one occasion, she was thrown overboard and grabbed a large piece of wood...she told her crew to quit throwing her life rings and send a boat. On another she successfully sued captain who had deliberately rammed the "Jean K". The "Jean K" burned in 1944...during the repairs Molly married, moved to Maine, and left the sea. She sold sewing machines for a number of years. Still, she never lost her touch; when the ship "Molly Kool" was launched in 2003 she was able to instruct the captain what to do when he had problems with the sails. She appeared on "Ripley's Believe It Or Not", her name was used as a lyric in a rock song, and New Brunswick is in the process of restoring her childhood home as a historic landmark.∼BANGOR, ME - Molly K. Carney, Capt. Molly Kool, died Feb. 25, 2009, at a local health care facility. She was born Feb. 23, 1916, in Alma, New Brunswick, the daughter of Paul and Myrtle (Anderson) Kool. She was the second of five children. Capt. Molly Kool was the first female ship captain in North America and second in the world. She was known as "Queen of the Petit," the Petticodiac River in New Brunswick. Molly followed in her father's footsteps, he was a Dutch sailor who married and settled in the town of Alma, New Brunswick. His destiny became the lumber trade and he built a 70-foot scow named the Jean K after his eldest daughter. He made a living in the dangerous tides in the Bay of Fundy. Molly, from the time she was a small girl, lived on the scow with her Dad and had a love of the water. They used to say it took two men to cover her in the fall when she would go back to school. At the age of 23, Molly was instrumental in changing the bylaws in the Canadian Shipping Act so a female could get her captain's license. She attended navigation school conducted by Capt. Richard Pollack and after completion of the exam she sent home a telegram to her sister, Jean, that read..."You can call me captain from now on!" Her story spread in the late '30s and she appeared on an episode of Ripley's Believe It or Not and was flown to New York. Molly was a woman of courage, endurance and tenacity. It was a hard life on the seas; the weather could be treacherous at times and Molly had many dangerous adventures on the seas. She was known to smell the weather and had an amazing natural ability on the sea. She came ashore in the '40s and married a man from Bucksport, Ray Blaisdell in 1944. He passed away after 20 years together. She said she found it was nice to sleep in a real bed and enjoyed the comforts of living on shore and ended her career as a captain. She sold Singer Sewing Machines and worked as a publicity consultant for the Thomas D. Murphy Co., where she won numerous production awards. She met and married a businessman in the mid-'60s named John Carney. He bought her a large boat and named it the Molly Kool and they enjoyed many adventures on the boat. Molly had a huge love for animals and had a boxer and a standard poodle. She also had a special cat named Zeb. Her captain's license is a statue behind Parkland Village Inn in her hometown of Alma, New Brunswick. She went back many times throughout the past years and was grand marshall of the parade and enjoyed staying at the Cliffside where she could look down over all of Alma, New Brunswick. Molly had a vascular disease that took one leg in 1998 but that never stopped her. She lost her second leg in 2004 and was told she would not be able to go home. She said to the doctor, "watch me" and she went home and lived independently at Sunbury Village, Bangor, where she did amazingly well with the love and support of Andra Medina and her Sunbury family. Molly was predeceased by two sisters, Jean and Mary; and a brother, John. Her sister, Martha, lives in California. She has many nephews and nieces; one special one named Irene, that Molly called Teeney. Molly will be sadly missed by many friends, but especially by Kathy Crowl, Bonnie Whitney and Jonni-Anne Carlisle. There will be a memorial service 2 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at Sunbury Village, 922 Ohio St., Bangor, with the Rev. Robert T. Carlson officiating. Molly's childhood home in Alma, New Brunswick, is being moved and turned into a museum in Fundy National Park, Alma, New Brunswick. Donations may be made in Molly's honor to help fund this wonderful project. To help fund the "Molly Kool Cottage" send donations to Albert County Heritage Trust, 5985 King St., Riverside-Albert, NB Canada E4H 2M9. A memorial service and celebration of her life will be held in July in her hometown of Alma, New Brunswick. Arrangements by Memorial Alternatives, 205 Center St., Bangor., ME
www.bangordailynews.com 2/28/09
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Captain Molly Kool to be buried at sea
Submitted By The Associated Press
on Sunday, Jul. 5 at 10:52 am


BANGOR, Maine (AP) — The first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain will be buried at sea Sunday in the waters off New Brunswick, Canada.

Molly Kool died in February in Bangor. She was 93.

She grew up in the village of Alma, New Brunswick, where she learned a love of sailing from her father, a Dutch ship captain. She sailed her father's 70-foot boat between New Brunswick and Boston for several years before following her heart to Maine, where she married.

At the time of her death, Molly K. Carney was living in an independent retirement community in Bangor, where residents knew her as "Captain Molly."

A friend, Jonni-Anne Carlisle, says Carney's ashes will be spread Sunday in the Bay of Fundy, near the town where she was born.

Published in the Morning Sentinel on 7/5/2009