An amazing read on an amazing woman: the first woman marine engineer in the UK, and the first woman member of the Institute of Marine Engineers.
On 25 Aug 1940 Victoria Drummond was the engineer on watch on the ship Bonita in N Atlantic when the Luftwaffe attacked. Remaining alone & injured at post she managed to get up to 12.5 knots, avoiding being hit whenever bombed in an attack lasting 30+ minutes.
After being repeatedly failed in examination for Chief Engineer (gallantly, the examiners also failed the men who scored lower than her, ie virtually everybody), Drummond finally passed when she realised Panama accepted examination by post, an error greatly reducing the chance of anybody noticing her gender ...
