image gallery

Bretta at work as a waitress on the Ocean Monarch

Bretta McGinty

Bretta McGinty's career at sea began in the winter of 1969 when, at the age of 31, she was given the opportunity to work in the laundry on the Empress of Canada. Despite being "sick as a dog for five days from Southampton to New York", Bretta was quickly promoted to stewardess, a job that she recalled to be "a complete eye opener".

The ambition to travel and work at sea had been there from an early age. As a child she had lived near the docks in a cold and draughty house that Bretta remembered "had been hammered in the war"; it led her to believe that there "was better than this".

The journey to find that better life led Bretta to New York at the age of 21 to try and find work as a waitress. At first there was a bit of a culture clash - she was told that she'd get a decent job "when you've had some of the green rubbed off you". Undeterred, Bretta spent the next 10 years in America before returning home to pursue her career working at sea.

Her working life at sea lasted eight years and included working for Canadian Pacific on the Empress of Canada, until it folded in April 1972, the Ocean Monarch (previously Empress of England) owned by Shaw Savill, the Belfast Boats and a Union Castle cargo ship.

Bretta fondly remembered her life at sea and a career that took her, in her own words:

"...from laundry maid, to stewardess, to captain's tiger, to saloon steward. Did it all!"

Bretta was interviewed for eight hundred lives and also as part of the project 'Working at the edge of the world' by Dr Joanne Lacey. Elements of that project formed part of the photographic exhibition 'The water's edge' by Michelle Sank at the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool from 14 April to 2 June 2007. Michelle's contemporary portrait of Bretta, seen in the photo gallery on the right, is also taken from that work.

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