Clara Pendleton Blanchard sailed for 40 years, first with her father beginning at age nine and then with her husband, Captain William Blanchard, aboard 13 vessels, enjoying one of the longest documented lives at sea and traveling to all parts of the world. She was one of five sisters to marry sea captains. Over the next 19 years, this seafaring couple had eight children, with only one born on land, and four of her sons later became masters of their own vessels. After coming ashore in 1904, Captain Blanchard took one last passage with their son, Captain Frederick, while Clara remained at home in Searsport, where she bore her grief after her husband and son died when the bark Willard Mudgett was lost at sea.