Adventure on the HIGH SEAS

In the winter of 1969 Paulette Cooper embarked upon a mission to become the world’s first successful female cruise ship stowaway. What followed was seven days of action, adventure and daring before men in uniform finally arrived. But had she really been caught? Paulette recounts her unlikely tale to Tiffany Dunk.

- Tiffany Dunk

As New York shivered through the bitter winter of 1969, an elegant queue of travellers was waiting to board the SS Leonardo Da Vinci, a gleaming ship destined for the warmer waters of Puerto Rico and St Thomas before returning to port seven days later. Among them was 29-year-old Paulette Cooper, a slender brunette with aspirations to become a travel writer. But while the other passengers toted luxury luggage and wore furs to withstand the cold, Paulette stood apart. Instead, she wore a glamourous chiffon evening gown and carried only an attaché case. For over the course of this seven-day journey she planned to embark upon her own secret adventure, becoming the world’s first successful female cruise ship stowaway and launching her writing career with a glorious bang.

The idea, she tells The Weekly now, had come to her one evening after reading Edgar Allen Poe’s The Purloined Letter. In the short story, an amateur detective finally cracks a case after realising that the stolen missive he is searching for has been hidden in plain sight. It got Paulette – who had been on many cruises with her parents over the years – thinking. What if she applied that principle to stowing away? Instead of hiding out in a cupboard, could she avoid capture by brazenly posing as a guest?

“No one is expecting that,” she mused over drinks with friends as she expounded her theory. “Be conspicuous, be flashy, be great.”