This was a sentiment which was apparently not that uncommon.  There are well documented cases of girls going to sea dressed as men.  At a time when gender was almost exclusively indicated by clothes and demeanor, and habits of hygiene allowed cohabitation without exposure, it was certainly possible.

 

The Wistful One.

My window opens upon the sea

And the smell of the sea comes in to me -

And the voice of the sea that calls and calls,

And the sea's hands beating upon my walls.

 

Sometimes I wake in the night and hear

The sound of the sea, and it seems so near

That I wonder how I have strength of will

To listen and listen and lie so still.

 

I wonder how I can stay in bed

With a smoth'ring ceiling over my head!

I envy the men who can dip and ride

And drown, if they will, in the brown, salt tide.

 

Oh why is a half-grown lad so free

To pack his clothes and put out to sea,

While a maid must live out her life on shore

Mending and washing and sweeping the floor?

 

Some moonless night, when the sky is black,

I'll run away and I'll never come back;

And maybe the girl who used to be me

Will be far away, like a lad, at sea!

Abigail Cresson