Victoria Drummond - Qualifying As An Engineer

Qualifying As An Engineer

After completing her apprenticeship at the Caledon Shipyard, she joined the Blue Funnel Line's SS Anchises in 1922 as Tenth Engineer. After completing four voyages to Australia and one to China, she began study for her second engineer's qualification. However, after having received the qualification, she was only able to work as Fifth Engineer for the British India Company in 1927. During the 1930s, her attempt to gain a British chief engineer's certificate met with failure. Indeed, to prevent any accusations of unfairness, the Board of Trade Examiners habitually failed all candidates who sat the examinations with her. She was able to qualify as a Panamanian chief engineer, however, as these examinations were a purely written paper, with the gender or status of the candidate not being known to the examiners. In a career lasting 40 years she sailed on 49 voyages, which took her from her home in Megginch Castle in Scotland, to all around the world. She continued her career through hardship and discrimination, carrying out the physically gruelling work of the engine room as well as supervising a sometimes reluctant and prejudiced work force.