Fanny Stephens was already a widow by the time of the 1881 census and at the age of forty-two she was the head and main breadwinner in a household that contained her four children and her mother. Fanny gave her occupation as the postmistress of Polruan, Cornwall. Just around the corner from her was the home of Thomas Werry Tadd, a master mariner, who was a forty-nine-year-old bachelor. When Thomas died unmarried in 1884, he left his whole estate to Fanny, ‘my intended wife’ and named her as his executor. This was no short engagement as the couple had been engaged for three years. His bequest included his house and thirty-nine shares in the 60-ton Dartmouth-built schooner Isabella. This could be the plot of a Victorian tragedy about the plight of widows where the despairing Fanny sees her second chance of happiness snatched from her.

Fanny, however, does not conform to the profile of a dependent victim of circumstance. She speedily achieved probate within three weeks and within another two weeks she had sold all the shares in the ship. This is impressive speed but as the postmistress she had an occupation that required a fair knowledge of administration. Her swift sale of the shares, however, was not the act of a woman who sought to rid herself of an unaccustomed burden as Fanny was no innocent in share dealings in ships.